Keith Cassant, MAOL, SPHR, CEH’s Post

The War for Talent Series - Episode 1 6 𝙏𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙄𝘼𝙈 𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙚. Last week we announced our new series, The War for Talent, where we share one tip a week on hiring top talent for your specific industry. 𝗧𝗶𝗽 𝟭:𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝗯 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 Before starting the hiring process, clear and specific job requirements for the IAM role required should be documented and defined. Consideration should be made of the IAM technologies and solutions used or planned to be implemented within the business. This would determine the required skills, experience level, certifications, and any additional qualifications needed for the role. Often though, HR and hiring managers need to have a flexible approach when presented with an IAM hiring request. There are many transferable skills within Cyber to IAM. With the dearth of talent sometimes it may even be necessary to widen the search to those with information security experience, rather than narrow the focus to Cybersecurity and even further to IAM. Reference to the NICE framework is often helpful in reviewing the skills within the business and of external candidates: https://lnkd.in/d7H4frYT If you don’t want to make compromises, need to fill the role quickly and want to get it right first time then retaining the expertise of a niche IAM recruitment consultancy is a good option. In the very small world of IAM, perfect candidates are like unicorns... fortunately for our clients, the experts at Cloud International have been finding these rarities for over a decade. Our comprehensive skills matching means only 3% of our placements leave within the first 6 months. Do not miss the weekly tip of our ‘War of Talent Series’ by giving us a follow at Cloud International. For immediate advice or just a chat on the state of the IAM jobs market, please contact Andrew Hantzis. #IAM #cybersecurity #hiringtips #cloudinternational

Recruiters and hiring managers: CISSP is not a magic bullet for candidate selection.  First, it's a huge barrier to entry for potentially very capable candidates  For some roles it does make sense.  For other roles it's marginally useful or not applicable at all. Define any certification expectations based on the role, not on the certificate most people have heard of.

This is a lot more right than what many would like to admit. One of the problems is the wrong people are making the job requirements and they simply don't understand what is needed at that specific position. Don't get me wrong, CISSP is a great certification, but it has a specific purpose, like with all certifications. It's intended to be narrowed down to a specific field, within a broader field. If you can't answer what that certification actually covers, then don't put it as a requirment for a job posting. Instead, ask someone in the field.

I want to give a huge shout out to Jason Martin and Col Duane Fisher, CISSP from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). My 20 year old brother-in-law recently expressed interest in joining the military. I suggested to him that he should consider a career with either the United States Air Force or the United States Space Force. Long story short, he met with an Air Force recruiter to discuss cyber, programming, and space operations careers - he also took the ASVAB and scored very high on it. My knowledge of Air Force cyber careers is limited so I reached out to Jason and his team at DISA (the world’s premier cybersecurity agency).  Jason was able to connect my BIL with Col Duane Fisher, a prior enlisted Air Force Cyber Operations Officer. Col Fisher was able to eliminate any stigmas that my BIL had about joining the military and painted a positive picture of what life as a cyber airman would look like. Jason and Col Fisher weren’t obligated to help my BIL, and I'm sure they had more important things on their busy schedules, but they did their part to help with the ongoing recruiting crisis. I’m not saying that every SES or senior military officer should do a recruitment tour, but if more of them were open to sharing their career journey to prospective recruits, I don’t think the United States Department of Defense would be facing its current recruiting crisis (at least not as severely). Lastly, if you’re looking to continue your cybersecurity career, I recommend looking into opportunities with the DISA - it’s one of the most important cyber agencies you’ve never heard of. If you’re a transitioning service member looking to get into the cybersecurity field, I recommend that you reach out to Jeremy L. Stewart about the agency’s DoD-SkillBridge program. https://lnkd.in/g9tW4RWy

Why work with InfoSec Connect when you can post up a job and get thousands of applicants? Here's why: - We will save you a LOT of time. While your internal recruiters are wading through thousands of applicants, we're going out to the market and targeting only the most ideal fits. You will not waste any time interviewing unqualified applicants working with us. - You'll get access to candidates that aren't applying. Many times the folks that aren't applying are the best possible fits for your open jobs. - We work FAST. Due to how we are compensated, we are extraordinarily motivated to find you highly qualified people quicker than anyone else. In a recent search, the first candidate we presented was a TS-SCI Incident Response pro for a client and that candidate had an offer in hand within a week of beginning the search. - We can advise on interview process, candidate expectations, salary bands, and more since security is our specialty. Non-specialist recruiters do not have the ability to do this. - We will NOT be outworked. While our competitors are taking time off for the holidays, we're still grinding it out to get you the people you need ASAP. - We will not over-promise and under-deliver. We're straight shooters and transparency is one of our core values If you're curious about what kind of results to expect working with us, send me a DM or an email (listed in my profile). #cyberjobs #cybersecurityjobs #infosecjobs #cyberhiring #securityhiring #infoseconnect #infosecconnect #infosechires #cybercareer #cybercareers #cybersecuritycareer #cybersecuritycareers #cybersecurity #infosec #informationsecurity #GRC #offensivesecurity #DFIR #breachresponse #databreachresponse

