IBM | Security Intelligence | By: Christophe Veltsos | Originally Published May 22, 2017:
“There are over 5 million jobs open in this country. The reason they are not filled is skills.” — Ginni Rometty, IBM CEO, speaking to Fox Business about new collar jobs.
Organizations are suffering from an inability to fill vacant technology and cybersecurity positions. A four-year wait for students to complete their curricula is an eternity for the technology sector given the rapid pace of innovation and change in the field. And since most organizations today cannot run without technology and an appropriate level of cybersecurity, this skills gap really extends to entire countries. A March 2017 report by Frost and Sullivan predicted that the number of global unfilled positions will reach 1.8 million by 2022.
Closing this gap in qualified workers requires innovative thinking, and security leaders must reach out to new pools of talent. In this new era of cybersecurity talent acquisition, potential recruits don’t need to have advanced degrees.
This is neither a blue-collar nor a white-collar job; today, according to Rometty, “we have a new collar.”
What Are New Collar Jobs?
According to the recent report by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), “It’s Not Where You Start — It’s How You Finish: Addressing the Cybersecurity Skills Gap With a New Collar Approach,” new collar is a term that refers to “professionals who may not have a traditional college degree but do have the needed technical skills and aptitudes.” The report stated that “a new collar approach focuses on skills — not degrees earned — as a prerequisite to find and attract nontraditional candidates with diverse backgrounds and skill sets. Once hired, these new employees are expected to strive for continuous learning and professional growth.”
Monster offered five examples of new collar jobs that people can go after without a four-year degree. Here are three relevant to cybersecurity:
- Cloud administrator — someone who develops, deploys and maintains cloud-based services. Many such folks are self-taught or have completed relevant certifications, and are proficient in scripting languages such as Perl, Ruby and Python.
- Service delivery analyst — someone who relies on software to review how services are provided to end users and seeks to improve those processes.
- Cybersecurity architect — someone who can design, implement and test the security of an organization’s networks and computers, including running vulnerability assessment software.
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To read or download the complete report: “Addressing the Skills Gap with a New Collar Approach”, in PDF format – please click here.
