I am a professional Information Security recruiter who grapples with these issues on a daily basis. I thought I'd share a few observations. Understand that these are my opinions based on personal experience and take them for what they are worth. The market is bad right now. We started to see signs of increased hiring activity during the second quarter but things are still very tight. Most of the hiring activity we have seen is focused towards revenue generation and market positioning. In the past hiring was stimulated by the "race to market" and need for growth. The current focus seems to be on re-tooling and re-focusing. Most of our corporate clients would give anything to be able to hire staff right now. These folks are working their butts off with limited resources. Unfortunately, with earnings down, corporate budgets have been slashed, frozen, or both. The positions corporations actively hiring for are more focused towards supporting on-going operations or projects that were planned before everything went south. The exception is at the executive management level. We've been conducting some very high level searches for CISOs and are in the process of negotiating with several companies to recruit for similar roles. Organizations are starting to understand and act on the need for executive level Information Security management. However, their understanding and definition of these roles is all over the map and affected by a range of variables. There are a lot of people, both good and bad, on the streets right now. As a result, companies have tightened their hiring requirements because supply is outstripping demand. To some degree this is due to the mis-perception of hiring authorities that think they can cherry pick from the masses. It also has a lot to do with the fact that companies just can't afford to make a bad hire. Budgets are tight and shrinking, managers don't want to bring someone on board who needs to be cultivated or can't hit the ground running. Those of you out there hunting need to find ways to distinguish yourselves from the rest of the pack. As our industry becomes "legitimized" and valued as an integral part of business operations, we all need to tighten our game. The term "Information Security professional" is used quite often. However, many "professionals" have had their apples shined so brightly because of their "rare" skills that they haven't felt the need to act professionally. The fact is, the standards by which candidates are judged are changing. The bar has been set higher and we all need to work harder to meet these standards. My $.02. Take care all, Jeff -- Jeff Combs Alta Associates, Inc. 908-806-8442 908-806-8443 fax jeffat_private visit us at www.altaassociates.com
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