When you’re recruiting for your IT or cybersecurity team, you’re no doubt combing through candidates’ resumes for technical skills — and for good reason. These roles require technical proficiency.
IT and cybersecurity practitioners, however, don’t work in a vacuum. While they do spend a lot of time analyzing technical information, they also need a variety of soft skills. In fact, a survey by Tripwire found that security teams highly value soft skills, yet many candidates lack them.
Let’s take, for example, the job of a security analyst. IT and networking knowledge, security fundamentals and incident response are essential but not enough. A security analyst needs to not only investigate suspicious activity and alerts, but also communicate in a high-pressure situation and collaborate in a team.
To find the best candidate for the job, these are the top soft skills that you should evaluate.
Verbal and Written Communication
The Tripwire survey identified communication as the most important soft skill in cybersecurity. Communication skills are important in situations such as:
- Presenting information to nontechnical stakeholders
- Connecting technical challenges and insights to business objectives
- Writing incident reports
- Developing and writing security policies
- Educating peers across departments about cybersecurity hygiene
You can evaluate communication skills partly based on individual performance on the job interview. As another step, ask candidates to explain a scenario or troubleshoot a hypothetical situation.
Problem-Solving
Problem-solving requires more than technical acumen. Troubleshooting an issue successfully involves a systematic approach, as well as creative thinking.
You can use the same hypothetical troubleshooting question as above, or ask the candidates to describe a complex situation they had to solve. Note how they tackle a multilayered problem.
Collaboration and Team Work
Collaboration ties in closely with communication, and it’s a deeper level of someone’s ability to work well with others. To solve cybersecurity and IT problems, practitioners must break silos and collaborate not only within their team but also across other functions in your organization.
Use a situational question to evaluate the candidates’ approach to a process that required collaboration or working in a team.
Ability to Work Under Pressure
Fast-paced and high-stakes situations are par for the course in this job. But a stressful environment is not for everyone.
Security and IT pros often work under pressure to quickly triage, prioritize and mitigate threats. They must be able to think quickly on their feet in a chaotic environment. If you’re creating a hypothetical scenario question for the interview, throw a curveball like an unexpected component or a changing situation.
Passion for Learning
This may be one of the more commonly overlooked skills yet it’s a very important one. The IT field and the security ecosystem are constantly evolving, and practitioners need to keep up.
Look for someone who is enthusiastic about lifelong learning and will proactively pursue new industry knowledge. The candidates’ certifications will give you some indication, but don’t make that your sole evaluation criteria.
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