My Recent Job Hunt, A Success Story.
alias454
Member Posts: 648 ■■■■□□□□□□
I thought I would write up some info about my recent job search, which resulted in two offers and ultimately a job. I would like to point out that what worked for me, may or may not work for others. In short, this is descriptive not prescriptive information.
I won’t bore you with how I got to the point where I decided to move on but it started long before I actually got serious about it. I started thinking about a transition into security several years ago but had a hard time figuring out where/how to get started. However, once I matched my skillset with a career path that made sense, things dropped into place pretty quickly. Being able to identify clear goals made all the difference. The “Starting an InfoSec Career – The Megamix” posts from https://tisiphone.net were instrumental in my quest.
At first, I did the normal stuff like updating my resume, Linked In, and setup a profile on careerbuilder. Some advice given to me via a post on here was to start looking and be picky. Initially, I had recruiters contacting me for roles I mostly wasn’t interested in. They were typical short term contracts, 100’s of miles away. I ignored those and only contacted ones that sent me interesting requests. My resume wasn’t doing what it could so I focused a lot of attention on making it better. I asked more than one person to review it from infosec pros, hiring managers, to folks here and received quality feedback. I made changes and tested the results, which ended up in a fairly solid resume.
Once my resume was in good shape, I started getting more hits for infosec stuff, which led to some conversations with recruiters. While these conversations weren’t fruitful as far as getting hired, they were invaluable. They helped me learn what skills were in demand, set realistic expectations about pay, and forced me to think about questions/answers an interviewer might ask. Mainly, how does my IT experience relate to infosec positions? I probably talked with 5-7 recruiters at length, which helped me brush up on my people skills too.
Networking with people was something I needed to do more. The old saying of “it isn’t what you know but who you know” is a factor in many hiring opportunities. I joined Toastmasters, attended Linux User Group (LUG) meetings, attended infosec meetups, went to ISSA meetings, and went to my first security conference in hopes of building those relationships IRL. While traveling to cons might be out of scope for some people’s budgets and some people might find it hard to break away from other responsibilities to attend meetups, I implore you to find a way. Once the initial shock of meeting new people wears off, I found the meetups to be a lot of fun (This could be another post unto itself).
To be clear, I actually didn’t get a job because of going to all the social gatherings except, I got my new job because of going. I credit the endeavor with bringing me out of my shell so to speak (linux nerds what?). For one, it affected my attitude and demeanor in positive ways. For two, it shows potential employers my commitment to the craft. For three, I am learning things. Even though I’ve only attended a few security meetups and been at 4-5 LUG meetings, I have a renewed sense of interest and commitment to my craft.
Job 1:
I was selective about the places I applied, which meant, the number of actual direct applications was fairly low. I happened to see a post on twitter relating to an upcoming job post. I followed up with that person who eventually passed the link to me. I read the job req and was immediately interested. I felt I hit a good number of the requirements so I filled out the online form, uploaded my resume with a cover letter, and moved on. Here is where the story gets interesting.
I talked to some people about effective use of Linked In for job prospecting. One person mentioned after finding a company he was interested in working for, he would view profiles of people that might be in charge of hiring to potentially get him noticed. I thought “why not, what can it hurt?” As I looked through employees, I noticed one was connected to a colleague. I talked to my colleague about how they knew each other and asked for an introduction on Linked In. Very shortly after this, I got an email to have a meet and greet with a person from the company I applied at. They said specifically it wasn’t an interview, just a meet and greet.
I met with the person and had lunch. We chatted for about an hour and a half. Later that same day, I received an email from the HR folks to take an assessment. I passed the assessment, which plugged me into the rest of the process. I had additional interviews and eventually was offered the job. The whole process took about a month. During that time, I wasn’t sure I had the job so I continued looking.
Job 2:
The other job was in response to an internal recruiter reaching out to me on Linked In. I asked some questions about what the job entails and setup a preliminary phone interview. I emailed my resume with a cover letter prior to the call, which lasted about 15 minutes to go over some basics. At the end of the call, she said “she would talk to the hiring manager and go over my resume.” The next day, I got an email asking if I wanted to come in for an interview. I had the interview and was told they would get back to me.
