Recruiter recommendation San Antonio/Austin

Raystafarian

Hey all,

So I'm really struggling out here. Was wondering if anyone has worked with a headhunter/recruiter that you could recommend to me, San Antonio or Austin area. I'm less on the technical-security side, more on the risk-security side.

80hr

Sorry no help on the headhunter part ... I just use Indeed and it seems to work well for me.

Do you have a clearance?
or IAT III certs?

Why don't you work on CASP if you don't have IAT III already. Then you could try to get into a company would sponsor for a Base secret and you might land some C&A work


I know there are lots of jobs in your area for GRC and C&A

gespenstern

It could be hard if you aren't willing to move. Here in Chicago finding a job in security isn't that big of a problem. I can't imagine myself staying without a job for several months even if I get laid off which is highly unlikely. It's cold though.

I also get inquiries from East Coast all the time, so I assume job prospects there are fine as well.

The only ping I got from South in a few years was from Texas Instruments but they are in Dallas.

Maybe you can share you resume so we can criticize something to help you? Resume is a big deal for getting interviews and again we don't know what's your problem, is it you bomb interviews or can't get them? If the second then yeah, resume review is a logical step.

Raystafarian

Thanks, guys. No clearance. I moved out here from Orlando for unrelated reasons and I've just not had luck getting the right fit. At this point it's.. I need to work. I can still relocate, I'm not tied down.

Resume attached. Sometimes I do well on interviews and others I know when I bomb, mostly phone interviews.

Would CASP help? I know CISSP would, but I'm don't think I have enough technical knowledge to pass it, just got the CISM.

TEResume.doc

xxxkaliboyxxx

Not sure if you have a cover sheet, but assuming HR just has a few seconds to scan your resume, it's too busy from the jump. How about a quick summary up on top. this is what HR is going to read. Right now it's too technical for someone that just uses MS Office.

Also I have had a lot of luck with LinkedIn

jeremywatts2005

Sent you a PM with some recruiters for that area.

gespenstern

OK, here's my take. This is not some truth set in stone but that's what I learned from resume writers (I've paid them once to get the idea) and my own job seeking experience, so take it with a grain of salt but it may work for you as well.

1. Remove address. It's a showstopper for some people who prefer locals for some reason. True that a resume without a specific address probably won't end up on top, but it won't be thrown away either. In many and many cases primary candidate drops out of the race for some reason and then second or third resume gets it. Instead, put something vague, like "greater whatever area" or "blah-blah metropolitan area" to get covered everything. If you are applying outside of it put this outside place and when you get called -- explain yourself like you are trying to move to that area that's why you are looking for jobs there.

2. Rephrase your last job to throw in numbers, buzzwords and bold language of an achiever. I like your firs job experience, which is "Personally identified more than $291K in lost revenue and cost savings during a pilot project in 2010". I mean, I personally not a big fan of such a wording but it's something that gets HR people and management positively triggered. But the problem is they read only first few lines and everything else only if they got interested. Your last job achievements should be the best out of everything. Like "Created from scratch (bold idiom) a security audit framework based on NIST RMS (buzzword, change them for targeted resumes that you tune to fit JDs, i.e. if they use COBIT or whatever -- place it here, they are all the same in their core anyways) for the company allowing for proper assessment of all company specific risks that raised a composite security posture score from 4 to 10 on internal company scale and contributed to a steady company growth by that number of million dollars in revenue year over year.

I know that it's difficult or sometimes impossible to calculated precisely your input into a company's growth, but still you'd better do it in some way. Recall what you've done precisely and track all the logic of the process down to company's profits. Everything we do on our jobs should result at the end of the day in company profits, even security, which cares primarily about not losing them. It's manager's or even company owner's perspective and you should show that you understand that this is your end goal (or at least, convince them that it is so).

If you worked for non-profits they also have end goals. Like public approval, tie everything down to growing satisfaction among general public that resulted in reelecting the official you reported to so it was your contribution that was significant among others.

3. Remove minor certs (Excel). Who cares? If you can code in VBS it sounds off if you also mention that you are proficient in something that mundane. Avoid this skill dispersion, all the skills should be on more or less the same level. You aren't a user, you are the one who's capable of developing something for a user to follow.

4. I suggest you split your work experiences into a) work responsibilities (one, max two sentences, brief) and b) achievements, that's where you shine and follow this logic that leads to company's goals, i.e. "Using these buzzwords I changed this and this for the better which led to this which in turn led to profits/savings in these amounts".

gespenstern

What certs help. CISSP is certainly the best, there was a very good quantified research here this year by DatabaseHead on how often certs are mentioned in job descriptions, search the forums. What I've taken from it is CEH and CISSP are very good for job prospects (although I personally despise CEH).

CEH was a very easy thing to do for me, I passed it with no preparation. See if you can do it ASAP, because from costs/benefits it's probably the best no matter how I hate to say it.

DatabaseHead

That gap is a killer, can you list something extracurricular as a place holder instead of listing 2016/06 as the last work date. Maybe consulting?

Maybe list studying for CISSP 2016/07 current and make a bullet with a projected exam date. I hate to say it but you become a pariah when you aren't working.

Raystafarian

xxxkaliboyxxx wrote: »

too busy from the jump. How about a quick summary up on top. this is what HR is going to read. Right now it's too technical for someone that just uses MS Office.

Yeah, you're right, thanks.

jeremywatts2005 wrote: »

Sent you a PM with some recruiters for that area.

Thanks!

gespenstern wrote: »

OK, here's my take. [..]

Excellent, I'm going to go through this point by point, thank you!

Raystafarian

gespenstern wrote: »

What I've taken from it is CEH and CISSP are very good for job prospects (although I personally despise CEH).

