A new industry body, the Confederation of Ethical Recruiters in Information Security (CERIS), was launched at IISP/Crest Industry conference yesterday.
Dan Hathaway, director at Cyber Security Search told SCMagazineUK.com that the group was... “initially formed by a consortium of recruiters in cyber-security who had sought to come under the Crest umbrella, but after some 18 months of planning and discussion the group ultimately opted to form a self-regulating body in which all members would sign up to an agreed code of conduct which would apply to both candidates and recruiters.”
Crest describes the rationale for the group on its website which notes that professional recruitment agencies that have invested in their staff development and have chosen to specialise in specific areas of the IA marketplace provide an excellent service. Lists of specialist IA staff are easily obtainable and these lists are abused to a huge extent with promises of massive salaries or unrealistic contract terms and exciting positions that simply do not exist. Conversely, employers are described as being bombarded by CV's describing individuals who do not exist, who are not interested in moving or do not demonstrate any of the appropriate technical skills nor professional experience necessary to fulfil the requirements of a specialist role.
Ryan King, head of cyber security at ARM, added: “Founding members are ARM, Identifi, Red Top, and Computer Futures, and once the body is established we expect to bring in other recruiters currently on a waiting list, signed up via the Crest web site.” Crest says that it is in the process of developing a Code of Conduct for companies and individuals in this sector which will be adopted by Ceris. It is also proposed that a company assessment process be established that will demonstrate good working practices. The outputs from this can then be used by the buying community to enhance the recruitment process; by the candidate community to choose companies that really understand their needs and careers; and by the recruitment business to provide a real and demonstrable differentiator in the technical information security marketplace.
The group plans to work collectively – whilst still being competitors - and promote the development of new skills, provide career path advice in a structured way, cooperating as an industry body to promote the profession, its standards, governance and perform a social/community responsibility role.
Ian Glover, president of Crest told SC that Crest welcomes the establishment of Ceris to identify professional specialist recruiters who invest time and effort to fully understand the marketplace and provide a positive contribution to the development of the industry are not recognised for the efforts. Companies reaching the required standards will be placed on the Crest web site as a Crest Recommended Recruitment Supplier with a short description of the business and contact details. They will also be required to attend regular briefings on the IA industry, run by CREST, to maintain their understanding of the marketplace and the needs of the buying community. In turn they will be invited to the CREST industry conference.