They contacted me to let me know I didn’t get the job. I didn’t have the exact skillset they wanted but they liked me. They were going to open up another position. However, they couldn’t do it until next year due to budget constraints. I thanked them and told them I would be open to that since I hadn’t heard from the first job yet. I wanted to keep my options open.
I followed up on Linked In with each of the people I interviewed with to thank them for their time. I also asked to stay in touch. I’m not sure, but I think this made a huge impression because they called me back a few days later to ask if I still was interested in working with them. They were going to open the job sooner rather than later. It may be the first candidate fell through for some reason too and I was second pick. In either case, I was offered the job but by this time, I had already received and accepted a verbal offer from the first company.
Had both offers come through at the same time, the decision would have been difficult. Both companies had great cultures and I enjoyed talking with them. Ultimately, the right choice was made by the universe and I am very grateful that the opportunities were even there for me in the first place.
tl;dr: Figuring out where to start might be hard but once you do, set clear goals to move towards. Keep your resume up to date, spend time with real people, and practice your personal skills to give yourself extra luck.
I won’t bore you with how I got to the point where I decided to move on but it started long before I actually got serious about it. I started thinking about a transition into security several years ago but had a hard time figuring out where/how to get started. However, once I matched my skillset with a career path that made sense, things dropped into place pretty quickly. Being able to identify clear goals made all the difference. The “Starting an InfoSec Career – The Megamix” posts from https://tisiphone.net were instrumental in my quest.
At first, I did the normal stuff like updating my resume, Linked In, and setup a profile on careerbuilder. Some advice given to me via a post on here was to start looking and be picky. Initially, I had recruiters contacting me for roles I mostly wasn’t interested in. They were typical short term contracts, 100’s of miles away. I ignored those and only contacted ones that sent me interesting requests. My resume wasn’t doing what it could so I focused a lot of attention on making it better. I asked more than one person to review it from infosec pros, hiring managers, to folks here and received quality feedback. I made changes and tested the results, which ended up in a fairly solid resume.
Once my resume was in good shape, I started getting more hits for infosec stuff, which led to some conversations with recruiters. While these conversations weren’t fruitful as far as getting hired, they were invaluable. They helped me learn what skills were in demand, set realistic expectations about pay, and forced me to think about questions/answers an interviewer might ask. Mainly, how does my IT experience relate to infosec positions? I probably talked with 5-7 recruiters at length, which helped me brush up on my people skills too.
Networking with people was something I needed to do more. The old saying of “it isn’t what you know but who you know” is a factor in many hiring opportunities. I joined Toastmasters, attended Linux User Group (LUG) meetings, attended infosec meetups, went to ISSA meetings, and went to my first security conference in hopes of building those relationships IRL. While traveling to cons might be out of scope for some people’s budgets and some people might find it hard to break away from other responsibilities to attend meetups, I implore you to find a way. Once the initial shock of meeting new people wears off, I found the meetups to be a lot of fun (This could be another post unto itself).
To be clear, I actually didn’t get a job because of going to all the social gatherings except, I got my new job because of going. I credit the endeavor with bringing me out of my shell so to speak (linux nerds what?). For one, it affected my attitude and demeanor in positive ways. For two, it shows potential employers my commitment to the craft. For three, I am learning things. Even though I’ve only attended a few security meetups and been at 4-5 LUG meetings, I have a renewed sense of interest and commitment to my craft.
Job 1:
I was selective about the places I applied, which meant, the number of actual direct applications was fairly low. I happened to see a post on twitter relating to an upcoming job post. I followed up with that person who eventually passed the link to me. I read the job req and was immediately interested. I felt I hit a good number of the requirements so I filled out the online form, uploaded my resume with a cover letter, and moved on. Here is where the story gets interesting.
I talked to some people about effective use of Linked In for job prospecting. One person mentioned after finding a company he was interested in working for, he would view profiles of people that might be in charge of hiring to potentially get him noticed. I thought “why not, what can it hurt?” As I looked through employees, I noticed one was connected to a colleague. I talked to my colleague about how they knew each other and asked for an introduction on Linked In. Very shortly after this, I got an email to have a meet and greet with a person from the company I applied at. They said specifically it wasn’t an interview, just a meet and greet.
