John Berry
If you plan on landing a cybersecurity job with the federal government, above all, you’d better be honest, a good learner and resilient.
Oh yeah, make sure you can read and write.
That’s according to most government cybersecurity workers and managers who participated in the Office of Personnel Management’s cybersecurity survey last fall.
OPM reached out to 50,000 feds for their thoughts about the most critical tasks and competencies required to be an effective cyber worker. Their responses were used to create a so-called cybersecurity competency model for information technology management, electronics engineering, computer engineering and telecommunications job series.
Participants ranked technical and general competencies in order of importance from one to 34.
Here are the top 10:
|
Competencies |
Current Importance |
Future Importance |
|---|---|---|
|
Integrity/Honesty |
1 |
1 |
|
Computer Skills |
2 |
2 |
|
Technical Competence |
3 |
3 |
|
Teamwork |
4 |
4 |
|
Attention to Detail |
5 |
6 |
|
Interpersonal Skills |
6 |
7 |
|
Communications Security Management |
7 |
5 |
|
Self-Management |
8 |
9 |
|
Reading |
9 |
11 |
|
Customer Service |
10 |
10 |
Security and computer network defense didn’t stand a chance against learning and resilience, which took the #15 and #18 spots.
In a Feb. 16 memo, OPM director Jerry Berry encouraged chief human capitol officers to use the list of competencies in “workforce planning, training and development, performance management, recruitment and selection.”
And in case agencies forgot…
“When used for selection, the competencies must be used in conjunction with the appropriate qualification standard,” Berry said.
Apparrently, the cybersecurity survey is only a fraction of what’s to come. OPM is heading the federal workforce track of a larger initiative to support the president’s cybersecurity, education and innovation goals.
