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Cybersecurity jobs are difficult to find because the shortage is concentrated in specific skills and experience levels—not because employers lack applicants altogether. Companies may urgently need cloud-security engineers, incident responders, identity specialists, application-security professionals, or cleared government workers while receiving thousands of applications from people seeking their first security job.
That is how both statements can be true: cybersecurity demand is strong, but the easiest jobs to find are not necessarily accessible to beginners, recent graduates, or career changers.
The cybersecurity shortage is real—but the headline numbers need context
CyberSeek counted 514,359 U.S. employer listings for cybersecurity positions and adjacent technical roles during May 2024 through April 2025. That was nearly 57,000 more listings than in the previous reporting period, or roughly 12% growth. CyberSeek also calculated a 74% supply-demand ratio and found that cybersecurity postings took about 21% longer to fill than other technology jobs.
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Those figures show substantial demand, but they do not mean that 514,359 permanent vacancies were waiting for new graduates. The count includes a broad range of jobs, including technical positions with significant security responsibilities. It also does not tell you how many listings were duplicated, filled later, frozen, aimed at senior candidates, restricted by geography, or dependent on a security clearance.
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics measures something different. It projects 29% employment growth for information security analysts from 2024 to 2034, from 182,800 jobs to 234,900, with about 16,000 openings per year. The May 2024 median wage for that occupation was $124,910. That is a national occupational projection and median—not an entry-level salary, an immediate vacancy count, or a promise that a particular applicant will be hired.
The real gap is often capability, not headcount
Workforce reports increasingly distinguish between a shortage of people and a shortage of people who can perform particular work immediately.
In its 2025 workforce research, ISC2 reported that 95% of respondents had at least one cybersecurity skills need, while 59% described the deficiency as critical or significant. In another 2026 analysis of that research, ISC2 said 34% of organizations believed they had the right number of cybersecurity workers and 44% reported only a slight shortage. The implication is important: many organizations need better capability even when they do not believe they need substantially more employees.
SANS reached a similar conclusion in its 2026 research. Sixty percent of respondents said skills gaps were a larger workforce problem than headcount shortages. Employers may therefore advertise heavily while remaining selective about candidates who can work with their systems, business risks, cloud environment, identity infrastructure, or incident process.
“Cybersecurity” is not one job market
A recent graduate applying for a tier-one security operations role is competing in a different market from an experienced engineer applying for cloud security. The umbrella term includes:
- Security operations and alert triage
- Incident response and threat hunting
- Cloud and infrastructure security
- Application and software security
- Identity and access management
- Vulnerability management
- Governance, risk, and compliance
- Security architecture and engineering
- AI security and secure model deployment
- Government and defense positions requiring clearance eligibility
Demand in one category does not create an equal number of openings in every other category. A company can be unable to hire a senior cloud-security engineer while rejecting applicants who have completed a general cybersecurity degree but have never administered a cloud environment.
CyberSeek also cautions that NICE cybersecurity work-role categories are not mutually exclusive. One person or one posting may cover several functions. That makes broad workforce estimates useful for planning, but less useful for answering the personal question: “Can I get my first cybersecurity job this month?”
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Why a cybersecurity degree may not be enough
Employers frequently want evidence that a candidate can operate technology before they want evidence that the candidate has studied security theory. Common feeder experience includes:
- IT support or desktop support
- Systems administration
- Networking and network operations
- Cloud operations
- Software development
- Identity administration
- Compliance, audit, or risk work
- Vulnerability management
- Security monitoring
This creates an experience paradox: candidates need practical experience to qualify for security roles, but many security roles are advertised as the way to obtain that experience.
ISC2’s hiring research found that hands-on IT experience and certifications are often valued above cybersecurity or computer-science education without professional experience. It also found that 84% of organizations use skills assessments or tests for entry- and junior-level applicants.
A degree can still be valuable. It may provide durable technical foundations, writing practice, internships, professional networks, and access to employers that use education as a screening requirement. But a transcript does not necessarily prove that someone can investigate an alert, troubleshoot an endpoint, interpret logs, write a detection rule, or explain operational risk to a manager.
