J Patrick + Associates Blog

“There is a zero-percent unemployment rate in cybersecurity and the opportunities in this field are endless” - Robert Herjavec, CEO at Herjavec Group

Cybersecurity Ventures predicts there will be 3.5 million unfulfilled job positions by the year 2025. Due to the dramatic rise of cybercrime, the malicious malware epidemic, and the increasing amount of severity attacks on consumers, businesses, and government institutions; cyber security is predicted to cost trillions of dollars annually by 2025.

In essence, bad news for the security of our information is good news for sales engineer employment. And where there's a boom, there's a demand for talent. One field that's feeling the full effects of this expansion is cybersecurity sales engineers.

Cyber Security Sales Salary

With an increase in cyber security sales engineers, demand comes an increase in salary range. In 2022, the average American Cyber Security Sales Engineer's salary was between $80-$150K, with experienced professionals averaging over $120K. And in an environment where talent is at a premium, and the demand is outpacing the supply; candidates who are in the job market often are fielding competing offers, as well as counter-offers from their current employers.

Cyber Security Sales Engineer Path

What the increase of hiring means is, if you're in cyber security presales, you have the opportunity to exercise agency over your career by taking the offers that you feel stand to most enrich and add value to your career trajectory.

Hiring Managers

If you're a hiring manager charged with hiring cyber sales engineers, you already know that the competition for talent is fierce. You also know that you might have to push your budget to get the level of talent you need to keep your company's and/or your customer's data safe. And you probably also understand there's tremendous value in interviewing candidates even when you don't have an immediate opening. But there are a few other key issues to keep in mind.

Lose the Checklist

When you're faced with a competitive market and top talent comes at a premium, you have to be willing to look beyond your checklist. The best candidate may not carry all the certifications you want to see, or they might carry ones you never considered important. They might come from a different sector or not have the years experience you're looking for, but the overabundance of open cyber security sales engineer jobs needs to be filled. This means that you need to develop a technique for evaluating the kinds of non-technical skill sets that will stand you in good stead when making a hiring decision.  

Understand the Power of Soft Skills

As the bridge between the technology and the customer, a sales engineer's ability to manage and communicate effectively with customers needs to be a prime consideration. Since they are in daily contact with customers, they are your eyes and ears in the field, and having someone who is an agile communicator of human experience (as well as technical expertise) is invaluable to you. While you will directly experience a candidate's interpersonal aptitude in an interview, you can also ascertain the nature and extent of their skills by having them complete a respected psychometric exam like the O.C.E.A.N./Big 5 personality indicator.   

Hone Your Game

And speaking of soft skills, in order to attract the best talent, you need to have a company culture in place that both values and invests in their employees. We already know that the best retention and recruiting tool is to make employees and candidates feel valued. Determine what your ideal candidate would need in order to feel like a valued member of your team and actively develop those aspects of your business. Always keep in mind that--now more than ever--the proverbial "ball" is in candidates' courts. Top talent will carefully weigh the prospect of working on your team against that of working for your competitors.  

When you're hunting for top talent in a crowded field, always make sure that you have the best position on offer.

Looking for a cyber security sales engineer to join your sales team? Click Here, and a recruiter will reach out to you within 24 hours.

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All too often, hiring managers get caught up on their checklists, looking only for direct experience or a set number of years in the field. However, with over 1 million available jobs in the cyber security industry, it’s safe to say it’s time to think outside of the box when it comes to filling these positions.Cyber security professionals need a dynamic range of skills, so even though your job description may not stipulate certain certifications, when you come across a candidate with certs (even unrelated to your space or sector) you need to sit up and take notice as there is an important set of skills those certs are pointing to.

Here are 4 key qualities that cybersecurity certifications can tell you about a candidate.

Motivation to Succeed

There is no greater motivator than the drive to succeed. Often people will need some sort of trigger to get them inspired and motivated. However, if a person has motivated themselves to go out, study, and complete the exam, then you know you’re looking at someone who is both driven and creative. You can be assured that this individual is someone who, when they’ve set their eye on a target, will do everything they can to accomplish their goals.

Life Long Learner

In a time when technology is constantly advancing, an individual who is dedicated to always enhancing their knowledge and education is the type of person you want on your team. You need your employees to always play at the top of their game whether it be configuring new security software or managing a security breach. When you are working in a market that is constantly changing, you need people who make it their business to stay current. Pursuing certifications is a strong indicator that a candidate has both the drive and the ability to stay informed.

Agility

Most certifications exams are difficult to pass with minimal job experience. After all, the greatest learning tool is getting out and getting your hands dirty.  A study conducted by CEB Communications showed that agile employees outperform hard workers. When developing your team, you want quick learners who are swift on their feet. Agile employees are the one’s who nail down a skill and are able to pass on their newly acquired knowledge to their coworkers. They can think around corners and have the facility to think ahead to the next move. These type of individuals are ready for the unexpected and know how to work their way through difficult situations.

110%

The people that are successful are the individuals who give their all. Some of the certification exams require hundreds of hours to prepare for- and they are not the easiest of tests to pass. The type of person who will learn and provide their maximum effort is the same person you want out in the field with your team. If they have a problem, they will find a solution, and if they don't understand something, they won't let it go until they do. Former Yankee Manager and 6x World Series Champion, Don Zimmer, once said, “What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle and giving 110 percent all the time.”

There will be candidates that don't meet all of your expectations, but may come equipped with certain skills or credentials that make up for the absent ones. Instead of restraining yourself and having the job description be your checklist, use it as a simple guideline. When you look beyond the norm, and look into a candidate’s skill set, you are not only opening up the range of possible hires, but you are strengthening your team in the long run.

Related Blog: 

5 CYBER SECURITY CERTIFICATIONS YOU NEED TO GET AHEAD