Those of us in technology, that survived the last two recessions, can see the pending spike for niche IT Resources. In the last two recessions we experienced massive layoffs to cut costs in this recession; most companies cutting deeper then I have ever seen before. The second phase is employment depression, and low employee moral. This leads to most people staying in their current job, or situation, because of fear and security. Once the dust settles companies reassess their business goals, and leverage technology to increase their value proposition thereby increasing their competitive advantage.

Corporations have now shifted away from rapid growth strategies to focusing on sustainable growth. As a result, the strategic initiatives start rolling in to cut costs, improve profitability, and agility in order to win business. These initiatives will be the catalyst, or should I say domino affect, that will impact your ITSec Initiatives.  If you lose a critical-to–success ITSec Resource in a live project, are you prepared?

This is where we are at right now. People are trying to predict growth in the economy by days, months and years. We will still see more peaks & valleys. In my experience, I have realized that this is something that I can not control. I tend to focus on what I can control, and limit the number of surprises to stay ahead of my competition.

Because of the layoffs, salary cuts/freezes, sky rocketing benefit costs, and cuts in 401K the working population is depressed.  (I will not be addressing the unemployed; that will have to be for another time.) In fact, there were two major surveys that came out in September 09. One survey was done by Adecco, and the other by a talent visionary, Lou Adler. Both employment surveys share some eye opening information about our employees and resources.

75% of the employment population would consider a new opportunity if they were called. (“How to Get Ready for a Surge in Replacement Hiring’” by Lou Adler Sep 4, 2009, 5:46 am ET)

Why are so many people unsatisfied with their current companies?

• 66% are not satisfied with their current compensation
• 78% are not satisfied with the company's overall retention efforts
• 76% are not satisfied with career growth opportunities at the company

(Source: Adecco Group North America On Wednesday September 2, 2009, 9:30 am EDT)

Now, if you are a hiring manager and decision maker pause for a second. Think about your own ITSec Staff. You already have to do more with less budget dollars, and less resources. You start looking at your team: Who can I live with? Who can I live with out? What happens if I lose Steve during the most critical part of a highly visible, or dollar value initiatives? Who will that effect? What is the risk versus reward? What is your plan? 

The Domino Effect:

How is this going to play out when companies open their hiring facet a little bit? What I am about to share with you is not revolutionary, and a lot of the industry experts have been discussing this for months now. But, what I want to be able to do is make it relate to your business. As an ITSec decision maker, being prepared comes with the job. But, it is important to be prepared, and not blindsided by a critical talent gap during a live project. The current surplus of niche ITSec talent is going to dry up fast.  Once the faucet opens, the first group to move for opportunities will be the “dissatisfied’. Those vacancies will create movement throughout the companies. The second group or “Satisfied” employees will gain the confidence to go for a job that will help them achieve their personal and professional goals. And so on …

Do a Proactive Assessment:

The successful ITSec Departments I worked with in the past did a proactive assessment to asses their risk in order to put a plan in place. What did their plans look like? First they took stock in what they can control, have influence over, and what they could not control.

First, they focused on what they had control over:

• Understand intimately their Company’s business objectives.
• Evaluated their existing staff’s technical skills, technologies, and capabilities.
• Identified talent, or technology strengths, and weaknesses.
• Prioritized their risk areas: critical-to-success skills, or technology for the most crucial or high dollar projects.

Result: Those groups developed a talent contingency plan in order to minimize their risk, and reduce the time to acquire that coveted talent during live projects.

Secondly, and probably the most crucial step to their success, was that they understood how they procured their ITSec talent by determining what they have influence over, and what they have no control over. This assessment provided critical information on the strengths and weakness of their existing staffing programs. This allowed the managers to set expectation to all parties on how long it will take to fill their critical need, cost implications, and go or no go dates. This information is essential for planning, and setting expectations to leverage for change if you are not getting your needs met. Without setting expectations with your staffing partners, vendors, and integrator partners, you are at the mercy of what comes in for you to interview.  This can waste precious time we all do not have.

Most staffing programs are geared to volume hiring. They are based off spend to reduce costs, leveraging purchasing power, and tracking who is walking in and out of their company.  Sometimes they are not set up for niche needs. If your program is not set up to support your need effectively work with Recruitment & Procurement to develop a fair solution to your unique skills and technology. Do not forget you do have a lot of  influencing because you are keeping the corporation safe. I am seeing most staffing programs adding niche programs to partner, and help achieve all parties’ goals. This is great because the programs of the past were extremely ridged.

Now that you have a proactive talent strategy, know your strengths and weakness, and understand what your current staffing program can and can not do. You are set, right? No, as the leader you need to network with potential talent brokers who fit your niche, and other ITSec decision makers to see what their plans are. For your staff, now is the time to make sure they are happy and then encourage them to network with top ITSec talent so you can draft the right talent to your company when the time is right. 

Here is some information on hot skills right now that I thought would be beneficial for you. This recently came from an article from the Gov Info Security (September 16, 2009 - Upasana Gupta, Contributing Editor)  

The Most Demanded Skills
The security skills and aptitudes that attract the most interest from employers, according to Foote, are the more "hands-on" and technical ones, such as:

• Forensic Analysis
• Incident Handling & Analysis
• Security Architecture
• Ethical Hacking
• Network Security
• Security Management

The Most Demanded Competencies
Hand-in-hand with the most demanded skills comes the top competencies needed on the job. These include:

• Forensics
• Identity and Access Management
• Intrusion Detection and Prevention
• Penetration Testing
• Threat/ vulnerability Assessment Management
• Litigation Support (e-discovery)
• Disk and File Level Encryption Solutions
• Data Leak Prevention
• Application Security
• Governance, Compliance & Audit

In conclusion, those ITSec departments who understand the dynamics or trends of employment during a recession will have a greater competitive advantage to capture and retain their coveted ITSec talent. Having a proactive plan, and understanding the current advantages or limitations with their company’s staffing program will allow those hiring mangers the ability to control and influence the talent procurement process. This understanding will allow effective recruiting, and the ability to draft more talent then those companies who are like deer caught in the headlights when the ITSec talent pools start to shrink.

Thank you very much for your time, and for reading this article. I hope this information is useful for you, and that your proactive plan is a success. If you need any help, have questions, or would like to discuss this further please feel free to reach out to me. Joela@wisechoiceit.com.

Sincerely

Joel Abraham

Vice President

WiseChoice IT

Office 414-773-0679

www.wisechoiceit.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/talentmining