Understand security recruitment to advance your career

The corporate security recruitment landscape of today looks quite different from that of 10 years ago. Technological advancements that benefit hiring companies and candidates alike have grown and their effect on recruitment has been noticed. It is interesting to evaluate how some recruitment practices have evolved to meet these challenges. Some of these shifts have been beneficial while others have created an impersonal, transactional environment.

Recruitment companies of all sizes around the globe adapt in diverse ways to the changing face of talent acquisition. Some of those firms that pre-dated the explosion of data/cybersecurity have either been sold, diversified into other recruitment sectors, or branched into unrelated businesses such as meetings or themed conferences to augment revenue.

Despite security’s heightened profile, corporate security executive roles remain in the minority within organizations. Internal human resources and talent acquisition departments often struggle to fill those positions as they recruit for them so infrequently. Social media and networking sites offer internal recruiters a source of potential candidates in areas they may not normally work, and in some instances can be a viable solution. Unfortunately, participants in the largest professional sites have started to shift their utilization. As a result, its members are more frequently sharing a wide range of personal endeavors, social activities and unsolicited, sometimes inappropriate, opinions.

Organizations that tend to hire a specialist security recruiter know that the same pool of candidates available to their internal recruitment team is available to the recruiter. It is our experience that many clients who hire us are doing so for just that reason. Rather than searching for only those candidates who have put themselves out there, they are seeking engagement with those passive candidates not normally found as a part of a keyword search. Further the response rate to an inquiry is significantly less.

The additional complication is that — by its very nature — security breeds caution. Many security practitioners are simply not comfortable with any of their personal data in the public domain. They may utilize social media for intelligence but would prefer to be absent from it themselves. We like to say that security professionals practice social monitoring vs. social media. As a result, large segments of security professionals are not accessible.

Another pushback to pure socialization of recruitment is hiring departments that factor in budget for outside recruitment support with the direct goal of bypassing their internal talent acquisition team. They recognize that limitations exist within their organization and are planning to accommodate the gap.

The silo effect that often exists in larger organizations is also a source of consternation to both clients and candidates. The functions that must come together to hire recruitment support often include the hiring department, procurement, human resources and any other stakeholders, some or all of whom can be in different countries. A specialist recruitment partner understands how each function comes into play and can better manage expectations for clients.

Security recruitment will continue to be valuable partners for hiring organizations for the foreseeable future. In addition to a keen understanding of the roles to be filled, we skillfully navigate our clients’ internal operations to put unique top talent in place for them. Recruitment partnerships yield impressive results for both security job seekers and the companies that hire them.