Hiring Diverse Talent into Cybersecurity

We’ve been a little quiet since our September Blog , but that doesn’t mean that the work has stopped! We simply just got too swamped to stop and reflect on what we’ve achieved, regarding our D&I commitments. However, there has been so much positivity over the last six months. Here’s a quick overview:

Neurodiversity:

On the back of some real strides forward in helping more women get hired into cyber roles, we’ve started educating ourselves around the experience of neurodivergent talent in cyber. My colleague, Aran Connery, has started publishing weekly, educational content, including some very well-received blog posts, about considerations for hiring managers when they’re interviewing and onboarding neurodivergent talent, among other things. We’ve already had some incredibly optimistic comments, letting us know that many individuals have felt seen and acknowledged from this content, which is exactly what we hoped would happen and we’re excited to see how we can take this further.

It’s a topic that, at present, I’ll be honest and say that I don’t know much about. However, none of us are claiming to be experts and we’re being very open about the fact that we’re continually educating ourselves. For me personally, I’m really keen to make sure that I skill myself up to ensure that we are using our role in the lifecycle of hiring to ensure that neurodivergent talent have better access to cyber jobs, and that the selection process is optimised to effectively test their skills.

Here are some of the resources I’ve used to learn more. I’ll start gathering articles I read too and I’m keen to hear from you about other resources I could turn to:

Video/Podcasts:

·     Mayim Bialik's podcast with Big Bang creator Bill Prady

·     Aspergers Are Us on Netflix

·   Grounded with Louis Theroux. Episode 20 with Justin Theroux

 Books:

·     Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman  

·     Scattered Minds by Gabor Maté

·     Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a Neurotypical World by Laura James

·     The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

Racial Diversity:

Last summer, we signed the VersusRacism pledge. At the time, I made a promise to myself that LT Harper’s commitment to promoting racial diversity in the cyber sector wouldn’t stop with the pledge. To make good on that promise, we are now partnering with Chikere Igbokwe and her organisation, Allyship, and are planning a series of webinars on intersectionality around racial and gender diversity in the tech sector. Stay tuned for more details on how you can get involved!

Gender Diversity:

We’re continuing to be recognised as market leaders in helping clients attract gender diverse candidates into cyber roles. I was very proud to be a finalist in Natwest’s Women in Business awards back in December, largely because of the impact we’ve made on the D&I agenda within cyber.

We are still bucking the trend with 23% of our hires with clients as women in the cyber sector. However, there’s still a lot of work to be done. At our peak, we were at 26% and I’m keen to make sure that we’re continuing to build out our networks of female jobseekers in cyber and offering them up the best opportunities. To help us do this, we’re currently completely revamping our mentorship service, so that we can offer the most support to women in the industry. Access to mentors continues to be a high priority for women in cyber, so we’re committed to investing in the right tech to ensure they’ll have a really positive, useful experience.

Entry-Level Cyber Talent:

While we don’t have many graduate/student roles at LT Harper, we’re still aware that breaking into a new industry is tough. Therefore, we’ve recently really tried to make an impact amongst the entry-level cyber talent. We’ve launched a series of informational webinars with universities across the country, including Royal Holloway, Newcastle and Surrey, showing students the various opportunities within cyber and some specialist advice on CV and interviews. We’re also hugely looking forward to hosting a panel discussion around cyber careers for women, to students at the University of Kingston, for International Women’s Day!

So, while we’ve been quiet, the graft hasn’t stopped. We’ve been working hard to continue our efforts of hiring gender diverse talent and are upping our efforts on the neuro and racial diversity side of things too.