In speaking with Information Security executives, the one message that consistently comes through is the ongoing shortage of good people with information security skills. The demand for InfoSec professionals outweighs the supply. SSS is no exception – we find we have to work hard to find great people to fill the growing number of roles we have.
One way we have looked to address this is through our involvement supporting tertiary educational institutions. This support comes in the form of guidance for curriculum, presentations and through our internship programme.
Not only does this help us address the resource shortage, but it also enables us to provide active learning and work opportunities for our interns and graduates.
This year we have had an amazing response through our support of Victoria University and the Summer of Tech initiative. Through our involvement with these initiatives we received over 200 student applicants and this left us with the mammoth task of sorting through CVs and cover letters to narrow down the field to what eventually – after several interviews – became two successful candidates.
Introducing Dylan Fenn
Dylan Fenn recently joined us as one of our newest interns. He follows Ranielle Aguinaldo who just recently transitioned into a full time permanent role, after completing an initial internship opportunity earlier in the year.
“We are delighted to have Dylan join our team“, Ashton Jones, General Manager SSS said. “He slotted in straight away and fit in well into our existing team and culture“
Dylan comes from quite a diverse background before settling on IT Security as a career path. He completed his Bachelors Degree in Information Security and majored in Information Security and Assurance in 2018.
“It’s truly been amazing“, Dylan said. “I felt very welcome and pretty much at home within my first couple of weeks. I can quite comfortably say this is the best work experience I’ve had so far in my life. I’m also incredibly excited as to the future opportunities and autonomy that SSS enables at their workplace.“
What happens when interns join our team?
We are now one month into Dylan’s internship.
Our focus is to provide our interns with a comprehensive overview and visibility into a range of different areas of InfoSec including network security, endpoint security, identity management, security operations, governance, risk and compliance, and more.
This provides them with an opportunity to get a full picture of what working in IT Security is all about and more importantly, what being part of the SSS team is like.
During their internship they have an opportunity to get real-world experience, they are able to shadow and work alongside other SSS staff, and receive mentoring by specialist IT Security consultants.
Through this process our interns are exposed to as many areas as possible and it enables them to work out what they are passionate about to allow them to choose their direction from there.
An internship programme offers benefits to both an organisation and the individual
In our experience the great thing about students is that they bring an uncontaminated mind. They are fresh, energetic, enthusiastic and full of ideas. They bring a new perspective and can look at the way you are doing things and how things might be done differently. They can bring energy, innovation and improvements.
“Placed in the right environment, an internship opportunity can help develop and nurture talent in the IT Security industry“, Ashton Jones, General Manager SSS said. “Through these opportunities we can fill a critical gap in our market.“
We highly recommend an internship programme. We would be happy to share details of our programme if you are interested to implement this in your organisation.
