The cybersecurity industry has a problem. Despite massive investments in hiring technically skilled professionals, organisations continue to experience breaches, compliance failures, and security incidents that could have been prevented. The missing piece isn’t more firewalls or advanced threat detection tools. It’s security culture.
When directors focus solely on technical qualifications during hiring, they build teams that can identify vulnerabilities but struggle to create the behavioural changes needed to protect the organisation. This guide explores what security culture really means, why non-technical skills matter just as much as technical expertise, and how to identify candidates who can drive cultural transformation during your recruitment process.
Why technical expertise alone fails modern security teams
Traditional cybersecurity hiring follows a predictable pattern that consistently produces the same disappointing results:
- Technical-first job descriptions – Directors create requirements focused exclusively on security tool configuration and technical certifications
- Skills-based screening processes – Candidates are evaluated primarily on their ability to handle technical security challenges
- Competency-driven hiring decisions – Final selections prioritise technical expertise over interpersonal and cultural capabilities
- Human element blindspots – Resulting teams excel at technical security but struggle with the people-focused aspects that cause most breaches
This approach creates a fundamental mismatch between the skills organisations hire for and the problems they actually face. While technical teams can analyse sophisticated threats and implement advanced security controls, they often cannot address the human behaviours that enable most successful attacks. Social engineering succeeds not because of inadequate firewalls, but due to insufficient security awareness. Data breaches occur when convenience trumps security protocols. Compliance failures happen when policies exist only on paper rather than in daily practice.
Consider the reality of modern security incidents. Social engineering attacks succeed not because of weak firewalls, but because employees lack security awareness. Data breaches happen when staff members bypass security protocols for convenience. Compliance failures occur when security policies exist on paper but aren’t embedded in daily workflows.
These problems persist even in organisations with highly technical security teams. A team of experts who can analyse malware samples and respond to advanced persistent threats may still fail to prevent a breach caused by an employee clicking a phishing email or sharing credentials inappropriately.
The gap exists because technical skills solve technical problems, but security culture prevents human problems. When security professionals can’t communicate effectively with non-technical staff, translate business risks into language executives understand, or influence behavioural change across departments, their technical expertise has limited impact on overall organisational security.
This doesn’t diminish the importance of technical skills. Organisations absolutely need professionals who understand threat landscapes, can implement security controls, and respond to incidents. However, these capabilities must be combined with the soft skills needed to build security culture throughout the organisation.
What security culture really means for your organisation
Security culture goes far beyond the standard security awareness training most organisations provide. While awareness training teaches employees what they should do, security culture creates an environment where they actually want to do it consistently.
True security culture means security considerations become part of how people naturally think and behave at work. Employees don’t just attend annual security training sessions and forget the content. Instead, they automatically consider security implications when making decisions, feel comfortable reporting suspicious activities, and view security as everyone’s responsibility rather than just the IT department’s job.
This cultural transformation manifests across multiple organisational levels:
- Executive leadership commitment – Leaders demonstrate genuine security commitment through actions and resource allocation decisions, not just policy statements
- Middle management integration – Department managers understand security’s impact on their operations and actively support initiatives rather than viewing them as productivity obstacles
- Individual contributor engagement – Employees see security practices as valuable work tools rather than burdensome requirements imposed from above
- Cross-departmental collaboration – Teams automatically include security considerations in business process planning rather than treating security as an afterthought
Organisations with strong security cultures handle everyday situations differently than those relying solely on policies and training. When someone receives a suspicious email, they report it to protect colleagues rather than simply deleting it. When implementing new business processes, security becomes an integral planning consideration from the start. These behaviours emerge naturally from cultural foundations rather than compliance requirements.
Building this culture requires security professionals who can work across organisational boundaries, understand business operations, and influence people who don’t report to them directly. These skills complement technical expertise but require different capabilities that many traditional hiring processes don’t evaluate.
Non-technical skills that transform security professionals
The security professionals who successfully build organisational culture possess specific non-technical skills that amplify their technical capabilities. These skills determine whether a technically competent professional becomes someone who protects the organisation or someone who simply manages security tools.
Communication that drives understanding
Effective security professionals translate technical concepts into business language without losing important details. They can explain why a security control matters to a marketing manager, help executives understand the business impact of security investments, and create security policies that employees actually understand and follow.
This communication ability extends beyond presenting to senior leadership. It includes writing clear incident reports, creating user-friendly security documentation, and having productive conversations with frustrated employees who find security requirements inconvenient.
Business acumen that aligns security with objectives
Security professionals with business understanding can position security initiatives as enablers of business success rather than obstacles to productivity. They understand how different departments operate, recognise legitimate business needs that might conflict with security requirements, and find solutions that satisfy both security and operational requirements.