I met with the person and had lunch. We chatted for about an hour and a half. Later that same day, I received an email from the HR folks to take an assessment. I passed the assessment, which plugged me into the rest of the process. I had additional interviews and eventually was offered the job. The whole process took about a month. During that time, I wasn’t sure I had the job so I continued looking.
Job 2:
The other job was in response to an internal recruiter reaching out to me on Linked In. I asked some questions about what the job entails and setup a preliminary phone interview. I emailed my resume with a cover letter prior to the call, which lasted about 15 minutes to go over some basics. At the end of the call, she said “she would talk to the hiring manager and go over my resume.” The next day, I got an email asking if I wanted to come in for an interview. I had the interview and was told they would get back to me.
They contacted me to let me know I didn’t get the job. I didn’t have the exact skillset they wanted but they liked me. They were going to open up another position. However, they couldn’t do it until next year due to budget constraints. I thanked them and told them I would be open to that since I hadn’t heard from the first job yet. I wanted to keep my options open.
I followed up on Linked In with each of the people I interviewed with to thank them for their time. I also asked to stay in touch. I’m not sure, but I think this made a huge impression because they called me back a few days later to ask if I still was interested in working with them. They were going to open the job sooner rather than later. It may be the first candidate fell through for some reason too and I was second pick. In either case, I was offered the job but by this time, I had already received and accepted a verbal offer from the first company.
Had both offers come through at the same time, the decision would have been difficult. Both companies had great cultures and I enjoyed talking with them. Ultimately, the right choice was made by the universe and I am very grateful that the opportunities were even there for me in the first place.
tl;dr: Figuring out where to start might be hard but once you do, set clear goals to move towards. Keep your resume up to date, spend time with real people, and practice your personal skills to give yourself extra luck.
“I do not seek answers, but rather to understand the question.”
Comments
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Nik 99
Member Posts: 154 ■■■□□□□□□□
Great story. All that effort paid off well in the end huh? I myself might be in a situation soon where I have to pick between job offers, would be a very difficult choice if it does come about.
Asking to stay in touch is a thing? Out of curiosity how do you going about phrasing such a thing to them?
Hope you enjoy your new career in InfoSec! -
TechGromit
Member Posts: 2,156 ■■■■■■■■■□
I wager it was you GSEC that got you in the door to interview.Still searching for the corner in a round room. -
alias454
Member Posts: 648 ■■■■□□□□□□
@Nik 99: Thanks. Being able to choose between jobs is a great problem to have. Good Luck in your choice!. Asking to stay in touch was two-fold. When I interviewed with the second company, I really hit it off with the folks I talked to and since they were going to open up the job in a few months, I wanted to have an easy way to reengage with them. The text was fairly short but basically said "Thanks, I had a great time talking with you and would like to stay in touch if that is okay with you. Regards."
@TechGromit: I'm sure having the GSEC didn't hurt.“I do not seek answers, but rather to understand the question.” -
LordQarlyn
Member Posts: 693 ■■■■■■□□□□
Congrats! And yes you do need to be picky. I've always felt, and I am not alone in this, applying for a job is like dating. The interview is like going on a date, if it went well you know pretty quickly, and if it didn't you are left wondering what went wrong. Along this same line, one needs to be selective for the jobs they apply for, and the jobs they reply to when a recruiter comes calling. I do not subscribe to the school of thought of resume/CV blasting.Great story. All that effort paid off well in the end huh? I myself might be in a situation soon where I have to pick between job offers, would be a very difficult choice if it does come about.
Asking to stay in touch is a thing? Out of curiosity how do you going about phrasing such a thing to them?
Hope you enjoy your new career in InfoSec!
"Although I am not looking for a new opportunity at this time, I do appreciate you getting in touch with me and would like to keep in touch for future opportunities."
"While this position isn't along the career path that currently interests me, I do thank you for contacting me, and would like to stay in contact for any future positions that align along our mutual interests." -
alias454
Member Posts: 648 ■■■■□□□□□□
Thanks. It takes more work and might take longer to land the "perfect" job but being more selective pays off.“I do not seek answers, but rather to understand the question.”
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Nik 99
Member Posts: 154 ■■■□□□□□□□
@LordQarlyn: Hey thanks for that. Going to have to make use of this in the future.
