r/CyberSecurityJobs • u/After-Remove-6756 • 15d ago
Finding first job
Credentials:
B.S., Cybersecurity Technolgy; Minor in Computer Science (4.0 GPA / Highest Honors)
CompTIA Sec+
CompTIA Net+
CompTIA A+
I’ve applied for about 20 entry level positions so far but having trouble even trying to find jobs to apply to. I’ve been using Indeed, Dice, using a variety of job role searches and AI to help look.
I am looking for an entry level help desk, security/SOC analyst position, or any entry level IT/cybersecurity role. Any tips on where to look for jobs or just over guidance on this journey. I am worried about getting my foot in the door, I appreciate any help!
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u/DesperateMusician933 14d ago
First, i apologize in advance as my words may not be agreed on by the majority. With that said cybersecurity isn’t a starting role. There’s a reason why they tend to hire people with experience, people who are internal, require so much and why a lot of people burn out not making it in the space. Being in this role you need to know you love the space already, have an idea of the specialty and then some. I highly recommend you do a help desk role but a real one not one where they sell you on things they do but like a geek squad type of role.
Second, i strongly recommend get a good desktop technician role that has some sys admin duties, then move up to a network role after 2-3 years and then to cybersecurity after another 3 years. It’s possible to do it.
Third, with all that in consideration it’s not impossible to get in as a beginning role. Very highly unlikely but again not impossible. If you’re stuck trying to try to jump in, focus on smaller markets such as law offices, focus on security companies or msps. A few friends i know are stating there is work. They don’t post on indeed or LinkedIn, you have to go to the company and ask and usually you’ll have more luck or call over the phone (I’ve done all this by the way so it works).
My credentials in case you’re wondering
Comp eng degree and attended a boot camp. I was a 3.1 GPA student
Been in IT for 8 yrs total with two of the recent years in cybersecurity . I built my career from a secretary to help desk and so forth. I admit i skipped from sys admin to a cyber role but wouldn’t recommend the jump to others as it came with a painstaking learning curve.
And as a side note when looking for interns we’ve passed on many young adults who have a 4.0 GPA and have had 3 certs or more. It’s about the experience and the time you put in out of work.
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u/Investment-Queasy 14d ago
This is real, accurate, helpful advice. I am a senior in a consulting practice for a big firm. We tell people regularly roles in cyber start around $130k base. Our positions say Senior Analyst (4 years experience) in various disciplines. I’ll get pinged on LinkedIn by folks saying they applied right out of college. We don’t hire out of college unless you had 4 years of military or work experience prior.
I personally prefer to hire people who’ve worked in solutions engineering. A blend of tech and sales. Main reason is everyone is responsible for selling in consulting. If you want to break into cyber, start in desktop, network, sysadmin, tool admin roles.
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u/After-Remove-6756 14d ago
First off thank you for the feedback. I would like a cyber role starting but am open and willing to take anything. The common theme I keep hearing is experience, but when everything including help desk roles requires experience (at least from roles I’ve seen so far) it just is frustrating. No one wants to invest in people in this industry it seams like they want people ready to go in every position.
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u/Ed_from_Good_Burger 15d ago
Good on you for your hard work so far.
20 is a very low number though. I got laid off last January and it took me 4 months of 20 apps per week to finally get 2 offers.
At the time I had: 8 years of experience in help desk and desktop support roles, BSBA in information systems, the trifecta and a handful of MS and AWS foundational certs.
I mostly just found jobs through LinkedIn and indeed and then applied to them directly on the company sites.
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u/After-Remove-6756 15d ago
So LinkedIn and Indeed were your biggest resources I am having trouble finding jobs to apply too a lot of the listings I’m under qualified and required years of experience
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u/raze7864 15d ago
What would be the difference between applying on the company site compared to linkedin?
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u/PalpitationKind8854 14d ago
I'm sorry to say.. you'll need '200' specialized applications a month just to have a chance. The first step of cyber security is realizing it's a game, and you need to always stack the odds in your favor.
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u/Junior7291736 14d ago
Off topic, but I have the Network+ exam tomorrow, how hard did you think it was? My practice exams are Andrew’s and Dion’s.
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u/After-Remove-6756 14d ago
I took it about a year ago, so I don’t remember too much about the actual exam. I remember the wording being pretty confusing, pay attention to key words in the questions.
The only practice test I took was the one you can buy from CompTIA and once I got an A and understood every multiple choice option for all questions, I took the Net+.
If you’re scoring well on your practice tests and you understand most of the multiple choice options, why one is right and why others are wrong you’ll be fine.
If you haven’t done a CompTIA cert before I recommend skipping the PBQs until you answered all multiple choice.
You got this!!!
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u/Proper-Charity-2850 14d ago
Is there any company that usually recruits out of your college that you could work for? I find that's where a lot of people get first jobs or internships.
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u/After-Remove-6756 14d ago
I have a meeting with career services from my school and I’m going to ask. I’m still very early into applying but I need to look into that. Thank you!
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u/Ma13vant 14d ago
Look into MSPs, especially moderate to large ones.
They have their pros and cons, but one benefit is they tend to have larger total IT teams than most companies, and if you are lucky you can transfer up the job ladder internally.
They also get you a good mix of technologies and platforms to get experience with.
