CYBERSECURITY JOB HUNTING GUIDE
  • Home
  • Introduction
    • Things you should know
    • The strategy
  • Paths into Cybersecurity
    • First steps
    • SWOT Analysis
    • How much time do you need?
    • Calculate& Evaluate Knowledge
    • Imposter syndrome
    • Time Management
    • Cybersecurity Domains
    • Cloud Security
    • Financial advice >
      • Credit score
    • The salary
    • Advocacy for underrepresented groups
  • Goal Setting & Career paths
    • Find your career in 5 steps
    • Cybersecurity career options
    • Career finding with LinkedIn
    • Transferable Skills (general)
    • Transferable IT Skills
    • Find a path with job descriptions
    • The I do not know path
    • Do you know “garbage” jobs?
    • “Bonus” knowledge
    • Learning & Motivation
    • Particular vs. any job
    • Pentester path (start)
    • Pen Testing as Career
    • SOC Analyst as career
    • Security Engineer as career
    • Compliance & Risk as career
    • How to find a career (IAM Engineer)
    • Find a company
  • Networking
    • Networking like a pro
    • LinkedIn
    • Referrals & Skills
    • LinkedIn Recruiters >
      • Working with a recruiter
    • Cyber Community
    • Networking University
    • Mentoring
    • Build your personal brand
    • Goal of Networking
  • Hands-on
    • The home lab >
      • Designing a home lab
      • Ways to create a home lab
      • Hypervisors >
        • VirtualBox
        • VMWare Player
        • QEMU/KVM
      • Docker
      • Operating Systems >
        • Kali Linux >
          • Installing Kali with VirtualBox
        • Parrot
        • BlackArch
        • Red Hat Enterprise Linux >
          • RHCSA
        • Security Onion >
          • Installation Security Onion
        • Metasploitable2
        • Ubuntu
        • Windows >
          • Windows in a VM
          • Windows with Virtual Machine Manager
          • Preparing Windows logging
          • John Strand's ADHD VM
      • Firewalls >
        • pfSense Installation
        • pfSense configuration for Security Onion
    • Volunteer Work
    • Note Taking
    • Red labs >
      • Cyberseclabs
      • HackTheBox >
        • HackTheBox Academy
      • INE red side
      • RangeForce
      • Offensive Security
      • TryHackMe
      • Virtual Hacking Labs
    • Red tools & techniques >
      • Atomic Red Team
      • DVWA
      • Metasploit
      • OSINT tools
      • OWASP Juice Shop
    • Blue labs >
      • Blue Team Labs Online
      • DetectionLab (free)
      • INE
      • Letsdefend >
        • LetsDefend password stealer
      • Opensecuritytraining (free)
      • PurpleLabs
      • RangeForce
    • Blue tools >
      • Install a Canary Token
      • CyberChef
      • EDR Lima Charlie installation
      • EDR LimaCharlie configuration
      • EDR Velociraptor (free)
      • EDR Bluespawn (free)
      • DeepBlueCLI (logs Powershell, free)
      • Raccine (ransomware protection, free)
      • Install RITA (detects C2 traffic, free)
      • Sandboxes >
        • Joe's Sandbox
      • SIEM ELK Stack
      • SIEM Graylog >
        • Getting started with Graylog
        • Install Graylog
        • Graylog Windows agent
        • Graylog Linux agent
        • Graylog as application
      • Suricata with RangeForce
      • Identifying IoCs with RangeForce
      • What2Log
  • Certifications, Degree & Courses
    • Overview
    • Free & Affordable Resources
    • Pick your cert
    • Skill Assessment
    • Get a cheap degree
  • (Employment) fraud & scams
    • Suspicious Offer
    • Second Offer
    • Certification Scams
    • Fraud with courses
  • Analyzing a job ad
    • The Header
    • Building a Bridge
    • The Responsibilities
    • Desired Skills
    • Preferred Qualification
    • Benefits
    • Own skills vs job ad
    • Dealing with poorly written job ads
  • Resume writing
    • Templates
    • Building a draft
    • Resume in Detail
    • Understand the company
    • ATS and tailoring
    • Last Step
  • Cover letter
    • Writing a cover letter
  • Preparation & Interview
    • Organize your job hunt
    • SWOT Again (interview)
    • Twitter
    • The interview
    • Interview Questions Designed To Trick You
    • Post interview tasks
  • I did it all, but...
    • You are not alone
    • Try Something New
    • Why You'll Fail in Cyber Security
  • Yes, I got a job!
    • Two, or more offers?
    • Continued learning
    • Moving up
    • Lessons learned
  • Conclusion
  • Additional things
    • Reviews (labs, courses, certs) >
      • CompTIA A+
      • CompTIA Network+
      • CompTIA Security+
      • CompTIA Server+
      • CompTIA PenTest+
      • DroneSec DSOC
      • Defensive-Security Purple Labs
      • FAA Part 107
      • INE eCPPT & PTP
      • Letsdefend review
      • Microsoft AZ-500
      • RangeForce SOC 1
      • RangeForce SOC 2
    • Work In A Different Country >
      • The Work Permit
      • Working in the US
      • Studying in the US
      • Studying in Germany
      • Work in a different country
    • Other Resources >
      • Useful Links >
        • All about careers
        • Red resources
        • Blue resources
      • YouTube
      • Twitch
      • Podcasts
      • Books
      • Udemy
      • Thanks
    • Contributors
  • Stefan Waldvogel, where can I help?
