Federal employees with cybersecurity experience have the opportunity to take their skills temporarily to another agency under a cyber detail program announced by the Office of Management and Budget March 11.

The available detail programs, listed under the Open Opportunities page of USAJobs, are designed to help cybersecurity personnel, especially those that graduated from the recent cyber reskilling academy but lack practical experience, to gain the hands-on tools to advance in their cyber careers in the federal government.

“We cannot overcome the shortage in the federal cybersecurity workforce overnight,” said Federal Chief Information Officer Suzette Kent in a news release.

“By continuing to invest and support reskilling programs, coupled with hands-on opportunities to apply those skills, the federal government is positioning itself to strengthen our cybersecurity workforce capabilities.”

Initial graduates of the cyber reskilling academy have struggled to find federal positions that offer the same pay grade as their old work but in their new field, in part because those graduates did not have years of cyber-specific experience to qualify for the job.

OMB officials have hinted in the past that a detail program would be necessary to make sure those employees got the experience they needed while remaining in government.

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Opportunities are currently available for nine different positions across three agencies: the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Though the EPA has the largest number of opportunities at six, those details only call for one person to fill the slot. The DHS and VA opportunities call for anywhere between two to five people or more.

The Open Opportunities program is managed by the Office of Personnel Management and currently boasts over 60 available opportunities for feds to present their knowledge or work with other teams within the government to gain and offer skills.

“By serving as a governmentwide bulletin board for short-term assignments, details and training opportunities around the federal government, Open Opportunities will help agencies tap into the valuable talent and skills we already have and are developing within government,” said OPM Director Dale Cabaniss in a news release.

About Jessie Bur

Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.

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