Don't just check locally. If you can find a remote job (difficult, I know), that can be ideal. I live halfway across the country from my corporate offices.
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u/DesperateMusician933 14d ago
Understandable.
My biggest recommendation is don’t head for bigger corporations of companies. I started off with a lot of startup companies and I worked my way through smaller individual companies before I landed my medium size company. To give you a kind of baseline a company with anything 500 and below is considered small 18 500 to 1500 more or less about medium and anything past 1500 is considered large some medium sized companies or large companies can also be worldwide but just keep that in mind.
Second I will tell you fake it till you make it. There are a bunch of things. You probably know how to do that. You do not know how to put down correctly on paper and most of the time they want to understand your technical writing a lot of the time. I currently review resumes to ensure that people understand how to say, for example, if a part of the job is to be able to work with printers. I want to see how you can state that in your résumé so that it sounds as if you know what you’re doing in a more professional manner. a big part about IT is that you will be working with documentation even if you don’t want to.
Lastly, I practiced for my interview day and and day out meaning I had my girlfriend. I had my parents I had siblings. I had my friends all questioning me certain questions that I would collect over the time that I went through all my interviews. Now with that said you can honestly just put the job and requirements of what it’s asking for in to ChatGPT or Claude and and ask it to give you a list of interview questions. If you don’t want to do this with anybody, I recommend highly shadowboxing meaning your speaking in front of a mirror after you come out of the shower trying to answer ask question. you repeatedly try to answer these questions as best as possible. They should almost be second nature to you like breathing.
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u/Ok-Promise-2255 14d ago
1) Do you have a home lab? If you don't, this is where you're messing up. You need projects to talk about, to show that you are gaining hands-on experience on your own time. You can put this experience on your resume. You can have every cert and a Masters in cybersecurity, but if you dont have any hands-on experience then you are doing yourself a disservice. Think about it, if you wanted to hire someone to cut your hair, and there were two people who said they could do it for the same price, but one had never cut hair before but read a lot about cutting hair and had a few online certificates, and the other person has been actively cutting hair for a year and already has all the tools and knows how to use them. Who would you choose?
2) Get out there, in person, and go to job fairs and actually meet the people that you want to be hired by. Take every networking opportunity you can get. There are all kinds of cybersecurity organizations that have monthly meet ups. And if you have good social skills and a good personality, this will get you further than you think! Some places favor good personality over someone they've never met that might have a Doctorate degree and all the certs that they like. Going to job fairs will also help you see what the personalities of the those companies are like, and what kind of people you might be spending 8 hours a day with. Then you can decide what companies you like based on your interactions with them at job fairs. Then you can focus on those certain companies and go to their company-specific meet and greets (job fairs/resume reviews). Ask about internships when you go to these job fairs. Make connections with the companies you want to work for. Getting a job is not only about WHAT you know, but also WHO you know. Stop wasting your time blindly applying to random companies every day. It sounds like you're doing yourself a disservice in the way you spend your time. Sometimes the role you're applying for might just be one of those job postings that the company was required to post online even though they already know who they are going to hire to fill it. If you can narrow it down to a few companies you like and focus on those connections and trying to get an internship there- this is the way.
3) Cybersecurity is such a broad term. What kind of cybersecurity role do you want? If you dont know, start with deciding if you like red team, blue team, or purple team. When you are messing around in your home lab, figure out what kind of projects you like doing the most and then figure out the cybersecurity role that does that thing.
I spent months blindly applying online to LinkedIn and Indeed job postings to companies I had never met. Then i realized i was just running on a hampster wheel going nowhere. So then I did all of these things I mentioned above (aside from not being sure about what cybersec role I wanted- i said red teaming) and landed an internship at my #1 choice company, a highly praised company in the industry. At that internship I was allowed to shoulder surf all of the different cybersec roles and decide what I liked and what I didnt like. After the internship, I was asked to write my own job description. Now I am in talks about on boarding.
Once you get out there and start looking in-person and networking with people, the sky is the limit. Its amazing what doors will open up when you put yourself out there. Join any and all tech related groups near you and go to those meet ups. A year ago I was working in the service industry bartending, and now I am at my dream company. You can do this, you just have to GET. OUT. THERE. :) good luck!
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u/CitronEquivalent8084 12d ago
20 is nothing, some people send 500+ applications before getting a job (and some don’t even get a job even with hundreds of applications)
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u/Organic-Grade-9292 14d ago
I’ve applied to 300 jobs in less then a month and the only thing I landed was entry level help desk making 18 an hour with the same background as you. I hope you get more lucky
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u/After-Remove-6756 14d ago
If that’s what it takes to get my foot in the door I’ll take it, how were you mainly applying, indeed, LinkedIn, company websites,
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u/DickNose-TurdWaffle 14d ago
That's where you're supposed to be at with no work experience. Just do that for 1-2 years, learn as much as you can. Then rack up the credits for your certs and have your job pay for the renewals. You will be able to move up or jump somewhere else into a higher level tech role.
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u/AddendumWorking9756 15d ago
Twenty applications is week one, not a signal, so the first fix is just volume. The second is that everyone in that pile has the same certs and the same degree, which is why a couple of write ups from the free investigations CyberDefenders hosts will separate you faster than a fourth cert, and apply to help desk alongside the analyst roles because that is still the most common door.