Gender of Recruiter Makes a Difference: A study into Cybersecurity Graduate Recruitment
Joanne L. Hall, Asha Rao
TL;DR
The study investigates whether the gender of cybersecurity recruiters affects graduate recruitment decisions, using an anonymous Australian survey of 78 practitioners. It finds a significant gender difference: female recruiters prioritize people-focused non-technical skills, while non-female recruiters prioritize task-focused skills, a pattern not explained by recruiter role. The results underscore the value of gender-diverse recruitment panels and have implications for cybersecurity curricula that emphasize non-technical competencies. Limitations include the small, self-reported sample, but triangulation with wider literature supports the observed trends and motivates further qualitative follow-up.
Abstract
An ever-widening workforce gap exists in the global cybersecurity industry but diverse talent is underutilized. The global cybersecurity workforce is only 25% female. Much research exists on the effect of gender bias on the hiring of women into the technical workforce, but little on how the gender of the recruiter (gender difference) affects recruitment decisions. This research reveals differences between the non-technical skills sought by female vs non-female cybersecurity recruiters. The former look for recruits with people-focused skills while the latter look for task-focused skills, highlighting the need for gender diversity in recruitment panels. Recruiters are increasingly seeking non-technical (soft) skills in technical graduate recruits. This requires STEM curriculum in Universities to adapt to match. Designing an industry-ready cybersecurity curriculum requires knowledge of these non-technical skills. An online survey of cybersecurity professionals was used to determine the most sought after non-technical skills in the field. Analysis of the data reveals distinct gender differences in the non-technical skills most valued in a recruit, based on the gender of the recruiter (not the recruited). The gender differences discovered do not correspond to the higher proportion of women employed in non-technical cybersecurity roles.