This business perspective helps them prioritise security efforts based on actual risk to business operations rather than theoretical technical vulnerabilities. They can advocate for security investments by demonstrating clear business value and ROI.
Adaptability that embraces change
Modern organisations change rapidly, and security approaches must evolve accordingly. Security professionals who thrive in these environments remain curious about new technologies, adapt their approaches based on changing business needs, and help their organisations adopt new security practices without disrupting operations.
Adaptability also means learning from security incidents and near-misses to improve future responses rather than simply implementing technical fixes for specific vulnerabilities.
Leadership potential that influences without authority
Security professionals often need to drive changes across departments where they have no formal authority. This requires leadership skills that create buy-in through influence rather than mandate. They must build relationships with colleagues in other departments, understand different perspectives on security requirements, and find ways to make security practices appealing rather than burdensome.
These leadership capabilities become particularly important in organisations where security teams are small relative to the overall workforce. A few security professionals must influence hundreds or thousands of employees to adopt secure behaviours.
Collaborative skills that build partnerships
Building security culture requires working effectively with people who have different priorities, technical understanding levels, and attitudes toward security. Successful security professionals build genuine partnerships with colleagues rather than positioning themselves as security police who enforce compliance.
This collaborative approach helps them understand why people might resist security practices and find alternative approaches that meet security objectives while addressing legitimate concerns from other departments.
How to identify culture-building potential during recruitment
Identifying candidates with culture-building potential requires different interview techniques and evaluation criteria than traditional technical assessments. While technical skills remain important, the interview process must also evaluate how candidates approach human and organisational challenges.
Behavioural interview techniques that reveal soft skills
Focus your behavioural interviews on specific situations that demonstrate culture-building capabilities:
- Cross-departmental influence examples – Ask candidates to describe situations where they influenced people outside their direct team to adopt new security practices
- Resistance management scenarios – Explore how they’ve handled pushback against security requirements and found mutually acceptable solutions
- Communication adaptation instances – Look for examples of adjusting their communication style for different audiences, from executives to end users
- Business-security alignment experiences – Seek stories about balancing security requirements with legitimate business needs
These behavioural questions reveal how candidates naturally approach the human side of security challenges. Strong candidates will demonstrate empathy for different perspectives, curiosity about underlying causes of security issues, and creativity in finding solutions that work for both security and business requirements. This approach provides much more insight than hypothetical scenarios because it shows how candidates have actually navigated real-world culture-building challenges.
Scenario-based assessment methods
Present candidates with realistic organisational challenges that require both technical and interpersonal solutions. For instance, describe a situation where employees frequently violate a security policy because it interferes with their daily work, then evaluate how the candidate would approach the problem.
Strong candidates will demonstrate understanding that the policy violation might indicate a legitimate business need, show curiosity about why people are behaving this way, and suggest solutions that address both security requirements and operational concerns.
Communication evaluation frameworks
Test candidates’ ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences during the interview process. Ask them to describe a complex security issue as if they were speaking to a department manager who needs to understand the business impact but doesn’t need technical details.
Pay attention to whether candidates naturally use business language, check for understanding during their explanations, and adjust their communication style based on their audience’s responses.
Cultural fit assessment beyond technical alignment
Evaluate whether candidates understand and appreciate your organisation’s culture and business objectives. Candidates who can build security culture must genuinely care about the organisation’s success, not just the technical aspects of security.
Ask about their experience working in similar organisational environments, their understanding of your industry’s specific security challenges, and their thoughts on how security can support rather than hinder business operations.
Look for candidates who ask thoughtful questions about your organisation’s culture, business objectives, and current security challenges. This curiosity indicates they’re thinking beyond just the technical aspects of the role.
Building effective security culture requires security professionals who combine technical expertise with strong interpersonal skills, business understanding, and the ability to influence positive change across organisational boundaries. By adjusting your recruitment process to identify these culture-building capabilities, you can hire security professionals who don’t just manage technical risks but actively strengthen your organisation’s overall security posture.
The cybersecurity and eDiscovery industries continue evolving rapidly, and organisations need security professionals who can adapt to these changes while building the cultural foundations that prevent most security incidents. When you focus on hiring for both technical competence and culture-building potential, you create security teams that truly protect your organisation rather than simply managing security tools.
At Iceberg, we understand that finding security professionals with both technical expertise and culture-building capabilities requires a nuanced approach to recruitment. Our experience placing candidates across 23 countries has shown us that the most successful security hires are those who can bridge the gap between technical security requirements and organisational culture, creating lasting positive change that goes far beyond their immediate technical contributions.
