My Cyber Security job search experience so far - Wish I had known this earlier.

cemen777

Interesting thread. I see it as a clash of 2 sides: people who want to find a job in InfoSec and Management who wants to hire experienced Infosec pro/guru only. I m in Desktop support for 15 years. Interested in InfoSec (to serve and protect). Got Network+ and Security+. Looking for any entry job in IT Security - zero. Recruiter said I need CISSP (associate) at least.
Now about what you wrote. Agreed with Everything. You nailed it!
Shortage of cybersecurity talent is a myth. Hiring Managers looking for experienced InfoSec pro and have no desire to dig deeper for local (in house) candidates. They do not understand if a person likes the work place and job then he/she would not look for a new job. Wake up!
Also talent accusation, recruiters and HR are poorly trained, rude, often they have no clue what they were talking about.

JDMurray

When you can't find a job in a specific field then you need expand your geographical area of preference. Set your job search filter to include jobs in the entire USA and see more entry-level jobs appear. Be mindful that entry-level InfoSec jobs are typically targeted at recent grads of major universities, so those jobs may only be posted under the internship programs of specific organizations. This is also why you rarely see a 30+ year old "intern."

Danielm7

cemen777 wrote: »

Interesting thread. I see it as a clash of 2 sides: people who want to find a job in InfoSec and Management who wants to hire experienced Infosec pro/guru only. I m in Desktop support for 15 years. Interested in InfoSec (to serve and protect). Got Network+ and Security+. Looking for any entry job in IT Security - zero. Recruiter said I need CISSP (associate) at least.
Now about what you wrote. Agreed with Everything. You nailed it!
Shortage of cybersecurity talent is a myth. Hiring Managers looking for experienced InfoSec pro and have no desire to dig deeper for local (in house) candidates. They do not understand if a person likes the work place and job then he/she would not look for a new job. Wake up!
Also talent accusation, recruiters and HR are poorly trained, rude, often they have no clue what they were talking about.

I'll play devil's advocate for a minute here... outside of the CISSP advice being stupid. 15 years in desktop support could just mean you've been fixing outlook issues and setting up printers, you could have braindumped the sec+ in a week. So what exactly made you qualified for a security position to the recruiter? Titles don't mean a lot, maybe desktop support in your company also meant you dealt with servers and networks and firewalls, but it doesn't typically. I've seen network or sysadmins who do more security work than people with the title of security engineer, so it really gets down to what you can actually do. It's easy to say "I'm awesome and recruiters are morons!" without looking at both sides and looking for the reason why you might not be getting any traction. Maybe it's location, maybe it's your resume, maybe you just aren't ready?

infosecs

JDMurray wrote: »

Be mindful that entry-level InfoSec jobs are typically targeted at recent grads of major universities, so those jobs may only be posted under the internship programs of specific organizations. This is also why you rarely see a 30+ year old "intern."

Bingo. This is the real problem.

infosecs

Yesterday I got an email from a recruiter who obviously thought cyber security and security are almost same field. The job offered full $15 an hour, required tackling and ensuring compliance in Immigration Detention facility at Pearson Airport !!!
Didn't know incident handling could be so stressful or fun.

Tekn0logy

infosecs wrote: »

Yesterday I got an email from a recruiter who obviously thought cyber security and security are almost same field. The job offered full $15 an hour, required tackling and ensuring compliance in Immigration Detention facility at Pearson Airport !!!
Didn't know incident handling could be so stressful or fun.

I think they just flag on security. Physical Security - good segue into IT Cyber. CISSP test used to be littered with questions on man-traps, bollards, guard towers and cc-TV. Probably qualifies for at least one domain experience.

$15 an hour??? Wow, they must know I'm getting desperate since I only got offered $13!

OK, I see why only $13 max, no TACKLING INVOLVED!!!