At The Decipher Bureau, we've noticed a distinct uptick in cyber security turnover during the past 12 months, primarily driven by intense competition for talent.
Before COVID, demand for cyber security talent was already increasing faster than it could be supplied. Then when the international borders closed, supply became even tighter.
As the market regained a level of confidence in 2020, there was a surge of hiring activity that saw the majority of active Cyber Security job seekers securing jobs. We now find ourselves in a ‘passive’ market, meaning a large percentage of candidates aren’t actively looking for new jobs, but are ‘open’ to the right opportunities. This has resulted in fewer applications for job advertisements and an increase in poaching to find the right talent. You can be sure your best performers are being approached on a regular basis.
A level of attrition is inevitable, but we’ve seen many cases of clients expressing both frustration and surprise at the resignation of a key performer that they’ve then had to replace. Losing top talent is an expensive exercise; there’re recruitment costs, onboarding costs, the time it takes new hires to get up to speed and the impact losing talent has on team engagement. Which is why every business should be polishing up its retention strategy. Here are a couple of things we think leaders should be looking at:
Retention strategies aren't foolproof; but a solid retention strategy can go a long way, and as they say, “prevention is better than a cure”. In a market this competitive, it's inevitable you'll lose some talent, but you may also save some with the right awareness. If you do lose some top talent, remember The Decipher Bureau is here to help you navigate the competitive market to get you back up and running as quickly as possible.