Celebrating Trellix Interns & the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Leaders

By Michael Alicea · July 28, 2022

This week marked National Intern Day, and we’re honored to celebrate the more than 100 global interns from 7 countries who joined us this year to learn, develop new skills, challenge themselves and flourish as leaders. More importantly, they joined our commitment to tackling the cybersecurity talent gap by doing #SoulfulWork.

At Trellix, our interns are building more than just their resumes – they’re building the foundation of a diverse, rich talent pipeline that our industry desperately needs. A Cybersecurity Workforce Study calculated the global talent gap to be 2.7M people and it only continues to grow.

Our industry struggles to find and retain qualified professionals, particularly women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2022, Trellix commissioned a survey of cybersecurity professionals, and of the 1,000 respondents, 78% identified as male, 64% identified as white, and 89% identified as straight.

Addressing our lack of diversity and overcoming our talent deficit requires expanding who we view as talent and a fundamental shift our talent development practices, creating more pathways for non-traditional candidates.

Early-career professionals with just a high-school diploma? They could flourish in our industry, too. In fact, more than half (56%) of respondents believe degrees are not needed for a successful career in cybersecurity. We need to be open to hiring and mentoring new talent who may be well qualified but not hold a four-year degree. We also need to create avenues for early- and mid-career professionals looking to move into our industry.

At Trellix, we’re doing just that. Our Emerging Talent program encompasses current undergraduate and graduate students, recently graduated students, career change candidates, and qualified high school students. We believe that great talent comes from diverse demographics, education levels and walks of life.

The 2022 interns are a promising indicator for the future of cybersecurity. While we look forward to having them join #TeamTrellix as full-time employees in the future, as long as they pursue the greater purpose of Soulful Work within cybersecurity, we’ve accomplished our goal. Interested in joining us?
https://careers.trellix.com/