Key points:
- Certification continues to deliver differentiation in the cybersecurity marketplace
- In higher-ed IT, balancing innovation with cyber risk
- My journey into cybersecurity: A perspective on student-powered SOCs
- For more news on cybersecurity hiring trends, visit eCN’s Cybersecurity hub
The cybersecurity field has long experienced strong demand for talent amid a limited supply of highly-qualified professionals, and recent research from ISC2, a leading member association for cybersecurity professionals, reveals that the economic and geopolitical challenges affecting other areas of organizations are now similarly impacting cybersecurity teams.
As a result, cybersecurity professionals and hiring managers face growing budget constraints, making it increasingly difficult to recruit, build, and retain resilient and effective teams.
Despite current challenges, cybersecurity continues to be a vital, high-demand, and well-compensated career path, presenting significant opportunities alongside complex hiring challenges, according to 2025 Cybersecurity Hiring Trends: Why Investing in Entry- and Junior-Level Talent is Key to Building a More Resilient Cybersecurity Workforce.
Hiring managers face intense competition for top talent from a limited candidate pool. In today’s environment, there is growing focus on entry- and junior-level professionals, highlighting the importance of supporting career development within cybersecurity teams. Hiring managers must also ensure that job descriptions for early-career roles are both realistic and attainable to attract and retain emerging talent effectively.
“As this report shows, certification continues to deliver differentiation in the marketplace, outpacing education and nearly on par with experience. Certification has never been more crucial to ensure there is clear qualification of cybersecurity professionals,” wrote Dan Houser, the ISC2 2024 Board of Directors chair.
Key findings include:
1. When hiring entry- and junior-level cybersecurity professionals, security managers tend to value hands-on experience and certifications more highly than formal education. In fact, the majority are willing to consider candidates who have prior IT work experience (90 percent) or hold an entry-level cybersecurity certification (89 percent), even without a degree.
2. Internships (55 percent) and apprenticeships (46 percent) are increasingly seen as effective strategies for identifying and recruiting early-career cybersecurity talent. While traditional methods like job postings and staffing or recruiting firms remain leading sources (both at 57 percent) for entry- and junior-level hires, industries such as education, healthcare, government, IT services, and telecommunications are placing equal or greater emphasis on internships.
3. Nearly 3 in 5 cybersecurity hiring managers (58 percent) expressed concern about turnover among entry- and junior-level team members. However, the majority reported having the budget to support professional development (75 percent) and to maintain adequate staffing levels (73 percent). The findings underscore that training early-career talent is both quick and cost-effective, positioning it as a smart, high-return investment for building strong cybersecurity teams
4. Approximately one-quarter of cybersecurity hiring managers who recruit from educational programs (which make up 55 percent of respondents) have found entry- and junior-level talent from fields outside of computer science, IT, or cybersecurity. This highlights an opportunity to expand the talent pipeline by considering candidates with both IT and non-IT academic backgrounds.
5. Evidence suggests that cybersecurity hiring managers place equal–and sometimes greater–importance on non-technical skills compared to technical expertise. Top-ranked qualities include teamwork, problem-solving, and analytical thinking, surpassing even data security and cloud security in priority.
6. A consistent gap exists between the expectations security managers have for entry- and junior-level cybersecurity professionals and what these individuals can realistically deliver early in their careers.
- Students view AI with optimism, but women are at risk of being left behind - July 7, 2025
- 6 key cybersecurity hiring trends - July 3, 2025
- Digital innovation and human connection are reshaping higher ed - June 30, 2025