We need many more students in cyber. How do we achieve this? Find out how and why with our digital booklet:

Thinking and Talking about Cybersecurity Career Awareness

3.5 million jobs to fill around the world in the next couple of years — and just a trickle of college grads entering the workforce with anything like the skills needed for success.

Getting more, and more different kinds of, kids excited about cybersecurity careers should be an all-hands-on-deck effort. Whether in industry, government, education, or career development, we all need to be telling a clear, compelling story to students about why they should be considering a career in cybersecurity.

Getting on the same page

But reaching an audience much larger than the kids who are already interested in the field has been a challenge. Thinking and Talking about Cybersecurity Career Awareness can help us address exactly this problem. A quick, 24-page read, the booklet offers ideas and approaches for making cybersecurity an accessible, relevant topic for all the students who assume cybersecurity is not for them:

• Filling out the cybersecurity workforce: Why diversity — both cognitive and demographic — is so important.

• More than just technical skills: The varied habits of mind and skills we should be developing in students.

• Finding the right kids: What a potential cybersecurity professional might look like as a young teenager.

• The fit between cyber and STEM: How cybersecurity education supports and extends the benefits of STEM education.

• The many dimensions to cybersecurity work: So many kinds of jobs and roles make up the field, there’s something in it to suit nearly every kind of student.

It’s a great first step towards helping students of all backgrounds and interests see a future for themselves in cybersecurity.