Security Pro Market Heating Up

The good news for IT security professionals is that demand for their skills is likely to increase in the next few months, according to Robert Half Technology. The challenging news for small and midsized businesses looking for security pros is that rising demand for their skills is going to make finding and hiring them harder.In the midst of a generally bullish look at IT hiring over the next few months, personnel company Robert Half Technology noted that while security professionals will be among the most in-demand, those experts are also among the hardest to find.

While the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report for the first quarter 2010 reported that among companies of all sizes network admin, desktop support and Windows admin skills were the most widely sought skills, qualified security professionals were ranked among the hardest to find.

That's good news for the security professionals, of course, and in this economy it would be unseemly to think otherwise.

But it's also a heads-up for small and midsized businesses that may finally be looking to add to their IT staffs.

If you're going to be looking for security staff in the months ahead, it's probably a good idea to start looking now, to be prepared to look for awhile, and to brace yourself to pay more than you may have planned.

As the economy improves -- and the threat environment continues to grow worse -- finding qualified security staff is likely to get even more challenging and almost undoubtedly more expensive.

It's also time to bear in mind that the security -- and other IT -- professionals you already have on-staff or on-retainer are going to find themselves in greater demand.

Which means it's also time to let 'em know how much you value their contribution to your business, and how determined you are to keep them with you.