CGRC certification job titles and career outlook

November 17, 2021 by

Greg Belding

Do you work in IT risk management and would like to better market yourself and your unique skill set? The Certified Authorization Professional (CAP) is an information security certification for those that advocate for security risk management regarding information system authorization for an organization in keeping with regulatory and legal requirements. There are many job titles and career outlooks available to CAP certification holders. Find out about job outlook, common job positions for CAP holders, the current privacy professionals' job market and how to stand out in your resume and interview with CAP.

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CAP job outlook

The job outlook for a CAP certification holder is strong overall, but it should be noted that it may be stronger in some areas of the United States than in others. CAP is a certification that can help you get a job in both private and governmental organizations. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) and the federal government are two of the largest entities hiring CAP certification holders. This makes the Washington, D.C. and Virginia areas big draws of this pool of the workforce.

There are a couple of reasons for those wondering why the DoD and federal government are so interested in CAP certification holders. Firstly, CAP is currently the only certification in compliance with DoD 8570 and applies to two of the different 8570 levels, IAM Level I and II. Second, the federal government does a lot of work relating to risk management frameworks (RMF), and CAP greatly focuses on RMF. 

Another aspect of job outlook is one factor no one can deny — whether it pays well or not. CAP certification holders can expect an average annual salary of around $100,000. Combine this with the fact that CAP certification is one of the industry's most respected information security certifications. Certification holders can expect a strong job outlook.

Common job positions for CAP holders

CAP is a certification that targets a specific information security skill set. Namely, IT/IS risk management, however the job positions that it can help vary. This can be credited to the rising importance of IT/IS risk management, particularly in the eyes of organizations trying to keep ahead of the proverbial information security curve. Practically speaking, organizations task many different job positions to handle IT/IS risk management because every organization is different, including who they task with this important information security responsibility. Below is a list of common job positions that CAP certification holders fill:

• Information security risk manager
• IT risk manager
• Information systems auditor
• Chief information security officer
• Information assurance manager
• Information assurance engineer
• Information security manager
• Information systems manager
• IT security manager
• Authorization specialist
• Security consultant
• Cyber security engineer
• Cyber security analyst

Current job market for privacy professionals

2020 saw an unprecedented job market shake-up that all but brought it to its knees — the Covid-19 pandemic. This health emergency that we are still feeling the effects of has destroyed countless traditional, public-facing jobs that do not have the luxury of being able to work from home due to the nature of the jobs. 

One job sector that was spared the Covid-19 specter was privacy. With the massive surge in the workforce working remotely, privacy is more important now than ever. All the VPN'ing, remote desktop access and other tasks that you "at-home workers need" to rely on to function come at the cost of having to focus more on information privacy than ever before. 

Even greater demand for privacy professionals is evidenced by the greater focus on the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act, or HIPAA. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused most organizations to handle vast amounts more health information from their employees, bringing forth more focus on this law that deals with patient-protected health information. Privacy professionals work extensively with HIPAA, which has caused the demand for their services to swell. 

The net result of these changes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is increased demand for privacy professionals across the board. Pre-Covid, most privacy responsibilities were able to be handled by one professional within an organization. The additional privacy tasks on most organizations' plates will need to be taken care of by hiring more privacy professionals — from entry-level to upper management and everything in between. 

How to stand out in your resume and interview with CAP

The good thing with earning a certification that verifies top-flight Information Security knowledge and skills is once you earn the certification, the hard part is done. Your investment of time and a modest amount of money may translate into large returns on your career. With that said, use the tips presented below to stand out in your resume and knock your interview questions out of the park.

• Put your CAP certification near the top of your resume. Interview managers have to read through hundreds of resumes, if not more before they find the right candidate for the job and accordingly have little time to spend with individual resumes that do not stand out. Placing your resume near the top helps ensure that hiring managers see your demonstrable value.
• Highlight work experiences in your resume that relate to the Domains of the CAP certification exam. This will reinforce to the hiring manager that the CAP certification is a realistic verification of your knowledge and skills.
• Map your work experiences to the CAP certification in the interview. This will bring your certification back to the forefront of reasons you should be selected as it helps to show the hiring manager that not only do you hold the certificate, but you have lived it as well.

Earn your CGRC, guaranteed!

Enroll in a CGRC (formerly CAP) Boot Camp and earn one of the industry's most respected certifications — guaranteed.

Get Pricing

Pursuing the Certified Authorization Professional certificate

CAP is an IT/IS risk management framework certification intended for information security professionals that advocate for security risk management regarding information system authorization for an organization in keeping with regulatory and legal requirements. This can span a multitude of job positions as it really comes down to the organization regarding who is tasked with these responsibilities. By earning this certification and highlighting it in your resume and job position interview, you can reap the benefits of this certification and enjoy a strong job outlook.

For more information on the CGRC certification (formerly CAP), check out our CGRC certification hub.

Sources

• Salary for Certification: (ISC)2 Certified Authorization Professional (CAP).
• Certified Authorization Professional Certification Exam Outline.
• Is the CAP certification worth it? TrainACE