We're constantly pointing out that cybersecurity is a very, very VERY hot-button career track. The latest evidence was outlined in InformationWeek, which reported the Department of Homeland Security and the Air Force need 1,700 cybersecurity pros right now, and that's just for starters. So why is hiring them so hard?

At a recent cybersecurity workforce conference at the National Institute for Standards and Technology's offices in Gaithersburg, Md., chief information security officers and other government IT managers identified a range of related issues: a confusing morass of certifications; HR processes that identify candidates based on buzzwords, not bona fide experience; drawn-out hiring and security-clearance processes; federal mandates that push unqualified people to the front of the hiring line; and competition with the private sector for job candidates.

According to some officials, the problem also lies in simply classifying the jobs.

The feds have long had difficulty describing the job of cybersecurity specialists, so the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the government's HR department, is working to provide new guidance around cybersecurity job classifications, hiring, and performance management.

Bureaucracy can certainly be frustrating. No wonder security pros look to the private sector first.

-- Don Willmott