Finding a Recruiter that Cares
Recruiting for cybersecurity professionals is a challenge that many recruiters today aren’t sure how to solve. What I quickly learned after joining NinjaJobs was that the cybersecurity community is unique — filled with trust and skepticism and a disappointment with recruiters who fill their inboxes with noise. So how does an cybersecurity practitioner find the right person to help them in their job search? Based on my conversations with many professionals, I’ve come up with the following tips.
Get a recommendation from a friend
The cybersecurity community is very much self-policing. If someone did a good job for your friends, most likely they will do a good job for you; the bad ones get weeded out very quickly. Consider reaching out to your network of peers and asking how they got the position they have today or who they may have interacted with in the past.
Engage with recruiters that ask about you — the candidate
Aside from having done a little research to understand what you do, helpful recruiters should ask and care about what type of company is interesting to you. Defending an enterprise and working for a product company presents two completely different career paths. Instead of asking what you are currently making, they should ask where do you want, not need, to be from a compensation standpoint (inclusive of bonus, equity, stock, etc). They should also want to know what part of your current job you excel in and are passionate about, not just assuming that since you did one job at more your most recent company that you would want to do the same at a different one.
Actively seek-out feedback and advice
Applying to jobs, but not getting any hits? Maybe your resume needs to be tweaked or your cover letter (you included one of those, right?) needs to be adjusted. Helpful recruiters, while busy, will make time to help provide advice to interested candidates. If they cant offer suggestions absent of a particular job that they want to fill, or can’t find the time to give feedback on a resume, look somewhere else.
In short, when deciding which recruiter to work with, find the one that actually seems to care about you and your career goals, not just getting a placement fee. Having an ally like that in a stressful period of looking for a new job is worth its weight in gold. Of course if you want our team at NinjaJobs to be your champion, just ask us how we operate.
