Did you know a recruiter’s initial scan of your resume is typically less than 10 seconds? Many sources cite they will only spend 6-9 seconds looking at your resume. This is especially true if they receive a high volume of resumes and/or use an applicant tracking system.
When you are early in your career or looking to transition into cybersecurity it can be challenging to know what helpful information to put on your resume and what isn’t. We would like to share some recommendations. Please keep in mind this advice is for an entry level role in cybersecurity. Different industries and roles may have different requirements. For example, many government roles typically require ten years of work history. Similarly, in academia you will need a curriculum vitae. However, until you are vying for a senior role it’s ideal to keep your resume to one or two pages.
HEADER
At the top of the page, we need to see your name, contact information, and geographical location. Phone number is optional and can be provided later in the interview process. If you are worried about sharing your email, you may want to consider setting up a separate address specifically for job searches. Include your website or portfolio link (if you have one) and your LinkedIn profile. It can also be helpful to know what type of work location you are willing to consider.
Jamie Lovescysec
jamielovescysec@gmail.com 555-555-5555 Anytown, State
www.jamielovescysec.com github LinkedIn/profile
Open to 100% remote or hybrid roles
Next up, we want a brief introduction to you. What is your background, what are you looking to do next? This is more of a modern take on the objective line. Please talk about yourself in first person or implied first person, do not use third person. You’re not narrating the story of another person; this is about you.
Dynamic self-starter with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. After building my experience in the ____ industry. I’m looking to use my transferable skills of customer service and problem solving as I transition into the cybersecurity space.
Second year cybersecurity student looking to gain real-world experience. I have an affinity for problem solving, learning new tools and working as part of a team.
EDUCATION
List your higher education and bootcamp experience here as well as any certifications. You don’t need to include high school unless you recently graduated and completed some related courses through that program (vocational, programming, cybersecurity or networking classes). If you are changing careers lead with your most recent education but, be sure to include any previous education.
SKILLS
It is incredibly important to provide a quickly digestible amount of detail here. You don’t want to list out the explicit details for that cool project you did, instead list the concepts or tools that were used such as networking, packet tracer, digital forensics, incident response cycle, or the OSI model. Recruiters (or software) will be scanning this section to see if there are matches to the job descriptions or known desired skills. We are looking for evidence of technical foundation and written communication competency. Be sure to list hard skills, knowledge, and soft skills. Also, remember to include any additional languages (not programming languages - put those with your other hard skills). Note – some colleges or career services will tell you to put your skills at the end and that is certainly acceptable. Even so, why not lead with your talents? That is why you are being considered after all.
PROJECTS
Okay, so you have done a bunch of cool projects, should you list them all? No, you want to highlight 2-3 projects that you have done that display your aptitude to learn, show different applications and/or specializations. If you have project information in a shareable platform, be sure to link at the top so the hiring manager can look at them later in the hiring process.
WORK HISTORY
Make this section as easy to consume as possible. List roles in chronological order from most recent at the top to least recent at the bottom. List the company, job title, and dates (don’t omit). We’ve seen a lot of candidates leave out work experience that they don’t deem relevant, but we don’t recommend that practice. You may be removing some work experience that makes you stand out.
Instead, list all roles in the past 3-7 years (or longer if making a career change). Use bullet points to describe some of the details for the position. Keep it between 1-5 bullets per role based on the complexity of the role.
If you did duplicative tasks in multiple roles, consider pulling those details up to the skill section. For example, if you were in accounting at three different companies, use the bullets for the specific factors that make the roles different and put accounts payable and/or accounts receivable in the skills section. Use the same logic if you worked in restaurants or hospitality—some of the experiences you developed are transferable soft skills. Pay attention to tense and use the proper tense for current and past roles.
FORMATTING AND PROOFREADING
Please keep in mind that your resume might be filtering through Applicant Tracking Systems and heavy formatting can impede how well that is translated to the end user. Unless you are in a creative role like graphic design it is best to keep your formatting simple.
Take advantage of your white space and keep the margins and spacing narrow. Choose a font that is highly legible and common enough that it will be compatible with most software formatting (think Arial or Calibri rather than Times New Roman). Use headers and bullets.
Proofreading is vital, in our day of AI and spell-check, there is no excuse for poorly written or formatted notes. Despite that, don’t leave out the human element, try to have diverse individuals look at your resume. This is a great time to tap into various groups of people in your life. A parent or someone with more life experience may key into something different than what a peer or friend might catch.
To summarize, it is always a good idea to keep up with current resume trends, but it is more important to customize to the role you are applying for. Add a declarative statement to share who you are and what you are looking to do. Include both your hard, technical skills as well as your soft skills. Keep your experience section concise and move repetitive items to the skill section. It’s also a sensible practice to set a calendar reminder to review your resume a couple of times a year. That way you can make sure you stay up to date with your growing capabilities and you’re ready when the next opportunity presents itself.
Keep this in mind as you pursue your next challenge…
“The expert at anything was once a beginner.”
-Helen Hayes
Every organization is unique, which is why we meet you where you are in your cybersecurity journey, and tailor our solutions to your needs. – reach out to solutions@cyberforceq.com.
Learn more about CyberForce|Q.
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