Dive Brief:

• IT leaders rank cyber security among their top concerns, yet the scarcity of IT talent and lack of development opportunities for new entrants leaves organizations struggling to meet the challenge, according to a new global survey of senior IT managers.
• The survey from Experis, the professional resourcing and project-based solutions arm of ManpowerGroup, found cyber security is the most frequently cited in-demand skillset globally (32%), nearly twice as much as the next mentioned skillset, software development (18%).
• This perceived talent shortage aligns with market data which suggest the gap between supply and demand for cyber security professionals globally will be nearly 1.5 million workers by 2019.

Dive Insight

Experis' research found that two-thirds of organizations still rely on a single resourcing strategy: 52% only use permanent employees, while 15% only use contractors. The study concludes that the best results tend to come from hybrid models, used by 33% of employers, that combine in-house teams with third-party expertise.

Ganesh Ramakrishnan, Global Chief Technology Officer, ManpowerGroup, says information security is a fast-changing field and companies are having to explore new talent models to keep up. "Clearly organizations need to do a better job developing talent internally, but given their fast-evolving IT needs many are also turning to outside vendors for help," he says.

The Experis report offers several recommendations for employers on how to manage their IT talent pools and deal with the widening security talent shortage, including: make information security talent management a priority; grow from within and, carefully evaluate new talent before hiring.