Thanks, I'll take a look at that study. As I mentioned, I feel like having the CISSP (and probably CEH) makes me seem fraudulent, like passing the test for the cert with no experience to back it up. The CISM was a stretch for me, but the CISSP seems to be too technical for me to back up with experience. I'm sure I could pass it, but..

DatabaseHead wrote: »

That gap is a killer, can you list something extracurricular as a place holder instead of listing 2016/06 as the last work date. Maybe consulting?

Maybe list studying for CISSP 2016/07 current and make a bullet with a projected exam date. I hate to say it but you become a pariah when you aren't working.

Yeah, I mean I've done some ​work on upwork and some open source stuff, but nothing really material.

DatabaseHead

if you are getting compensated for the work then I would put consultant of some sort.

Raystafarian

gespenstern wrote: »

OK, here's my take.
3. [...] Avoid this skill dispersion, all the skills should be on more or less the same level. You aren't a user, you are the one who's capable of developing something for a user to follow.

I tried to take everything you said to heart, but I had a little bit of a hard time understanding some of point #3. Do you mean literally line breaks or more of difficulty of the tools?

Raystafarian

DatabaseHead wrote: »

if you are getting compensated for the work then I would put consultant of some sort.

I think it might be a stretch, I wouldn't have the history on my profile (on upwork) to justify it. I have tons of contributions linked to the date range on StackExchange, but that's not at all the same. hm

gespenstern

If you contribute to stackoverflow I'd put it into resume as well. I've seen folks with great stackoverflow profiles who put this on resume and it worked well for them. In addition to assuring your technical proficiency it proves that you are willing to help and share your knowledge which is usually perceived as a good trait.

I assume that you contribute to stackoverflow or other technical subsites and not something unrelated to tech like politics... in this case yeah, I wouldn't recommend putting it there.

Also, you mentioned that you contributed to open source projects. If you can link to meaningful github projects with your name there it would look great on your resume as well IMO.

Raystafarian

Thanks, I'll try to figure out a way to get that stuff in there. Here's my attempt at taking some of the advice here

TEWise_Raymond_121916.doc

DatabaseHead

Had an opportunity to review

Couple of thoughts why you aren't getting hits. IMO

You have work gaps between every other job you have listed. No offense but that is going to hurt.

Just curious if/when they ask what do you tell them?

The resume looks solid to me overall besides the item mentioned above, however the skills section could use some additional formatting. It all runs together, consider word table and structure your skills, maybe remove a couple that aren't as useful.

gespenstern

Much better!

Do you have a middle name BTW? I've read that some research has shown that people perceive other people with middle names to be smarter than the ones without it. So it's like John W Smith sounds more convincing and solid to them than just John Smith. I suggest to put something.

Also if you have vision issues -- always put your glasses on for first impression. Glasses again make people look smarter in the eye of the beholder. No contact lenses.

Practice in interviews. If you are alone it's still beneficial to give short speeches in front of a mirror on certain subjects either from your resume or something that is commonly asked. When I was seeking I prepared and practiced awesome speeches on PKI, NTLM, SSL/TLS, Kerberos, patch management, data lifecycle, crypto and other things that get asked all the time. Agree on any interviews especially phone/skype as they aren't demanding in order to practice and feel what the typical questions are to get yourself prepared.

Put your resume everywhere, indeed, monster, hired, simplyhired, fill your profile on linkedin with all of this etc.

Suit. Clean and fit body. Haircut. Clean-shaven. Confident. ISACA merchandise if you have it, like a badge or lanyard or something, I know (ISC)2 has this stuff.

Stackexchange & github stuff can be put into a separate resume section if they are noteworthy.

And you gonna make it.

Raystafarian

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Had an opportunity to review

Couple of thoughts why you aren't getting hits. IMO

You have work gaps between every other job you have listed. No offense but that is going to hurt.

Just curious if/when they ask what do you tell them?

The resume looks solid to me overall besides the item mentioned above, however the skills section could use some additional formatting. It all runs together, consider word table and structure your skills, maybe remove a couple that aren't as useful.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll see about making it a table or something. Normally I'm not asked about the gaps, the current one notwithstanding. If asked, the first gap was a merger and I was offered a position, but didn't want to move the phoenix. Second gap was state funding cuts.

Raystafarian

gespenstern wrote: »

Much better!

Do you have a middle name BTW? I've read that some research has shown that people perceive other people with middle names to be smarter than the ones without it. So it's like John W Smith sounds more convincing and solid to them than just John Smith. I suggest to put something.

Also if you have vision issues -- always put your glasses on for first impression. Glasses again make people look smarter in the eye of the beholder. No contact lenses.

Practice in interviews. If you are alone it's still beneficial to give short speeches in front of a mirror on certain subjects either from your resume or something that is commonly asked. When I was seeking I prepared and practiced awesome speeches on PKI, NTLM, SSL/TLS, Kerberos, patch management, data lifecycle, crypto and other things that get asked all the time. Agree on any interviews especially phone/skype as they aren't demanding in order to practice and feel what the typical questions are to get yourself prepared.

Put your resume everywhere, indeed, monster, hired, simplyhired, fill your profile on linkedin with all of this etc.

Suit. Clean and fit body. Haircut. Clean-shaven. Confident. ISACA merchandise if you have it, like a badge or lanyard or something, I know (ISC)2 has this stuff.

Stackexchange & github stuff can be put into a separate resume section if they are noteworthy.

And you gonna make it.

I appreciate all your help!

Raystafarian

DatabaseHead wrote: »

the skills section could use some additional formatting. It all runs together, consider word table and structure your skills, maybe remove a couple that aren't as useful.

You're right. I eliminated some things that were covered in experience and removed a few irrelevant ones, which trimmed the list down quite a bit and​ let me add some more spacing in the other sections.