When it comes to cybersecurity, there simply aren’t enough of you.
Despite being faced with escalating cyber threats, and having the support of corporate executives, security teams are still struggling to fill their open positions. That’s what we learned when we partnered with ISACA on our recent survey, State of Cybersecurity: Implications for 2016.
More than half of security job openings take from three to six months to fill, and nine percent of survey respondents say that they can’t fill security roles at all. What’s worse, one third of respondents said that less than 25 percent of their applicants were qualified for the jobs they applied for, and another 27 percent said it was fewer than half.
More than 209,000 cybersecurity jobs went unfilled in 2015, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Forbes forecasts that there will be close to one million cybersecurity job openings in 2016.
Which means those of you who do have the right cyber stuff are in high demand.
“The cybersecurity job market is on fire” Veronica Mollica, founder and executive information security recruiter at Indigo Partners, told CSO. “Our candidates are facing competing offers from multiple companies with salary increases averaging over 30 percent. Current employers are scrambling to retain talent with counter offers including 10 percent and higher salary increases for information security team members to remain on board."
Low supply and high demand can mean big bucks for security professionals. According to Dice, Lead Software Security Engineer salaries average more than $233,000 and CSOs average $225,000. CISOs, Directors of Security and Security Consultants also command salaries well into the six-figures.
And things are looking better. According to Computerworld’s 2016 IT Salary Survey, average IT salaries were up by 3.9 percent in 2016. And 60 percent of the 3,300 respondents reported that they believe an IT career path is “more promising than other career paths.”
For those in security, the picture was even brighter. Security managers saw their pay jump 6.4 percent, and security pros on average saw a 4.6 percent raise.
Where should you go when looking for your next security gig? We suggest checking out the listings on the RSA Conference Job Board to start. We’ve created a resource for both companies looking to hire security talent and for security firms looking for employees across departments. Let us know what you think of it at jobboard@rsaconference.com!