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Cybersecurity and ITIS In Today's Job Market

October 5th, 2022 | 5 min. read

Cybersecurity and ITIS In Today's Job Market

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It’s no secret that the job market has seen its ups and downs the past couple of years. Job openings and resignations remain high and according to this Forbes article, “a new survey shows that half of U.S. companies are reducing, or plan to reduce, headcount.” We sat down with CCI Systems Recruitment Manager, Alexis Vicenzi, to get her take on the job market and how it can affect the cybersecurity and Information Technology Infrastructure Services (ITIS) departments at your business.

Where the Job Market Stands Today

Companies are starting to downsize their employee force due to inflation and ongoing supply chain problems. “Based on articles I’ve read, large corporations like Microsoft and Google are experiencing layoffs, others like Amazon are putting a freeze on Corporate hiring ” says Vicenzi.

She goes on to say that a lot of it is due to the pandemic, supply chain, and inflation. Companies in the technology/network market segment are getting nervous because they are continuing to see shipping delays for components of some of the products they manufacture. They have millions of dollars in backlog that they can’t bill out yet simply because they can’t get material parts in hand. This causes companies to put a freeze on hiring because they aren’t seeing the revenues come in even though they need to continue business as usual.

A large number of layoffs typically happen in December and January because that is the start of the fiscal year for many companies. As budgets become tighter, employee layoffs tend to be the first thing that happens to free up some space in the budget.

In-Person Versus Remote Workers

Although the pandemic and ongoing supply chain issues continues to negatively affect the job market, there are some positives that have come out of it. Most companies are no longer strangers to hiring a remote workforce. The pandemic forced many companies to go remote and most of those companies chose to stay remote even after the pandemic let up some.

In the past CCI and Guide Star would hire locally, within the Iron Mountain, Michigan and surrounding areas. If you aren’t familiar with Iron Mountain, it’s a small town in the Upper Peninsula, so the labor pool is smaller. Due to the shift from a local focus to hiring nationally, CCI and Guide Star are now able to select from a much larger candidate pool.

The one difference we have seen hiring on a national level are the wage inconsistencies which companies are experiencing nationwide. Prior to the pandemic, most companies provided competitive wages for their region, Vicenzi points out.

The Competitive IT Job Market

Many companies are starting to outsource their cybersecurity and IT services instead of hiring an internal IT professional partly because it’s difficult to find quality, experienced IT professionals today.

“Here at CCI, we’ve had no shortage of applicants, specifically when it comes to IT positions. Many are recent graduates looking to begin their career and CCI is a great place that welcomes new talent who have been taught todays technologies and are ready for the workforce.”

For companies like CCI Systems and Guide Star, the hiring process for IT roles can be slower, at times, as we search for the best talent that can best serve our business and customer’s needs.  “We would like people who have the existing experience we are seeking but this can sometimes be difficult to find. What we have found is more important is to hire someone who is a good cultural fit based on our values as a company and have the drive and motivation to learn,” says Vicenzi.

Outsourced IT and Cyber Services

We’ve already talked about the difficulty of finding quality IT employees that don’t break the budget, which is why many companies are outsourcing third-party providers to manage their IT and Cybersecurity services.

Happier Employees

With rising costs, it doesn’t always make sense to hire a full time IT person, especially one that might not have the experience needed to run an IT and cybersecurity program. Often, many businesses, especially small-to-medium in size, will hire an IT person and tack on a variety of other tasks and projects. This leads to burn out and unhappy employees that tend to come and go quickly. When a company outsources their IT from a third-party provider, like Guide Star, they are retaining their own talent and not putting the pressures and extra duties on other employees.

Cost and Time Savings

Not only will you have happier employees if you outsource your IT, but you will be saving money in the long run. A small-to-medium sized business typically needs maybe 10-15 hours a month of IT and Cybersecurity work. Hiring a third-party provider eliminates a variety of costs like hiring and training costs, software tool costs, and maintenance costs. At Guide Star, we provide everything your business needs to keep your IT running and secure at a lower price than what an in-house IT team would cost. Guide Star offers a turnkey solution and can get you started much more quickly on having a complete cybersecurity program.

Threat Detection and Response

The cybersecurity landscape is ever changing, and it can be hard for one person to keep up with threats and risks. Outsourcing a third-party provider can provide better insight into current and emerging cybersecurity threats. An external provider, like Guide Star, has a much larger data set and experiences alerts and security breaches more often than an internal IT employee would. You won’t have to worry about internal employees going through continuous training, which costs time and money.

It will also give you a peace of mind to know your systems are secured and being monitored 24/7. With services like Endpoint Protection, Guide Star can reduce your attack surface, stop active threats, and protect your critical business data. Often, internal employees don’t have the time or knowledge for continuous monitoring, which leaves your business vulnerable to breaches and attacks.

Jumpstart your IT and Cybersecurity Program

Are you ready to get started on outsourcing your IT and cyber programs, but don’t know where to get started? Guide Star and our partners can help you evaluate your program, build a roadmap for eliminating your risk, and ensure you have the resources you need to succeed.

We are technology agnostic, so we don’t resell security hardware or software. We can assist with augmenting your existing program or implement an entirely new program, depending on your needs.

If this is something your company may be interested in exploring, connect with us and start your plan today.

1-844-403-8551
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