My Cybersecurity Job Hunting Experience + tips for the 2024 job market

[@GeorgiaMade404]

IMO…it doesn’t really matter what you put on your resume nowadays. They hire via nepotism or internally. Very few people are hired traditionally anymore.

[@TheITCornerbyJR]

Job Market is Rough now. But its possible. Good luck yall! ✌🏽😎

[@htooaungwin3417]

To be honest, those HR recruiters are mostly idiots. I have seen so many people like that. I would have sent an email directly to the hiring manager why you are a qualified candidate.

[@xugefu]

Thanks!

[@nicoleenesse]

Welcome!

[@WestRonin75]

Thanks for the tips! Currently trying to move from Help Desk to SOC Analyst. The current state of the job market is quite discouraging, but I’m not giving up.

[@TangomanX2008]

The issue might not necessarily be the job market per se, but just getting the first job. I myself wasn't able to take the obvious route by applying to a SOC role. The way it worked out for me, I applied to a Soc role at an MSP, they turned me down for it, but then about a month later they asked me if I would be interested in being part of their Service Desk team, and I accepted the role. I worked that role for two years. Applied internally to the Soc team. The first time I applied, I got turned down, but it opened up again, I applied, and got the role. I wish you success in finding that SOC role.

[@AlvaroHarder]

si, en perú, está igual el mercado laboral. pero igual continuaré hasta conseguirlo.

[@AresCyberDefense]

Good luck. It's wild to see so many people with this same story. I know you'll get it eventually, but what specific things do you feel are holding you back right now?

[@AresCyberDefense]

@@TangomanX2008 What do you feel was holding you back the first couple of times? Why didn't they give you a shot at the SOC role initially?

[@TangomanX2008]

@@AresCyberDefense When I applied outside the company (eg looking for my first job), it was simply the lack of a security role in my resume. Once I was in the company as service desk tech, I didn't get the job because they just forgot about my application (yep, you read that right). So then I applied, and I got in. One thing I didn't mention, is that once I was in at that company as a service desk, and once I established myself as an employee, I wasn't shy about my interest in being a SOC analyst. Now, I followed a couple of principles. I made sure that I showed more interest at my current job (service desk tech). I wasn't the best service desk, but I was good, and they knew doing a good job was very important to me. Second, I also started making connections with the Security Team and at one point, I volunteered do doing a boring but important task they normally do (basically checking accounts that had suspicious details, like logins from potentially shady ip addresses and making sure that accounts weren't forwarding email to malicious email accounts. The thing I recommend is make sure that you have a good references of your current job. That is actually your highest priority. Get a good foundation in IT and Security and get a certification like the Security+. Second, look around in your area and find a good association or club involving IT and securrity. Third, as you get a good understanding foundation (and by this I mean, a basic it security generalist foundation), get a sense of what IT security needs actually look like, and look at your backround, and see how that relates to IT security. are you a sales guy? hr?tech support, teaching? your backround will give you an advantage to certain niche within it security. I myself would probably do not be a good person for the sales side of IT security, but someone who worked with car, furniture, or electronics, for example might be great at it. How about if you worked with HR? Much of it security has to do with government compliance, and people from hr or business management might be great at it. One thing, there is a log of good stuuff on you tube about getting that first youb, so I encourage to look some of this stuff up on yourtube.

[@insanebrobot9853]

It's great to hear your experiences lately as I've been applying to jobs myself. Your insight is invaluable as always. Thabks!

[@__berichh5375]

Yeah it’s crazy this current market

[@lukan1u]

how do you find the hiring manager or hr people? I always struggle with this part. Any clues or tips would be much appriciated 🙏

[@InclusiveCyber]

Appreciate the insights. The current cybersecurity job market is extremely brutal. I'd say shift tactics towards local networking to build a solid network.

[@hurusii9005]

I don’t want to seem pessimistic but if you have no or limited experience, you can’t get hired right now. There’s no point they won’t even consider you. It has to do with the government policies. The federal reserve raised the fed interest rate to a record all time high never seen since 2008. This is in hopes to curb inflation. These high rates feed into all other interest rates in the country. Credit cards, mortgages loans, and corporate loans. These businesses and corporate loans are now expiring soon because they tend to last about 5 years before businesses have to refinance them. All of these companies have a low rate but soon will have to refinance at the higher rate the government has set as a baseline. Probably from 2-3% to 5-6%. This has companies in a panic because all industries in America heavily debt based and the rates haven’t been this high in 17 year. These rate increases matter so much because companies have such high debt that even increasing them a bit will cut in to their bottom line. Companies are thought to be having to refinance this year and next year and the year after. Because there debt expenses will increase, the first thing they do is cut back on research and development funding which means hiring freeze. They don’t have the money to invest in and train young people entering the workforce in this economic climate. Also they overhired in 2021 so they can so they are totally fine with this. Now if it gets worse and they have to refinance more and more of their debt at hire rate; that’s when we see massive layoffs. Companies will not be able to pay their employees high wages when the interest on their debt is so high so they’ll sacrifice their employees and re hire later with employees demanding lower wages. That’s how this whole system works. It’s not our fault. It’s not because you’re not qualified. It’s because of a broken debt ridden system that relies on cheap money to survive. And if they can’t survive then we can’t either.

