Significance of Cyber Workforce Development

Last year I had the honor of co-authoring the NICE Cyber Talent Retention White Paper—a call to action for every employer struggling to keep cybersecurity talent engaged, empowered, and on the team. Six months later, the challenges we outlined haven’t gone away. Recent data from ISC2, SANS Institute, and CyberSeek confirms: 🔹 52% of cyber leaders say the real issue isn’t headcount — it’s having the right people with the right skills. 🔹 Turnover has doubled in some orgs, reaching up to 25% in security teams. 🔹 84% of orgs now use skills-based assessments for entry-level roles — yet most still lack clear pathways for developing internal talent. 🔹 Attitude now outweighs experience — with some leaders shifting from 70/30 tech-to-soft skills to 25/75. Culture, clarity, and career development matter. It's time organizations modernized their workforce strategy and HR/TA processes. Because you can’t fix a workforce challenge with hiring alone. And you can’t retain cyber talent without rethinking leadership, culture, and pathways for growth. If we want to build resilient cybersecurity teams, we need to: 1. Rethink job roles and hiring standards 2. Strengthen the bridge between HR and cyber leadership 3. Embrace internal mobility, mentorship, and hands-on training 4. Prioritize the human layer, not just the technical one 5. Leverage internships, apprenticeships, and skills-first models. If you’re an employer rethinking how to strengthen or scale your cyber team, I’d love to connect. 📄 Full document attached. 🔗 Link in the comments, if you'd like to share it with your team. #CybersecurityWorkforce #TalentRetention #CyberHiring #FutureOfWork #SkillsBasedHiring #WorkforceStrategy Bolt Resources

The Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) published the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy (NCWES) on 7/31/2023. If you still need to read through this document, it's well worth the time. Over the years, we have become accustomed to reading blanket statements about the cyber workforce and policy, delivering lots of ideas with little call-to-action (CTA). However, this publication differs. I'm seeing this as the first call to action for our nation to accelerate our focus on the cyber workforce in a joint and holistic fashion. It shows a focused convergence operating under four pillars of operation. 1. Equip Every American with Foundational Cyber Skills 2. Transform Cybe Education 3. Expand and Enhance America's Cyber Workforce 4. Strengthen the Federal Cyber Workforce Within the document, we are finally seeing how cyber taxonomy, skills-based workforce hiring and development, non-profits, academia, industry, NGOs, SMEs, and more need to come together, harmonizing an approach that matters to our nation's cybersecurity workforces. Also, the document is quite comprehensive, noting the needs for K-12 action, employer pathways, tighter alignment between government and industry (job sharing), and how government should lead in skills-based hiring (including assessments). Cyber skills development is a full-system lift, as one improvement (say, better coaching options) will only work with improving all other areas. Cyber (really, technology and our relationship with it) includes pretty much everything we touch and should be a cultural change. I see that NCWES document as a call to action for non-profits, academia, industry, and government to break down the silos and work on harmonizing education, training, credentialing, assessments, career pathing, and so much more. It's well worth the read. #ONCD #NCWES #CyberBytesFoudation #NIST800181 #NationalInitiativeforCybersecurityEducation #NICE #NIST