The results from the eighth Global Information Security Workforce Study (GISWS) have been released this week. The workforce gap is estimated to be growing, with the projected shortage reaching 1.8 million professionals by 2022. While the gap is not news, the fact that it is growing is of great concern to an already exhausted workforce. The question of how to fill the gap has been answered, and millennials are an integral part of the plan.
“For years, we’ve known about the impending shortage of the information security workforce, as evidenced by our study year over year,” said David Shearer, CEO, (ISC)². “For the first time, we’re taking a deep dive into the millennial respondents, and we’re finding that they want different things in terms of job satisfaction and career paths. They truly are the future of cybersecurity, and I believe they hold the key to filling the well-publicized information security workforce gap.”
The GISWS surveyed more than 19,000 information security professionals from around the world. The results from the study will be released throughout the year in a series of reports – the first being about the millennials in cyber. An interactive infographic of the findings can be found on the Center for Cyber Safety and Education’s website: https://iamcybersafe.org/research_millennials/
Key takeaways include:
- Millennials want career development, including:
- Sponsoring mentorship and leadership programs
- Paying for attendance at industry events
- Offering training programs
- Employer-paid professional certifications and association memberships
- Millennial workers are more likely to change employers than other generations.
- They are more likely to aspire to become security consultants than move into managerial roles within an organization.
- Millennials value career development opportunities and are more likely to pay for them, if not offered by their employers.
- Salaries were not the highest priority for millennials. However, they received higher salary increases than other generations.