SPSP Phase III Recruiting, Selecting, and Developing Secure Power Systems Professionals. Job Profiles

Abstract

The pending retirement of significant numbers of power system experts and a continuing trend of increasing complexity in modern power systems prompted the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to establish the three-phase Secure Power Systems Professional (SPSP) project. The project developed resources for job definition and competency analysis along with tools to guide assessment and curriculum design and to help identify and develop required knowledge, skills, and abilities in technical and operational cybersecurity for power systems. A major accomplishment during Phase III of the project was the development of psychometrically validated job profiles for four identified SPSP job roles: the secure power systems engineer, incident responder, intrusion analyst, and security operator. The job profiles were produced by integrating the results of Phases I and II to capture the relevant job requirements that would be necessary to accurately predict job performance. They can be immediately applied by human resources professionals, recruiters, and hiring managers to assist in the recruitment, selection, and training of SPSPs, as well as to identify needed skills to qualify and equip existing employees to work as SPSPs.

SPSP Phase III Recruiting, Selecting, and Developing Secure Power Systems Professionals: Behavioral Interview Guidelines by Job Roles

“…• Recruitment and Career Development guides (see Appendix C in O'Neil et al 2014) • Job profiles (Appendix D in O'Neil et al 2014, or O'Neil et al 2015b • Behavioral interview guidelines (this report) • Individual and team performance guidelines (see Appendix F in O'Neil et al 2014, or O'Neil et al 2015a.…”

“…• a list of related workforce requirements (e.g., the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, or National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, functional role requirements and the Electricity Sector -Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model, ES-C2M2, objectives), certifications, and education Phase I of this project produced the required job task analysis. The result was a predictive model of job performance that identified the major responsibilities reported in Appendix D of the SPSP Phase III Final Report (O'Neil et al 2014) and in the related standalone report (O'Neil et al 2015b). The complete list of knowledge, skills and abilities required in each of the studied job roles was assembled into the Behavioral Interview Guidelines reported below.…”

SPSP Phase III Recruiting, Selecting, and Developing Secure Power Systems Professionals: Individual and Team Performance Guidelines

“…• Recruitment and career development guides (see Appendix G in O'Neil et al 2014) • Job profiles (see Appendix D in O'Neil et al 2014, or O'Neil et al 2015b • Behavioral interview guidelines (see Appendix E in O'Neil et al 2014, or O'Neil et al 2015a). • Individual and team performance guidelines (this report).…”