Interview in a couple of weeks

tpatt100

I have been getting calls for jobs everywhere but the state I am in, even though my online resumes all say "will not relocate". Or I get calls for jobs that I am not qualified for like Citrix or Cisco which Citrix I have not done in about 7+ years and its a way different product now it seems. I removed my expired CCA and CCNA last year but they are getting me through keyword searches.

I applied for a Senior Security position with a University near me, the big one, something I would LOVE to get into because I so don't want to be a contractor anymore. My wife works there and the benefits are excellent.

So I applied a couple of months ago.. Got a call yesterday asking me if I was still interested and if I could come in. I think I sounded kind of surprised they called because I was like "who is this again?".

The job description word for word is exactly my job description for my last two jobs so I thought it was odd this science research center on campus described the position the way it was.

So I took the time and wrote out a page long cover letter when I applied detailing exactly with the type of project, time period I did it and said I pretty much have 7 or so years experience doing what they are asking for. So when they called I have my contacts list of people I used to work with and am still friends with and sent out the "hey need references hook me up" and then sent more formal ones to prior managers asking for permission.

I am kind of nervous about this interview. I have always been a defense contractor and going into a major University kind of scares me a bit. Not that I am intimidated or anything but I think this interview might be kind of tough. So I am writing out an outline and trying to map what they want to what I can do and write out questions/answers that make sense so I can rehearse since I have plenty of time. I am studying for the CEH and taking that in a few weeks so my study will help a ton for the general security stuff, Just going to review the NST documents a lot before hand. Going to brush up on proper incident response, writing policies, updating policies, performing audits, etc etc

ampersand

Congratulations on the interview! I'd say "good luck", but it sounds like you were made for this position, so luck has nothing to do with it.

tpatt100

Had the interview couple of days ago and it went great. I am being pessimistic so I don't get my hopes up but the interview lasted a couple of hours. They asked me questions about my work experience and a lot of "what would you do if this happened" type questions which I prepared for those by organizing and writing out my responses before hand to avoid the "um" and "uhs" that happen.

They seemed to like me because I was asking questions on the existing security framework, policies, end user agreements etc. The senior manager kept asking me specific stuff I would do for such and such and I could tell he was talking about actual stuff there, which I prepared for thanks to the universities website and my personal data mining via LinkedIn lol. I was searching people who worked in that department and saw their skill sets and prepared for those questions.

I had a spreadsheet I got off LinkedIn somebody in a group I shared that paired NIST/Fisma/ISO standards which was something they were looking for they told me since the information crossed Social Security/Census/medical records for the different departments and they wanted to work on a standard policy to help make sure they are compliant.

Spent 30 minutes talking b.s. two of the guys were former military and we got side tracked talking about that.

I felt like I nailed it but they still have others to interview and I will have my fingers crossed.

rwmidl

Just from the sounds of your preparation you might have nailed it!

I've thought about (occasionally) trying to get on where I went to school in their IT security department, but it would require a move and I'm not sure if the wife would go for it.

I will say the one of the big "downsides" to working in a University (especially doing IT security) is you may run in to problems implementing policy, especially when it comes to "tenured" professors. You will have those who probably have full control on their boxes and may get a lot of pushback. And I won't even bring up the quagmire of pain that comes with students hooking up their computers to the schools network.

But seriously, I think you probably nailed it!

Dakinggamer87

Congrats on interview!!