White House Cyber ​​Czar Kicks Off New Recruiting Sprint

The White House Office of the National Cybersecurity Director announced a new recruitment Wednesday for nearly half a million cybersecurity positions in the United States.

The campaign, called Service to America, will run through October. ONCD is partnering with the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management in the sprint.

“Throughout our history, generation after generation of Americans have risen to the challenge of their time, protecting and serving our nation in many ways,” Harry Coker, national director for cyber, wrote in a blog post. “Today, we face a new challenge and, with it, a new opportunity to serve: defending cyberspace.”

According to Cyberseek, there are currently about 470,000 cyber jobs in the United States.

The federal government alone had 3,000 openings in job series 2210 — which covers IT jobs, including some cybersecurity positions — in fiscal year 2024.

That’s according to a review the White House Office of Cybersecurity is conducting with OMB and OPM, said Seeyew Mo, deputy director for cybersecurity for workforce, education and awareness at ONCD. Next Row/FCW.

The moves are the latest in the administration’s efforts to expand the national cybersecurity workforce.

The White House cyber office released a workforce strategy last year. Since then, it has also collected commitments from organizations to train and expand its cyber workforce and eliminate the requirement for a four-year degree in cybersecurity jobs — a move the federal government is also taking in its own cyber hiring.

The government’s human resources agency has also submitted a proposal to lawmakers to amend legislation on cyberbullying and compensation, but the initiative has so far failed to generate much interest among lawmakers, at least not from the public.

The aim of the new campaign, Mo said, is both to raise awareness among job seekers who may not be aware of the opportunities offered by cybersecurity and to connect with employers in the public and private sectors.

“We’re trying to connect more Americans with good-paying, meaningful jobs in cyberspace,” Mo said. “We need more Americans interested in those jobs.”

As Coker writes, part of this battle is perception.

He wrote that a high-level technical education or cybersecurity degree is not necessary to work in this field. Still, there are barriers to entry for some, including requirements for degrees, years of experience and cybersecurity certifications.

The administration says it is focused on removing these obstacles.

Last spring, ONCD and OPM announced they would change federal government IT workforce requirements to allow agencies to hire federal employees without a college degree who learned skills on the job.

The Departments of Labor and Commerce have also taken steps to create cybersecurity internship programs in 2022.

In the latest effort, the cyber czar’s office will coordinate with other federal agencies to recruit and hire at job fairs, Mo said. The first of those, aimed at military spouses, will be held Thursday.

ONCD is also encouraging agencies and private-sector partners to adopt best practices, such as eliminating the requirement for a degree and offering entry-level cybersecurity jobs, internships and paid apprenticeships, Mo said.

“We’re trying to open up opportunities for every American who wants to serve their nation,” he said. “It’s about widening the paths and removing the barriers.”

The administration is also seeking to hire artificial intelligence specialists across the government after Biden signed an executive order last fall dedicated to the technology.

The landing page for OCND’s new effort includes links to job openings in tech and AI, in addition to cybersecurity. The efforts are complementary, Mo said.

“Cyber ​​is more than just cybersecurity,” he noted. “You don’t need ‘cyber’ in your title to do cyber work.”