Peter Graham
Three Booz Allen Hamilton executives said they have observed five qualities that help organizations attract and retain professionals who possess cybersecurity skills.
Booz Allen’s Abby Cashman, Erin Weiss Kaya and Joseph Thompson wrote in a joint opinion piece published Saturday on Fifth Domain that companies and agencies should not depend on a competitive salary package alone to bring in cyber talent.
“Working with the federal government and global organizations across multiple industry sectors, we’ve found that work environment can play a powerful role in attracting and engaging the elite teams that true enterprise security demands,†they noted.
Cashman, Kaya and Thompson said an employer should create a work environment that is conducive to organizational agility to offer employees the flexibility to confront evolving threat tactics.
They added that a cyber practice should establish teams that can perform multiple functions using different knowledge sets, invest in efforts to reskill its workforce and implement a talent management strategy to support employees’ role changes.
Finally, the three executives noted that cyber professionals appreciate working in informal office setups that offer flexible working arrangements, decompression time and an opportunity to perform work suited to the nature of their job.
