The unemployment rate for IT security professionals is at all time low of .9%. With data breaches happening on a daily basis, employers are scrambling to build their IT teams to combat the security storms that may be on the horizon. That does not mean, however, that organizations are desperate to hire just anyone. Finding the right candidate is of utmost importance, and only the best candidates stand a chance in being hired.
CSO Online’s George Hulme addresses this dilemma in his latest article. Through a series of interviews with IT recruiters, Mr. Hulme imparts the following ten tips on how to succeed when interviewing for an IT security position:
- Put a Shine on Your Soft Skills. When it comes to interviewing well: personality matters.
- Don’t Just Answer Questions Intelligently, Ask Intelligent Questions. Displaying a keen interest in the role for which you’re interviewing, but will help you to determine whether this position truly makes sense for you.
- Prepare to interview for attitude as well as aptitude. No one is expected, as a new hire, to know everything about everything: both nuances about the business and specialized technical skills can be learned over time.
- Know the business. Research the organization where you’re interviewing.
- Learn something about the interviewer. Such research can also prove a way to kick off a valuable, rapport-building conversation.
- Dress the part. Ask your interviewer or HR ahead of time what the dress code is like. Dress a notch or two above the norm, but don’t go too far.
- Study the job description and align yourself to match. You only have a limited amount of time to sell yourself, make each sentence count.
- Leave the ego at the door. Be prepared to answer questions that aim to expose your weak points as your skills align to the requirements. It’s important to stress that you are eager to, and want to, learn the gaps you currently have.
- Prepare to answer questions on your current employment situation, and other potentially negative questions.
- When it comes to hard technical skills, show passion, and don’t fake it.
For more advice on how to interview well for an IT security position, see the full article on CSO Online.
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