Barclay Simpson
Overview: This is the first year Barclay Simpson has combined our can-didate and client reports, with over 1,600 governance profes-sionals responding to our global surveys. We are delighted to now share the key security trends with you.
The main theme of our findings is that security currently enjoys a healthy level of immunity to the UK’s ongoing economic and political uncertainty. Departments continued to grow in 2018 and talented professionals are more in demand than ever before.
Regulatory changes, such as GDPR and the FCA’s drive towards more cyber skills on boards, ensure security and resil-ience issues are now a priority for many organisations. Major data losses and high-profile hacks also remain a constant fixture of the news cycle and act as a frequent reminder of the perils of poor governance. These factors have delivered an almost recession-proof market for cyber professionals.
Overall, GDPR drove a more data-aware environment throughout 2018, which created a considerable amount of work for security functions. Extra workloads, combined with a well-documented skills shortage and competition from the contract market, created the perfect conditions for rising salaries last year.
However, our surveys revealed priorities may be changing among security practitioners. Career development and a better work-life balance were more important than salary increases for many candidates who were weighing up their options last year. We feel this is a clear sign that many professionals are now already well paid and are focused on other aspects of their jobs.
The future looks bright for the security recruitment market in 2019, with more employers hiring, cyber issues rising up board agendas and candidates increasingly comfortable with salaries. Challenges remain nonetheless, with fewer security departments reporting they are adequately resourced and one-fifth of businesses unhappy with their current recruitment model.
