The Office of Personnel Management is hosting a series of focus groups to garner solutions for beefing up the government’s cybersecurity workforce.
Starting today, OPM called on dozens of cybersecurity professionals and hiring managers to discuss strategies and best pratices for recruiting and retaining highly skilled workers. During the three-hour sessions, participants were given a list of potential solutions and asked to rank them as being the best or worst options for attracting cybersecurity workers.
Possible areas of focus include:
-Establishing a governmentwide cybersecurity certification process
-Mapping a governmentwide cybersecurity career path
-Create a new occupation definition, classification, qualification and standards
-Invest more in students
– Boost pay and use flexibilities
The focus groups are an extension of OPM’s work under the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE). The goal is to “ensure that federal agencies can attract, recruit and retain cybersecurity employees,” according to the NICE website.
Sessions will continue on Wednesday morning.
