Employer demand for cybersecurity professionals continues to strain talent availability, making 2022 a record-setting year for job postings in this field, according to new data released during Cybersecurity Awareness Week by the cybersecurity workforce analytics platform CyberSeek.
CyberSeek, which was developed through a partnership of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), Lightcast and the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), reported that employers listed 769,736 openings for cybersecurity positions or jobs requiring cybersecurity skills during the 12-month period that ended in September 2022. This included 17,377 jobs in New Jersey.
“The data should compel us to double-down on efforts to raise awareness of cybersecurity career opportunities to youth and adults, especially during Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week which is an international campaign to inspire individuals to explore the variety of types of cybersecurity-related roles that are needed in both the public and private sectors,” said Rodney Petersen, director of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE).
Despite a slight pullback in hiring activity in the most recent months from the record volumes of earlier this year, total cybersecurity job postings for Q3 2022 tracked 30% higher than the same period in 2021 and 68% higher than 2020. The supply-demand ratio held steady at 65, indicating there were about 65 cybersecurity workers in the labor market (most already employed) for every 100 cybersecurity job postings.
The profession continues to expand into specialized fields, such as penetration tester and threat analyst, CyberSeek’s data found. There is a similar expansion of cybersecurity skills requirements in adjacent positions such as auditor (+336%), software developer (+87%), cloud architect (+83%) and technical support engineer (+48%).
“The CyberSeek data reaffirms the critical importance of feeder roles and thinking more creatively about on-ramps and career pathways,” said Ron Culler, vice president cyber learning officer, CompTIA. “It is clear from the CyberSeek data that cybersecurity’s importance and impact reaches all levels of the tech workforce. We see this trend continuing and are committed to ensuring that cybersecurity professionals are prepared for the current and future challenges this will bring.”
“Demand for cybersecurity talent has been accelerating for years, and employers are showing no signs of taking their foot off the gas,” said Will Markow, vice president of applied research at Lightcast. “That’s why it is more important than ever to build robust talent pipelines to ensure a safer digital world. We can’t accept leaving holes in our cybersecurity defenses simply because we don’t have enough trained workers to plug them.”
Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week, which runs Oct. 17–22, is an effort to build awareness about the variety of cybersecurity careers that are available and share resources for those interested in pursuing a career in cybersecurity. For more information about exploring career pathways in cybersecurity, go to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s website here.
The New Jersey Pathways to Career Opportunities has a Collaborative for Science and Technology, which has established a Cybersecurity Center of Workforce Innovation in partnership with five New Jersey community colleges:
- Bergen Community College
- Camden County College
- Ocean County College
- Raritan Valley Community College
- Rowan College at Burlington County