  • Home
  • Introduction
    • Things you should know
    • The strategy
  • Paths into Cybersecurity
    • First steps
    • SWOT Analysis
    • How much time do you need?
    • Calculate& Evaluate Knowledge
    • Imposter syndrome
    • Time Management
    • Cybersecurity Domains
    • Cloud Security
    • Financial advice >
      • Credit score
    • The salary
    • Advocacy for underrepresented groups
  • Goal Setting & Career paths
    • Find your career in 5 steps
    • Cybersecurity career options
    • Career finding with LinkedIn
    • Transferable Skills (general)
    • Transferable IT Skills
    • Find a path with job descriptions
    • The I do not know path
    • Do you know “garbage” jobs?
    • “Bonus” knowledge
    • Learning & Motivation
    • Particular vs. any job
    • Pentester path (start)
    • Pen Testing as Career
    • SOC Analyst as career
    • Security Engineer as career
    • Compliance & Risk as career
    • How to find a career (IAM Engineer)
    • Find a company
  • Networking
    • Networking like a pro
    • LinkedIn
    • Referrals & Skills
    • LinkedIn Recruiters >
      • Working with a recruiter
    • Cyber Community
    • Networking University
    • Mentoring
    • Build your personal brand
    • Goal of Networking
  • Hands-on
    • The home lab >
      • Designing a home lab
      • Ways to create a home lab
      • Hypervisors >
        • VirtualBox
        • VMWare Player
        • QEMU/KVM
      • Docker
      • Operating Systems >
        • Kali Linux >
          • Installing Kali with VirtualBox
        • Parrot
        • BlackArch
        • Red Hat Enterprise Linux >
          • RHCSA
        • Security Onion >
          • Installation Security Onion
        • Metasploitable2
        • Ubuntu
        • Windows >
          • Windows in a VM
          • Windows with Virtual Machine Manager
          • Preparing Windows logging
          • John Strand's ADHD VM
      • Firewalls >
        • pfSense Installation
        • pfSense configuration for Security Onion
    • Volunteer Work
    • Note Taking
    • Red labs >
      • Cyberseclabs
      • HackTheBox >
        • HackTheBox Academy
      • INE red side
      • RangeForce
      • Offensive Security
      • TryHackMe
      • Virtual Hacking Labs
    • Red tools & techniques >
      • Atomic Red Team
      • DVWA
      • Metasploit
      • OSINT tools
      • OWASP Juice Shop
    • Blue labs >
      • Blue Team Labs Online
      • DetectionLab (free)
      • INE
      • Letsdefend >
        • LetsDefend password stealer
      • Opensecuritytraining (free)
      • PurpleLabs
      • RangeForce
    • Blue tools >
      • Install a Canary Token
      • CyberChef
      • EDR Lima Charlie installation
      • EDR LimaCharlie configuration
      • EDR Velociraptor (free)
      • EDR Bluespawn (free)
      • DeepBlueCLI (logs Powershell, free)
      • Raccine (ransomware protection, free)
      • Install RITA (detects C2 traffic, free)
      • Sandboxes >
        • Joe's Sandbox
      • SIEM ELK Stack
      • SIEM Graylog >
        • Getting started with Graylog
        • Install Graylog
        • Graylog Windows agent
        • Graylog Linux agent
        • Graylog as application
      • Suricata with RangeForce
      • Identifying IoCs with RangeForce
      • What2Log
  • Certifications, Degree & Courses
    • Overview
    • Free & Affordable Resources
    • Pick your cert
    • Skill Assessment
    • Get a cheap degree
  • (Employment) fraud & scams
    • Suspicious Offer
    • Second Offer
    • Certification Scams
    • Fraud with courses
  • Analyzing a job ad
    • The Header
    • Building a Bridge
    • The Responsibilities
    • Desired Skills
    • Preferred Qualification
    • Benefits
    • Own skills vs job ad
    • Dealing with poorly written job ads
  • Resume writing
    • Templates
    • Building a draft
    • Resume in Detail
    • Understand the company
    • ATS and tailoring
    • Last Step
  • Cover letter
    • Writing a cover letter
  • Preparation & Interview
    • Organize your job hunt
    • SWOT Again (interview)
    • Twitter
    • The interview
    • Interview Questions Designed To Trick You
    • Post interview tasks
  • I did it all, but...
    • You are not alone
    • Try Something New
    • Why You'll Fail in Cyber Security
  • Yes, I got a job!
    • Two, or more offers?
    • Continued learning
    • Moving up
    • Lessons learned
  • Conclusion
  • Additional things
    • Reviews (labs, courses, certs) >
      • CompTIA A+
      • CompTIA Network+
      • CompTIA Security+
      • CompTIA Server+
      • CompTIA PenTest+
      • DroneSec DSOC
      • Defensive-Security Purple Labs
      • FAA Part 107
      • INE eCPPT & PTP
      • Letsdefend review
      • Microsoft AZ-500
      • RangeForce SOC 1
      • RangeForce SOC 2
    • Work In A Different Country >
      • The Work Permit
      • Working in the US
      • Studying in the US
      • Studying in Germany
      • Work in a different country
    • Other Resources >
      • Useful Links >
        • All about careers
        • Red resources
        • Blue resources
      • YouTube
      • Twitch
      • Podcasts
      • Books
      • Udemy
      • Thanks
    • Contributors
  • Stefan Waldvogel, where can I help?
  CYBERSECURITY JOB HUNTING GUIDE

