Finding qualified staff to replace vacancies or build out an expanding team can be a nightmare for already overburdened CISOs, especially given there’s a pernicious and ongoing shortage of skilled cybersecurity workers in the job market. One creative alternative to frustratedly trolling job-search sites is to look inward, rather than outward — to find capable, smart people already working at a company in other areas and train them to fill roles on the cyber team.
There are many benefits to upskilling over hiring anew: current employees don’t need to adjust to the corporate culture, they have institutional memory, they have relationships within the company, and they’re already in the human resources channel. The downside is their lack of training and certification — but that’s a small price to pay for gaining a talented team member.