Why “entry-level” often does not mean beginner-level
“Entry-level” can mean entry-level within cybersecurity rather than entry-level within the entire technology workforce. A junior security analyst may still be expected to understand Windows and Linux, networking, authentication, ticketing, logs, and basic scripting.
Some job descriptions also set unrealistic standards. ISC2 reported that 38% of surveyed hiring managers said they require CISA for entry-level positions, while roughly one-third expected CISSP for entry- or junior-level candidates. Those certifications normally involve substantial professional experience, so these figures illustrate employer calibration problems—not a universal rule that beginners should already hold senior credentials.
Applicants should separate requirements into three groups:
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- Likely hard gates: work authorization, location, clearance eligibility, a required language, or a genuinely necessary technical skill.
- Strong preferences: a particular certification, tool, degree, or prior industry experience.
- Template requirements: copied lists that describe an ideal candidate rather than a realistic minimum.
Do not automatically reject yourself because a posting includes an implausible senior certification. But do not assume every requirement is optional either. Look at the responsibilities, reporting structure, training, and escalation process to determine whether the role is truly junior.
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Employers rarely need a beginner to master every area of cybersecurity. They usually want a coherent profile connected to a specific role.
Foundations
- Networking and TCP/IP
- Windows and Linux basics
- Authentication, authorization, and identity
- Security principles and access control
- Basic scripting
- Logs, troubleshooting, and documentation
Operational skills
- SIEM searches and alert triage
- Endpoint detection and response concepts
- Vulnerability management
- Incident-response procedures
- Ticketing and escalation
- Basic threat intelligence and detection logic
Specialized capabilities
- Cloud security
- Application security
- Identity security
- Security automation
- Container and infrastructure security
- AI and machine-learning security
Professional skills
- Writing a clear incident summary
- Prioritizing alerts by business risk
- Explaining technical issues to nontechnical colleagues
- Working with IT, engineering, legal, and compliance teams
- Making careful decisions with incomplete information
ISC2’s 2026 analysis placed problem-solving, collaboration, communication, curiosity, and strategic thinking ahead of many specific technical requirements. Cloud security and AI security were each identified by 15% of hiring managers as leading technical needs. Technical knowledge matters, but employers also need people who can interpret evidence and communicate what should happen next.
AI is changing the first rung of the career ladder
AI is not simply eliminating cybersecurity jobs or creating unlimited new ones. It is changing which tasks are valuable and how beginners enter the field.
AI can automate or accelerate initial alert sorting, routine summaries, repetitive investigations, and documentation. SANS reported that AI is automating some entry-level work that historically gave new professionals practical experience. If companies remove those tasks without creating supervised alternatives, they may make the experience shortage worse.
At the same time, AI creates demand for secure deployment, data protection, model governance, adversarial testing, and AI-specific threat analysis. CyberSeek found that approximately 10% of listings in its May 2024–April 2025 dataset explicitly mentioned AI skills, while noting that AI may be an implied requirement in other postings.
For candidates, the useful question is not whether to “learn AI” in the abstract. It is whether they can show that they know how to validate automated output, investigate false positives, protect sensitive data, recognize errors, and connect technical findings to business risk.
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Economic conditions can make a strong field feel closed
Cybersecurity may be strategically important while individual employers still freeze hiring, reduce budgets, consolidate teams, outsource work to managed security providers, delay projects, or require more proof before hiring juniors.
ISC2’s 2025 study indicated that layoffs, hiring freezes, and budget pressures remained present but were not reported at higher rates than the previous year. That suggests some stabilization, not an easy job market. Competition can remain intense, particularly after layoffs increase the number of experienced applicants for open roles.
