Cybersecurity | Interviewing A Cybersecurity Recruiter

Hello there! Long time, no see! I'm sorry about that. Life has been wild. I DO hope that you find this video to be extremely useful, though, and I'm SO thankful to Jesus for letting me interview him! He is a wealth of knowledge.

TIMESTAMPS:
02:15 There are nearly 3 million Cybersecurity jobs worldwide that are open, but so many people are still struggling to get a job. Do you have any insight on what could be causing the gap?
06:45 We are often seeing organizations posting Junior or Associate level Cybersecurity roles which then ask for 5 years of experience working in the field. Why is this, why do companies do it, and should applicants apply even without the experience?
13:08 Does the "HR firewall" really exist? If a job asks for a Bachelors degree and an applicant does not mention it in their resume, is their application automatically discarded? Are humans actually reviewing every application?
17:13 What are some of the reasons that so few companies that are seeking Junior/Associate hires are not willing to train the new employees for the role?
22:23 What pro tips on salary negotiations can you tell us from the HR/Recruiting perspective? Do job offers get rescinded because people ask for more money?
28:05 How are recruiters finding Cybersecurity talent? Where are you looking to find potential candidates? Where should prospective Cybersecurity job seekers be going to find opportunities? Is having a LinkedIn necessary to find a job?
31:41 Is formal higher education necessary in 2021? Do you need a Bachelors degree to get into Cybersecurity, or can you skip it?
35:55 What are your best tips you can give on creating resumes?
40:41 Are certifications valuable? To what extent are they (or are they not) valuable when people are trying to get their first Cybersecurity job?
44:00 Oftentimes we hear from job applicants that they finish an assigned technical exam, complete interviews, etc., but then they never hear anything back from the company. What is going on with this, and how can it be fixed?
47:32 How has the global pandemic changed recruiting? What changes can we expect from recruiting in the future?
49:54 Last minute words of encouragement for those trying to get a job in Cybersecurity.

Let's Connect! Meg's Social Media:

[robbren]

This was great. One thing that I thought of when you asked him about salary negotiations,

You can negotiate other things too if they can’t meet you on salary. Title, PTO days, holidays, hours, training, raise after parole period, etc.

[sarahmail]

Try getting a cyber internship in MD or Northern VA. Doesn’t even need to be a big company… there’s just a lot more cyber opportunities here. The internship gets your foot in the door. I’m a cyber corporate university recruiter in the area.

[bennyespinal]

This was honestly a Really great interview a lot of on point topics being spoken about and clearing the air on common trends about cyber security . this really opened my eyes and change how I want to do things when staring out my I.T career to eventually get my foot into cyber security. He made a lot of valid points my favorite part is his thought process on how he approaches a new applicants. He really thinks outside the box and gets more in depth which was real awesome to hear. So glad I subscribed to your channel so far its been awesome and I'm learning a lot throughout your videos.

At 17:30 why aren't employers willing to train their employees. That's a great questions and it's my biggest issue with employers. They sit you down in front of a computer and expect you to be able to fix things without any training, especially on their custom software or infrastructure. Employers don't realize how much employees apprciate training and how much it helps to ramp them up so they can hit the ground running. It may take longer for them to start to work, but it's going to improve their efficicency so much.

[Delijohn]

Thanks a lot for this!!! :) Much needed, especially during these times! All the questions were based on all the problems we're actually facing. And the recruiter sounded too good to be true, but eventually it seems there are good professionals too. Maybe here in Europe we're a bit more unlucky, who knows.. 😅

[gilgilbert]

The gap starts from the top. The client does not understand what is involved with cybersecurity or what is required to safeguard their own assets and sensitive information. So when they ask the recruiters, to seek out job applicants, the client does not fully understand what they need to fill their job requirements. So with that said, many recruiters, they themselves do not understand what is needed to properly fill the available slot. The the written jod wanted requirements are many times a mismatch on the job requirements and applicants needed.
I have seen and have been recruited for a pen tester, but a CISSP certification is required. A CISSP cert is mainly for management. Not comparing the CISSP with a pen tester, what would a manger be doing as a pen tester? This is only a small example of what I am talking about.

[Kevin-zyjm]

Excellent video. I agree that our education system especially high school lack in IT fundamentals. Colleges also lack in preparing students strong fundamentals. They simply doesn’t prepare us for cyber roles.

[haxguy]

Yeah I understand that the CISSP holds more value than Security+, but I can't get the CISSP because I need the job. He didn't talk much about this yet.

[romeoC]

I don't necessarily agree with telling introverts to network at events....if a recruiter can't get the info they need out of an introvert, then I'm questioning the capabilities of the recruiter. A great team has a mix of all personality types and doesn't ask them to act the opposite...or is this US mentality?

[djuav]

Really enjoyed this discussion, excellent insight into expectations vs reality, thanks for posting

[candogan]

vowww weigh and context of content cannot be overstated, great talk, thank you guys

[frankiefarrell]

Im studying comptia a on Linkined learning would that be enougj to get me any entry level position in cybersecurity

[badrequests]

I started High School in 2010 and they offered 2 programming classes. I took both of them and we wrote a lot of games in Visual Basic and Java. KIDS ARE GETTING TAUGHT HOW TO CODE IN HIGH SCHOOL AND HAVE BEEN FOR OVER A DECADE.

[Pablo-ash]

Really good interview and some helpful tips. I do have one comment on his approach though, how can he consider certifications as experience but he completely disregards degrees in Cyber? That makes no sense, a lot of the time with jobs I feel you have to fit there bias..

[jamesdriscoll]

Thank you for doing this. This is very insightful.

[dropcake]

Hey Meg!
Great info for anyone looking to break into the industry.

[bolnr]

i liked the way Jesus talked about cybersec as a 'normal' tech job. In fact... it is :-). thank you

[HDZoerg]

Do not underestimate the power of a slightly higher salary! Let's say you negotiate extra 5k for your salary a year. This leads to 50k over 10 years AND not only for this one job but also for your going-in position for nexts jobs as well. From that point of view you don't negotiate 5k, you negotiate 50k over the next 10 years.

[ezdv]

Thanks for the valuable information. However, IT and IS Audit should be gevin further attention.

[RaiderNation]

No bachelor's no certificates did have a six-month internship due to a cybersecurity program at Year Up. My advice is keep studying and get interviews because interviewing is a skill also. #ShamelessPlug