UK military relaxes recruiting rules to attract cyber specialists

Helen Warrell in London yesterday

https://www.ft.com/content/92a63e8b-36a3-477d-9bb4-3bcfb60cc7fa?segmentid=acee4131-99c2-09d3-a635-873e61754ec6

The UK armed forces have relaxed hiring rules to allow candidates from the 
private sector to go directly into senior military roles, in a drive to recruit 
more cyber specialists as warfare expands into the digital realm.

General Sir Patrick Sanders, head of the UK’s Strategic Command, told the 
Financial Times that while he sometimes envied Israel’s conscription model — 
which allows defence chiefs to find the best cyber talent from a 
population-wide pool — the British military was finding new ways to attract 
tech experts.

“I’m interested in people who may want to come in and spend a bit of time in 
defence, gain their credentials, their credibility and then move in and out,” 
said Sanders, who was speaking on the FT’s Rachman Review podcast. “And so that 
idea of a much more flexible approach to a career in defence, encouraging 
‘lateral’ entry, and also looking at people with very different entry standards 
to what we traditionally expect.”

Strategic Command’s new cyber career strategy will seek to attract more cyber 
specialists as reservists, as military “regulars” — including for the new 
National Cyber Force — and as civilian staff. One of the most significant 
changes is a new “lateral” entry regime, which allows cyber experts to leave 
industry and transfer directly into senior military ranks without the need to 
work their way up the hierarchy. 

From this summer, all existing members of the armed forces will be offered a 
cyber aptitude test: those found to have the relevant skills will be offered 
further training and a career path into a cyber job. Typical roles include 
electronic warfare specialists, who intercept enemy signals on the battlefield. 

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https://www.ft.com/content/92a63e8b-36a3-477d-9bb4-3bcfb60cc7fa?segmentid=acee4131-99c2-09d3-a635-873e61754ec6

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