The programme aims to address youth unemployment through training and career support to help fill a substantial gap in cybersecurity jobs through a collaboration with NPower (@NPower), YearUp (@YearUp) and LifeJourney. The pilot kicks-off in August in the San Francisco Bay Area, Baltimore and New York City.
“Symantec is committed to making the world a safer and better place, and as a leader in cybersecurity we believe we can help solve the cyber career gap and move underserved young adults –including people of color, women and veterans – out of low-end jobs and into highly paid and meaningful careers.
Symantec and the Symantec Foundation made an initial investment of $2 million in the Symantec Cyber Career Connection and will provide the curriculum and products to implement the program. While this is a pilot program, it’s expected to expand globally over the years and I look forward to experiencing the benefits this program brings to our workforce, Symantec, and the broader industry.” said Cecily Joseph (@CecilyJosephCR), Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer at Symantec.
This is definitely one story to watch with a rags to riches style case study just waiting to be found. If there are allegedly 300,000 currently empty cybersecurity jobs, with 60,000 of those available to somebody without a four-year college degree, then maybe there’s new path to a lucrative career for somebody from one of those targeted social groups.
For further information head over to Symantec’s blog for the details on SC3 here.