Outlook Bright for Federal IT Jobs

A new survey finds that even in the tough economy, the job outlook for information security professionals within the federal government remains strong, largely due to the Obama administration's focus on improving cybersecurity.

(ISC)2's 2010 Career Impact Survey, which interviewed nearly 3,000 information security professionals worldwide, including 668 respondents in the U.S. government, found that nearly 61 percent of federal respondents who identified themselves as having hiring abilities said they were looking to hire permanent and/or contract employees in 2010. Of those hiring, 51 percent said they plan to hire three or more information security professionals this year.

Despite these hiring projections, however, nearly 54 percent of hiring managers said their biggest hiring challenge was finding candidates with the right skills. Of those managers planning to hire in 2010, 61 percent said were looking for expertise in certification and accreditation, largely to help their agencies comply with certification and accreditation mandates required by the Federal Information Security Management Act and other government regulations. Hiring managers also identified security architecture and models, application and system security development, operations security, access control systems, telecommunications and network security, information risk management and security management practices as other in-demand skills.

Nearly 75 percent of government respondents also reported receiving salary increases in 2009, while 19.3 percent reported that their incomes stayed the same. Five percent of respondents said they experienced a cut in their salary or benefits last year.

While 40 percent of government respondents saw their information security budgets decreased somewhat or significantly in 2009, 52.1 percent expect no change in their budgets for 2010, while nearly 20 percent expect an increase in funding. Sixty-five percent of government respondents expect no personnel reductions or layoffs in 2010, while the remaining 35 percent were roughly split between additional layoffs and new hires, the survey found.

"The results from our latest Career Impact Survey show that in a very difficult economic environment, organizations are placing an even higher value on the work that information security professionals do," said W. Hord Tipton, executive director for (ISC)2. "It's a sign of the private and public sectors' ever-increasing dependence upon the stability and security of the online world, providing a plethora of career opportunities for knowledgeable, qualified, motivated security professionals."

Wired Workplace is a daily look at issues facing the federal information technology workforce. It is written by former Government Executive reporter Brittany Ballenstedt and published on Nextgov.com. Click here to read the latest entries.