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How to read cybersecurity labor statistics
Before treating a shortage statistic as a personal employment forecast, ask what it measures:
| Measure | What it tells you | What it does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Job postings | How many listings appeared during a period | How many were unique, filled, junior, or still active |
| Open requisitions | Roles an employer is authorized to recruit for | Whether hiring is urgent or likely to continue |
| Actual hires | People who started work | How many qualified applicants were rejected |
| Occupational projections | Expected employment change over several years | Your probability of receiving an offer next month |
| Global workforce estimates | The estimated number of workers performing security-related duties | The number of immediate vacancies |
| Supply-demand ratios | A modeled comparison of worker supply and employer demand | A guarantee that a percentage of jobs will remain unfilled |
One listing may represent multiple positions—or no immediate hire. Postings may be duplicated, stale, internally targeted, or left open while an employer waits for a narrowly qualified candidate. Broad categories may also include adjacent IT professionals whose jobs involve substantial security work.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.More realistic routes into cybersecurity
There is no single correct path. The best route depends on your existing experience, finances, location, and target specialty.
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Help desk, desktop support, systems administration, networking, cloud operations, and identity administration can build the troubleshooting and infrastructure experience many security employers want. This may be a faster bridge than collecting several unrelated certifications, although it can involve a temporary pay cut for career changers.
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Target internships and apprenticeships
ISC2 describes internships and apprenticeships as powerful early-career recruiting tools. Look for paid programs, structured mentoring, defined learning goals, and a realistic path to continued employment. An unpaid position may not be financially practical, especially for someone leaving another career.
Choose a specific security lane
General security knowledge is useful, but a target role makes your preparation more credible. Examples include SOC operations, identity, cloud defense, GRC, vulnerability management, or application security.
Build evidence rather than a tool list
A lab can help demonstrate initiative, but describe what you did and why. A stronger project write-up explains the environment, the question investigated, the evidence collected, the decision made, the limitation discovered, and the recommended next step. Lab work is not the same as production experience, but it can help you prepare for the skills assessments used by many employers.
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Use certifications selectively
A foundational credential may help with screening when target postings repeatedly request it. ISC2’s Certified in Cybersecurity is designed for people entering the field, while CompTIA Security+ is a broad vendor-neutral option. Neither substitutes for hands-on IT or security work.
Before paying for training, compare current local postings. If employers repeatedly request cloud, identity, networking, or scripting experience, another general certificate may not address your actual bottleneck. Expensive specialist training such as SANS courses and GIAC certifications may make more sense when an employer is sponsoring it or when the role and budget justify the cost.
A practical job-search checklist
- Search for feeder roles, not only jobs with “cybersecurity” in the title.
- Identify the repeated skills in postings near your location.
- Separate mandatory requirements from preferred qualifications.
- Check whether the role is operational, engineering-focused, compliance-oriented, or administrative.
- Ask whether training, mentoring, and an escalation path are provided.
- Prepare for practical assessments, not just résumé screening.
- Explain projects in terms of decisions, evidence, and outcomes.
- Compare the role’s pay with the opportunity cost of leaving your current job.
- Evaluate whether the position provides transferable experience or mostly repetitive ticket work.
- Do not assume that a remote job is easier to obtain than a local hybrid role.
What employers should change
The problem is not created entirely by applicants. Employers can reduce the mismatch by separating junior, mid-level, and senior requirements; removing CISSP or CISA from genuinely entry-level postings; using practical assessments that measure realistic tasks; and creating paid internships and apprenticeships.
They should also avoid “unicorn” job descriptions that combine security operations, cloud architecture, penetration testing, compliance, and software engineering into one supposedly junior position. If AI removes routine work, teams should redesign junior roles around validation, investigation, escalation, detection logic, data quality, and business-risk analysis rather than eliminating the first rung of the career ladder.
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Cybersecurity is neither an effortless career shortcut nor a closed profession. The shortage is real, but it is concentrated in people who can perform particular work now. Employers need to make their requirements and training pathways more realistic, while applicants need to connect foundational knowledge to a specific role and show evidence of applied problem-solving.
For many beginners, the most financially sensible strategy is not to buy every available certification. It is to identify the target role, build the missing foundation, pursue a paid bridge through IT or a structured early-career program, and choose training that directly addresses repeated employer requirements.
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