Find your dream role

Author: Stefan Waldvogel

Find your career in five steps

As a mentor, I get many questions, and one question is: What should I do? This question reveals a bigger problem. People do not have a specific goal, and I cannot help much without a plan/goal.
Usually, I help people in Cybersecurity, but the approach is always the same. The first step is the big picture.
Picture
IT has many options, and people like different things, but do not focus on one thing except it is your passion. Before you start your career, do a lot of research. Remember: Switching a career is possible, but it might hurt your wallet or costs time.
Picture
The first focus is the salary, but this should not be your primary concern. Think about employers and how you can reach them. If you are looking for network jobs, but the local job market is empty... it is not an excellent choice. A 100% remote job is possible as a beginner but not common.
Open many matching job ads to get an idea of what an employer wants and what you can offer. You can apply if you have 70% of the US's requirements and you are a suitable candidate.

A word about certs: You need some, but work experience weighs a lot. Some job offers are ridiculous, especially in security( entry-level), five years of experience, and CISSP. HR departments love copy-paste, including adding impossible certs, but you can see excellent job offers vs. insufficient offers. Reasonable job offers are unique and tailored to a specific job. You want to look for such jobs and employers because you can tailor your CV, resume, and LinkedIn profile...​
The next step is, find your best path, do intense research, and create a table to compare each option:
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This picture is for the cloud, but you can do this with every job. The question is: Can you do the job, and if yes, what do you need? Maybe you have to move to do your dream job, and perhaps you can add some certs, perhaps you have to add some skills, etc...
​
Numbers: Availability is crucial, and LinkedIn can help you a lot. If you are a beginner, pay attention to open apprenticeship positions. One example: In Austin, TX, you picked “cloud” and “security.” A quick LinkedIn search will tell you one thing: You have 4x more cloud jobs than in Cybersecurity. In the cloud, you have hundreds of apprenticeships available... in security few. In your area, this is different.

Getting professional help for free is the next step:
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Find a mentor and talk to him. Ask him/her about what he/she is doing, if he/she likes the job, typical interview questions, salary, certs....
If you want to add certifications and need a course, find the free things first.
LinkedIn is powerful if you use it right:
Picture
The most important thing is: LinkedIn and networking needs time. Build your profile long before you are looking for a job and interact with people.
Next: Cybersecurity career options
© 2021. This work is licensed under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license​