Bank rewrote ads for infosec jobs to stop scaring away women
- Reference: 1680586640
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/04/04/westpac_rewrote_inosec_job_ads_for_women/
- Source link:
The land down under, like most other lands, has a shortage of cyber security professionals.
"We realized our job ads were worded in a way that females deselected because they would look at it literally and think 'Well I don't have five years of [experience in] that'," said Richard Johnson, the bank's chief information security officer."
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"A lot of men would just go 'Well, I could do that'. Women would deselect. So we've changed the way we do job ads, to talk more about the experience that we're after and the type of person versus specific technical skills.
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"We hire for type," Johnson added. "We're after people who are resilient, problem solvers who network and can socialize well with people and are adaptive and flexible. That describes lots of females I know who are actually very strong in that category."
Johnson said another recruitment challenge the bank faces is "removing myths about cyber that it's all about hoodies, and green screen and coders and it's highly technical."
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"There is certainly that [technical] aspect to it," he said. "But in my team, just as an example, I have media specialists, I have project managers, I have communication specialists. I have geologists, I have ex-law-enforcement. I have branch staff. I have ex-tellers. I have several data scientists, several MBAs and economists and accountants, and we use all of them in providing a cyber capability."
[5]IT depts struggle with skills shortages despite Big Tech layoffs
[6]Bosses failing to offer hybrid work lose out in recruitment
[7]Workday sued over its AI job screening tool, candidate claims discrimination
[8]IT recruiter settles claims it snubbed American workers
Speaking at the AWS Summit in Sydney on Tuesday, Johnson also revealed that infosec is "treated with the utmost importance from the board down right through the executive and it's integral to our risk management, programs and capabilities."
The CISO said he delivers a weekly update to the bank's CEO on infosec matters, and presents to the board each quarter.
"We do things like cyber simulations – not just in the technical layer, but right through the leadership ranks," he said. Those drills practice the operational and business impacts of an incident.
"That goes all the way up to the board." ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZCv1R5I7Vk6jTLqyZQQFIwAAAIM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZCv1R5I7Vk6jTLqyZQQFIwAAAIM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZCv1R5I7Vk6jTLqyZQQFIwAAAIM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZCv1R5I7Vk6jTLqyZQQFIwAAAIM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/22/skills_shortage_shadows_it_departments/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/01/gartner_hybrid_work/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/23/workday_discrimination_lawsuit/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/15/secureapp_doj_us_workers/
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: So they removed the impossible?
I got the impression that this was a "we did this and it seems to be going well" kind of presentation.
Autistic People too
I was at a talk about Autism yesterday and the "All the skills we can possibly think might be useful" style of job advert was mentioned as a barrier because Autistic people see the list as minimum requirements and then think they're not suitable.
Re: Autistic People too
I dont think it's just autistic people that struggle with these types of adverts. Pretty much anyone low on confidence or whose relatively fresh on to the market looks at those types of adverts and thinks either I couldnt do that, or I havent got a chance. It's such a wasteful and lazy way to search for people.
Having knowledge of a particular program/skill might be important for the job, but whether you've used it for 3 months, 12 months or 20 years, it's unlikely to have too much of an effect if the person is good and able/willing to learn.
I'm sure we all know people who have used Word for 20 years, who still havent got a clue about hotkeys or shortcuts, which is a good counter argument that having 20 years experience in something doesnt necessarily make you good at it..
Re: Autistic People too
If they're minimum requirements then it is a list of things you need
So missing them is in fact gonna make you unsuitable.
Re: Autistic People too
That's IF they are actually a minimum requirement.
Having knowledge of C+ would be a minimum requirement. Having a minimum of 5 years in C+ is not a minimum requirement, because is there really a big difference between someone who has used C+ for 6 months against someone who has used it for 5 years? The only correct answer is "It depends". Someone who has been using C+ for 5 years to create cookie cutter programs, is not going to have significantly more knowledge than the fresh graduate who has only been using it for 6 months. A proper professional who has used C+ for a variety of different use case will have more knowledge and know where the mistakes are to be made and avoided. But equally that could be achieved with 2 years experience or 20. So putting a number value there, really is just laziness.
It takes proper screening of applications, as well as knowing the right questions to ask in interviews to determine who has the actual level of experience you need (note need, not want), and the willingness to learn the rest, to get the right candidate. But that's hard work, which is why so many firms dont do it properly.
You could probably also look at it the other way as well, if a firm is that lazy when it comes to finding new employees, are they going to be any better once you are actually working there? Probably not...
I've been on several seminars/courses about writing job adverts/descriptions: Shock horror, the lessons the Aussies have just learned have been best practise here for the past decade.
Being best practise doesn't mean it's applied...
>problem solvers who network and can socialize well with people and are adaptive and flexible
*rolls eyes*
So they removed the impossible?
Far too many job ads include things like "five years experience in %TECH_RELEASED_IN_2023%".
Did this bank finally realise that means only liars will get interviewed?