- [Instructor] At this point,
we've established that a pipeline approach
to staffing your team
involves a combination of expanding your talent pool
by creating more entry level opportunities,
in addition to finding creative ways
to motivate and retain your mid to senior level talent.
But where do we start?
In my experience leaders and hiring managers
typically spend a considerable amount of time
determining the types of roles
and number of resources required for their teams,
but could often stand to be a bit more granular
in terms of the responsibilities associated with each role.
Before we go too far down the solution path however,
let's take another quick break
from the high pressure world of cyber security
and discuss how Topsy Turvy Cake Design approached
a similar challenge.
Shortly after its grand opening,
business at Topsy Turvy Cake Design was booming.
Audrey, the owner, quickly realized she need to hire a team
to help her manage the rapidly growing number
of specialty cake orders.
The high demands of the business put Audrey
under an enormous amount of pressure.
So she needed a team
that could hit the ground running and fast.
She would have very little time if any, at all
to train new hires.
So she targeted individuals
that already possessed years of cake design experience,
sound familiar?
Audrey hired two highly specialized cake designers,
but after a short six months
they both left Topsy Turvy to open their own bakery.
Their feedback to Audrey was that
while they really enjoyed working with her,
the day-to-day became a bit boring and repetitive.
And at this point in their careers
they're looking for
more challenging, exciting and rewarding work.
Audrey was back to the drawing board.
Only this time, the market was much more competitive,
so it took a lot longer to find the right fit.
The business began to suffer and Audrey was desperate.
She reconsidered her thoughts on hiring individuals
with limited experience
and ultimately decided to try and make it work.
Audrey began her quest for hiring junior talent
by listing the day-to-day responsibilities
of her cake designers,
then separating the basic low risk tasks from the list.
Her plan was to hire a junior baker to fill those duties
and rely on the head baker to groom them
and give them more responsibility over time,
based on performance, of course.
This approach worked wonders for Audrey.
Not only was she able to hire a junior baker
from the local culinary school,
but the head baker was also able to focus on
more high value activities, such as do cake designs
and innovative crafting techniques.
Audrey even gained some operational efficiencies
by implementing new processes,
the junior baker learned in the academy.
What's even more interesting
is that when the head baker left Topsy Turvy
to pursue their lifelong dream of owning a puppy spa,
the junior baker was ready and able
to take on additional responsibility,
saving Audrey from having to completely start over
as she'd done with the previous two bakers.
The same logic applies to our security teams.
The more granular we are with our role definitions
the more we can lower the perceived barrier to entry
for cybersecurity newcomers
and begin building an internal pipeline.
Up next, we'll review the day-to-day functions
of a common role within a security team
and look for opportunities to break out low risk,
non-critical tasks.