The severity and ferocity of cyberattacks are real. Ransomware, data theft extortion and social engineering attacks continue to escalate and threaten individuals and industry. Commerce and government are responding, but the breakneck speed of breach technology is proving difficult to keep up with. Some industries observed a 60% year-over-year increase in the number of attacks from 2022 to 2023, which has resulted in some 482,000 open cyber jobs in the United States.

The need to increase the talent pool has the attention of the White House, which has responded by removing the college degree requirement for federal cyber contractors. This bold and forward-thinking move broadens and diversifies the applicant pool — but the approach must move beyond Washington to truly affect industry. Hiring managers here in Colorado — where 14,400 roles are available — should take note.

When hiring managers reduce barriers to employment and cast a wider net for skilled cyber tech workers, they lower hiring costs, reduce time to fill roles, improve retention and diversify their workforce. Unfortunately, outdated evaluation and hiring criteria do just the opposite. Instead of prioritizing digital competencies and hiring for new and relevant skills, a majority of entry-level tech job descriptions unwittingly bottleneck the talent pipeline by requiring a four-year degree to even apply. At the time of this writing, a search for entry-level cyber jobs on Indeed.com showed 85% requiring at least a four-year degree. More than half asked applicants to have a master’s degree.

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This practice hurts more than the employers who need to fill critical cybersecurity jobs. College degree requirements perpetuate inequities and effectively close the door to economic success for those who can’t afford a four-year college education. The Census Bureau reports more than 62% of Americans over age 25 do not have a degree. Here in Colorado, 70% of people born here do not attain a college degree, leaving the state reliant on importing college-educated workers from other states rather than developing homegrown talent. With the obvious threats cybersecurity poses and the speed at which threats evolve, Colorado employers must prioritize digital competence, earned skills and certifications over four-year degrees for entry-level tech roles. So why then rely on the anachronistic measure of a four-year degree?

The benefits of inclusive, skills-based hiring go beyond access to more cybersecurity candidates. By removing discretionary degree requirements, businesses add diverse perspectives, work toward diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals and provide opportunities for more Coloradans. Businesses and human resources executives must be willing to look outside the check-here-for-degree box. Fortunately, several forward-thinking organizations in Colorado are, and a CompTIA Workforce report shows the idea is gaining traction with HR professionals.

Ardent Mills is North America’s leading supplier of flour. Sarah Herzog, their senior director of strategy and collaboration has embraced skills-based credentialing, saying, “We believe that having multiple paths to build a skill set in technology and in business knowledge is critical to having a sustainable workforce longer term. Having a mix of roles that don’t all require traditional college degrees but offer entry points to different backgrounds allows us to take better advantage of a diversity of experience we wouldn’t have otherwise.”

The Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) is another proponent of eliminating the college degree requirement for entry-level IT roles and building tech talent through apprenticeship. Chief People Officer for OIT, Bob Nogueira, believes focusing on apprenticeships and hiring for skills has enabled the state to have a collaborative and efficient interview and hiring process — and identifies candidates who can more quickly become a productive member of their team.

Even traditional institutions of higher learning recognize the value of hiring for skills. Metropolitan State University’s Cyber Security Center facilitates certification with hands-on experience for participants of 15-week cyber fundamentals boot camps, giving students the opportunity for economic equity without a four-year degree.

Other proponents of skills-based hiring over degrees include seasoned information security professionals. The nonprofit ISACA polled its cybersecurity members and found they overwhelmingly believe hands-on experience, credentialling and specific training courses are the most important factors when determining if a cybersecurity candidate is qualified and positioned for success.

Building cybersecurity resilience requires a strong foundation and a quick response to the current tech worker bottleneck. Eliminating or relaxing degree requirements in favor of skills-based qualifications for entry-level tech jobs widens the talent pipeline to fill jobs faster, while also creating economic and community uplift for our citizens and state.

With strong partnerships and a new approach that rethinks what’s important, we can address Colorado’s cyber tech talent shortage and shore up industry and the economy of Colorado against attacks.

Helen Young Hayes founded ActivateWork, a nonprofit recruiting, training, employment and coaching organization offering post-secondary credentialing that launches economic mobility and IT careers for exceptional and diverse technologists.