Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Employer Resources
Commercial Products:
Commercial entities or materials may be identified in this web site or linked web sites. Such identification is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by NIST, nor is it intended to imply that the entities or materials are necessarily the best available for the purpose.
The Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity (NICE Framework) is used by employers to:
- Broaden the pipeline and increase diversity
- Create job descriptions and assess candidate skills
- Track and plan workforce capabilities
- Develop employees through role-based training
The resources listed below include materials aimed at helping employers, including human resource managers, measure, assess, and build their cybersecurity workforces.
An Employer’s Guide to Writing Effective Cybersecurity Job Descriptions (September 2023)
This guide from the NICE Modernize Talent Management Working Group provides human resources, talent acquisition, and others with a roadmap to writing improved job descriptions that reflect organizational goals, align to the NICE Framework, expand your candidate talent pool and should help you hire more quickly. Includes example templates.
Employer Perspective on Hiring
(November 2022)
This guide from the NICE Modernize Talent Management Working Group examines the employer role in cybersecurity hiring at the early career level. It identifies three strategies – the second of which is NICE Framework adoption.
The CyberSeek tool – a project from Lightcast, CompTIA, and NICE – provides detailed, actionable data about supply and demand in the cybersecurity job market. It provides demand and supply data for cybersecurity jobs at the state and metro area levels in the U.S., as well as information about salaries, credentials, and skill sets associated with common cybersecurity job positions.
This human resources and manager tool was developed to help quickly draft federal employee position description(s). It is a no-cost Microsoft Excel workbook file that lets Managers, Supervisors, and HR Specialists apidly draft a federal employee Position Description (PD) without the need for extensive training or prior knowledge of position classification. Used in concert with relevant OPM Position Classification Standards, the tool assists in the implementation of the NICE Framework by consistently mapping job codes according to tasks, knowledge, and skills.).
OPM Cybersecurity Codes – Visit this page to see codes the U.S. Office of Personnel Management has assigned to NICE Framework Work Roles (alignment is to the 2016 NICE Framework Work Roles). The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) plans to provide information about alignment of the March 2024 NICE Framework revisions to the original OPM cyber-position codes shortly.
If your resource is publicly available on the Internet, accurate, and comprehensive for a given dimension of NIST SP 800-181r1 (NICE Framework 2020 version), and freely available for others to use (we welcome free resources from for-profit entities), it meets the basic criteria for inclusion on the NICE Framework Resource Center. Pay-for resources associated with non-profit entities also meet the basic criteria for inclusion. If your resource qualifies and you would like it listed as a NICE Framework resource, send a description of your resource to NICEFramework [at] nist.gov (NICEFramework[at]nist[dot]gov).
Contacts
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NICE FRAMEWORK
-
NICE Framework Program Office