Let’s say that you have completed your ethical hacking course training and are searching for a job in the healthcare industry. How do you go about it? Do you need any prior experience? Are there any things that could leverage your position as an employee candidate? What are the things that employers look for?
There are hundreds of such questions that new professionals search for, online, every single day to make their chances at getting a job slightly better. Below are provided a few tips on how to begin your career as a cyber security professional in 2021.
- Building an online presence is how you get visibility today. This could be achieved by either a blog or a social media account. Having an online presence means that you should be posting regular content to build a community or share your thoughts in your network. Updating your LinkedIn profile with the latest information will also help employers know you better and reach out to you when they think that a vacancy that suits you has opened up.
- Enrolling yourself in a cyber security course has become way easier than it was years before. There are hundreds of off-line and online platforms that would provide you with world class training in information security courses like the CEH course (certified ethical hacker) or penetration testing, incident response or a cloud security course. Since this is a technical field, your certification will matter a lot and will get you started in your cybersecurity career. Even if you don’t have a background in computer science education, you can still build a strong foundation of cybersecurity by going through some foundation courses from institutes.
- Get down in the field and get your boots in the mud. Attending seminars and career fests can be amazing for finding new opportunities in your field. These events are frequented by industry professionals and HR managers that are on the lookout for like minded people. Even if you don’t score a job at one of these events, at least you will end up making useful connections for your future and learn valuable stuff about your field that no textbook could otherwise teach you.
- Apply for as many companies as possible. Even if you get a job, make sure that you keep your options open and keep giving interviews after every one or two years so that you know where you stand in the job market. In cyber security, the best advantage is that you can apply in an industry of your preference because almost every sector requires information security professionals.
- Whenever you have free time, utilize it to sharpen your skills and upgrade your knowledge. What you do in your free time decides what you will become good at. As someone seeking a job in cyber security, you can use your free time to challenge yourself by participating in hackathons and Capture the Flag challenges. You can even take part in bug bounty challenges to put your skills to test or build a strong portfolio.
- When you go for an interview, make sure that you’re prepared to your full potential. Brush up your knowledge and feel confident about your skills. If you’re going for an entry-level job, make sure that you have a strong knowledge base because information security is a technical field after all. And have incidents ready to demonstrate your problem-solving skills and your critical thinking attitude, qualities which are an absolute must for any cyber security professional.
At the end, remember that a can-do attitude is ultimately all you need to succeed in any venture. So go ahead and start looking for opportunities wherever you can. Maybe one day, you will find yourself on this side of the spectrum, right?
