The most significant data for the UK can be found in UK Government’s Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2020 report; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cyber-security-skills-in-the-uk-labour-market-2020/cyber-security-skills-in-the-uk-labour-market-2020
Information on recruitment and skills shortages;
▪ Around 7 in 10 cyber sector businesses (68%) have tried to recruit someone in a cyber role within the last 3 years. These employers reported a third (35%) of their vacancies as being hard to fill.
▪ In 43 per cent of cases, this was because applicants lacked technical skills or knowledge. However, applicants lacking soft skills (22%) was also a common contributing factor
▪ In half (51%) of cases, employers have found it hard to fill generalist cyber roles
▪ Hard-to-fill vacancies are most commonly for senior level staff (with 3 to 5 years of experience) and principal level staff (with 6 to 9 years of experience)
We identified a total of 393,257 cyber security-related job postings over the past 3 years. Of these, 105,194 are formally labelled as cyber security jobs. The remaining 288,063 are cyber-enabled jobs, which include some cyber security functions among other job duties (e.g. network engineers whose role includes, but is broader than, network security).
▪ This analysis highlights geographic hotspots of activity in the cyber security labour market. These hotspots include London, Edinburgh and Belfast, as well as parts of the West Midlands and the South West, such as Bristol, Cheltenham and wider Gloucestershire
▪ The most common roles in demand are security engineers (18%), security analysts (13%), security architects (10%), security managers (9%) and security consultants (8%)
▪ The sectors most in demand of cyber talent are the finance and insurance, information and communications, and professional services sectors
▪ The technical skills areas most in demand include network engineering, risk management and technical controls, operating systems and virtualisation, cryptography and programming
The qualitative research uncovered further issues that organisations face when recruiting for cyber roles:
▪ High salary demands were commonly raised as a challenge. High wage differentials by sector and between London and the rest of the UK exacerbated this
▪ There were concerns about people frequently applying for roles that they did not have the skills or experience to perform, and exaggerating their expertise and experience in CVs
▪ Some cyber team heads found it difficult to align the job descriptions they were writing to particular qualifications. Some also felt that existing roles frameworks did not map well to qualifications
In the UK I recommend looking at the job sites JobServe, CyberSecurityJobsite and CWJobs. When you have the time, spend a few minutes looking at the jobs on these boards, and you’ll better understand what skills are required for certain job titles. It will also highlight the availability of jobs in your area. The UK has both a contract and permanent market. 90% of jobs are in or around London.
Also, I have just finished a new guide on how to start a career in cyber security which you can download below. Read this is you haven't already.
https://www.stationx.net/e-career
https://www.stationx.net/e-career
I hope this helps.