[@edwarddeffo9250]

Thanks

[@davidprice6994]

Always great advice from you.

[@ScottTX79]

I just received an offer after about 1.5 months of searching, it seems way less competitive to land something if you’re willing to work on site. All of my call backs were for on site roles

[@urik7793]

Experiencing the same thing and did the eaxct things you did. I have director experience and literally went for an onsite entry level role....the interviews went well and have my last one this Thursday. BUT its wild out there for sure!

[@lisakiara10]

i gave up on finding a security related job and switched back to development. i have a masters degree but in my country they only search for people 5 years+ experience and a masters degree. i dont know where they get those people (i guess they dont cause some jobs are available for over 1 year now) but how can you get experience when nobody is willing to employ you? wtf x.x

[@aryan_shorts812]

Ur country?

[@lisakiara10]

@@aryan_shorts812 austria

[@CyberHAC100k]

It is very hard to get even a look at the resume let alone an interview. Plenty of cyber talent being let go too. Full remote are very rare in today's market but it's still out there because I'm still looking to fill positions that are remote. :D

[@Nick-jo1cm]

Love to hear that, been going through the process.

[@kameronmuirhead5186]

thanks for the video really great advice this can definitely help someone land a role. I will be using this after I get the certifications I am going for :)

[@nicoleenesse]

Glad it was helpful!

[@AnnMitt]

Perhaps it's time to give up on IT and explore a totally different field.

[@tmac9208]

What I find interesting about cybersecurity is that the roles are very specific but the knowledge needed to perform it is very general. Ergo its not an entry level role because of the vast general knowledge needed to operate at the specific level needed. But no one wants to pay for an experienced person with general knowledge so they keep looking for someone that just happened to acquire the specific skills you want in the shortest timeframe of the other applicants so you can pay them the least you can. And they get what they pay for. They wind up looking good for about 6 - 12 months then things change and the employee doesn't have the general knowledge to fall back on and they have to rinse, lather, repeat the hiring process.

[@AresCyberDefense]

This is an interesting take. I haven't heard it addressed like this before. What do you feel/ or what have you seen are the skills they're looking for?

[@tmac9208]

Specific tool stacks. Especially ones that are expensive to get experience in. Example is cyberarc. Many employers seem to require specific vendor interfaces for the following; 1. Firewalls 2. Security Information & Event Management (SIEM) 3. Network Detection & Response (NDR) 4. Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) Which is fine but hard to find in the specific combos, years experience, etc. Instead, they often wind up with people who know the interface but not what is going on behind it.

[@mfuumucaish]

How can i get an internship in a vulnerability scanner operator position? What do i really need to get? Thank you

[@agent7574]

Ive been wondering what you've been up to

[@tamaragordon8547]

Thank you, valuable gems 💎

[@Websitedr]

These companies only want highly experienced unicorns and those willing to accept a pay cut.

[@CyberSecurityFashionDesigner]

Nicole 😩😩 miss your videos. Should I just give up:( and just go to fashion school bc if you struggled then it’s over for us normal avg ppl. Also, I failed the sec + twice:( I am just tired

[@Daniil-no8pi]

No, it's not. Get a helpdesk role and continue to study for the Sec+

[@CyberSecurityFashionDesigner]

@@Daniil-no8pi uhhh how much studying can you do at this point? It just shows maybe it’s not for me??? I keep failing it. How can I pass the rest of the certs???

[@rijuantony4826]

Hey Nicole , I have been working as a system and network administrator for 9 years , so I am very much interested in cyber security field . How to enter in the cyber security (pen test ) field and job market. I am planning to move abroad ,actually am from India. Thank you for advice and guidance ,would be appreciated it .

[@H351gbgone]

Some fking recruiters just ghosted us wth omg shit recruiters shielding us from our Goals....