LinkedIn how far in advance should transitioning service members be looking to apply and interview for positions? I have been applying for opportunities in hopes of landing something with a start date of February 15th, and today is approximately 62 days away, yet I'm consistently getting told that the roles are looking for an immediate hire. We're being told 100 days or less, but it seems like most places are saying maybe 30 - 45 days out. Could someone shed some light on this. Thanks! #cybersecurity #computerscience #informationsecurity #informationtechnology #openforjobs #openforwork #transitioningmilitary #transitioningveterans #incidentresponse #threatintelligence #penetrationtesting #recruiters #techrecruiters #hiringprofessionals #hiringmanagers

Have you asked your recruiters (internal or external) how many jobs they're currently working on other than yours? The answer might surprise you. Doesn't matter how good the recruiter is - the more jobs they have to work on, the less attention that recruiter can give to each one. Would it surprise you to hear many #cybersecurity recruiters are working on 10+ roles at any given time? Anyone who has worked in recruiting can tell you that the more stretched thin they are, the less effective they are in filling any one role. And dedicated outbound recruiting takes a LOT of time and effort. Logically, it would also follow that the bigger the fee on a given job, the more attention it gets. The harder the role is to fill, the less attention it gets, especially if the recruiter is working in a high-volume capacity. You might think that the recruiters that are extra busy will generate better results for you and there's a reason they're so popular, but in reality they just have less time to spend filling your job. InfoSec Connect is a boutique recruiting firm. It's just me (at least for now). And I'm not working on 20 jobs at once, meaning I can focus on filling yours ASAP with the best possible talent in the industry. Eager to prove it to you!

Resumes are no longer enough to land you a cybersecurity job. ☹️ Recruiters are now aware that candidates now lie on their resumes. Companies also believe that reviewing resumes slows down the hiring process. And many resumes are lost in the process. This does not mean they are no longer relevant. You just need to change your strategy. Brandy Harris of Information Security Media Group (ISMG) advises upcoming security professionals to pay more attention to the trends. She believes these will help you: 📌 Focus on the target roles with much hiring potential. 📌 Tailor your learnings to what is in vogue in the market. 📌 Stay ahead of other candidates. 📌 Know what opportunities you should be applying for. How do you go about finding these trends❓ First, you find out: 👉🏾 The top job titles in cybersecurity. 👉🏾 The new roles. 👉🏾 The specific industries currently hiring. 👉🏾 The regulations that could make industries seek to hire new employees. 👉🏾 The growth potential of the cybersecurity field. 👉🏾 The new technologies needed for each new role and what skills are needed. Next you focus on research by: 👉🏾 Visiting professional groups like the ISC2 , ISACA and SANS Institute. 👉🏾 Getting reports from Information Security Media Group (ISMG). 👉🏾 Frequenting job boards and career websites like Anutio, Indeed, Glassdoor and LinkedIn. 👉🏾 Not forgetting to attend webinars and conferences for cybersecurity professionals so you can #network. 👉🏾 Joining cybersecurity groups and forums online. 👉🏾 Getting research reports from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Like we mentioned yesterday in our post, A change of strategy is all you need to get you closer to your dream. So, follow the trends and keep growing. #anutio #cybersecurity #technology #jobseeking #jobseekers #candidates #employers #employees Credit: Resume Lab (https://lnkd.in/ea5b5yX) Brandy Harris of Information Security Media Group (ISMG) (https://lnkd.in/du5wY5_X)

𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨 𝐓𝐢𝐩: Interviewing What to do when you're asked at the end of an interview if you have any questions? This is not just a courtesy or formality - it's apart of the interview! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞: Intelligent 'high yield' questions that give you more insight into the job and more opportunities to match yourself to the role. 💡 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬: 𝐐1: What's the most important thing you'd need me to achieve on the first 6 months? 𝐐2: What common characteristics do you see in people who are successful in this positions? 𝐐3: What would outstanding performance look like in this Job? 𝐐4: If I were to start on Monday, what's the first thing I would need to deal with or manage? Hopefully, this was helpful to anyone actively on the job hunt! Feel free to reach out if you're seeking some recruitment advise! #AWS #GCP #AZURE #Cloudsecurity #hiring #interviewing #Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity employment opportunities numbering in the hundreds of thousands and at all career stages are available across the country. Between September 2022 and August 2023 employers listed 572,392 job postings for cybersecurity positions, slightly lower than in the May 2022 – April 2023 update. Demand has been steady since May 2023, with roughly 45,000 job postings each month.