[@vaultvon2126]

amazing clear vid

[@jlprescott7243]

Software developers is worse now. Cybersecurity/Machine learning/AI is still good. Don't give up. Everything moves in cycles and tech will rebound. Cheers!

[@jpaul8419]

Im leaving cyber security field. Its not worth it. I applied for many jobs and got no interviews. Unless you got years of experience, many cyber security jobs will not be available.

[@Ynerson9003]

Do you think it is still good to pursue cybersecurity? I read it is saturated and just really hard to get a job, concerning to a newbie

[@Kahooni]

Can i ask what you would do instead? Stay tech/data related or completely change fields?

[@homeoffice3524]

I pretty much already give up! One year of sending CV can't get even data entry jobs with minimal salary. (I have a full time job just not connected to IT) Don't see the point to study or learn anything at this point.

[@alexmalooley7037]

Yeah man its pretty discouraging. I was encouraged to get into IT last year, I spent almost the entirety of of 2023 balancing a full time job, relationship and personal hobbies studying for the AWS CCP and Sec+. My peers who were already in IT gave me the impression that these two certs alone would have me set... I passed my Sec+ in February and since then ive spent tons of time working on personal project and getting my portfolio up. I still haven't found job. Ik working in help desk is the first step but the help desk opportunities I have been able to find pay like shit and i cant afford to work those jobs. ik i gotta start somewhere but i got bills to pay

[@ExoticGTRX]

AI is taking over is part of the reason as well

[@homeoffice3524]

@@ExoticGTRXNothing to do with virtual assistants and photo filters. Bots is nothing new. Problem is fake adverts and unrealistic requirements to get entry level job. Pure human factor

[@ExoticGTRX]

@@homeoffice3524 they're being replaced anyway by AI so 🤷🏿‍♂️

[@homeoffice3524]

@@ExoticGTRX I can see you never tried to make useful functional web page backend front end with any virtual assistant 😂 This assistants are capable to spit out boilerplate from stuck or other google forums. That's it. And no one is writing boilerplate itself at least 5 years. When you open VS code and in start typing HTML it finishes all boilerplate instantly for you. If you are really interested about this it's full KZbin. Already 100 of law suits where in the end your sow called ai is nothing else then fake results and real world humans from 3rd world countries. In the end people are not loosing jobs because there is google search bots and different virtual assistants. They loosing job because they are useless and can do only tasks what can be automated.

[@omarbarron1767]

Great information thank you for sharing........

[@kseniaksu4007]

Isn't chatgpt resume building not a free feature? Is it really what everyone uses? Wow

[@X.MillennialResponder.X]

It is you can use custom instructions to bot illustrating that your inputs will be sections of your résumé . The formatting of it you’ll have to do on your own. overall from a person that is on the spectrum. This is a game changer.

[@Cognitoman]

We were in a tech bubble , it’s still gonna get worse

[@VanguardxGaming]

Should I just join the Air Force/Space Force at this point? I’m sick of experts like Nicole making videos like this speaking on how bad the job market is & no it’s not Nicole’s fault it’s just a shame that the job market isn’t stable for experts like Nicole and her partner with 16 year of experience that’s scary. This economy is scary but I want job security and I take sec + very soon, I’m worried but Thank you for the advice Nicole!

[@EVILUNITEZ]

you don't seem to realize is that people with 16 years of experience are picky about location and are stuck on salary range. As a new grad looking for a job is much more harder and you can't be picky about anything and salaries seem to be a lower after layoffs. So, now you are competing with a lot of people that have been laid off not just recent grads.

[@GeorgiaMade404]

If you’re young, the military is your best option right now

[@jeffj3creative]

I joined at 22. Should you? Go for it. Can’t beat getting free training from the military. I miss the AF and when they raised the cap on age, I was one year over. I would’ve gone back to finish my career and retrain into tech.

[@VanguardxGaming]

@@jeffj3creative what advice would you have for me, I’m 25 and a little less than 2 years left of my bachelors in cybersecurity. Wait or go now ?

[@Malekfahad420]

Hey Nicole, really nice video ! I was wondering if I could help you with Best Quality Editing in your videos better than your Editor with good pricing and also make a highly engaging Thumbnail which will help your videos to reach to a wider audience ? Pls let me know what do you think ?

[@Midnight-RaInbow]

Says the man with 3 subscribers and no content ???????? you should have a video portfolio of your abilities.

[@Alexodeya6925]

@@Midnight-RaInbowlol

[@FirstLast-lq4xf]

Can you apply for those on h1b

[@skynetonline]

Well, pretty much the same information from 2023

[@mfrancisco_850]

Try 3 years lol