Jon Hatch's Guide to Job Hunting

I was browsing the Career chat in the Antisyphon Discord, and came across a post from Jon H., discussing his techniques for networking in the cybersecurity community and getting interviews.

I thought it was really helpful and clear, and I did not see it on his site (which he helpfully linked in the post), and I wanted to save it here for easy posterity and easy reference. He was also good enough to share an example resume, which is available just below his Discord post.

Jon Hatch's Job Hunting (original post)

Current as of 2024-02-15

Hey Y'all , just wanted to share a few things that have worked for me when it comes to job hunting. First, I have not seen Jason Blanchard 's Presentation on Job hunting as if you are a hacker, so if I am echoing anything Jason says, it's because he gives fantastic advice. Quick note about me: I was a career Soldier/Logistician/Defense Contractor for well over a decade before I jumped into cybersecurity. During this transition I did my research, I conducted informational interviews, I networked, and eventually landed my first job. I've learned a ton about the recruiting process, how ATS systems work, and I hope this will help you as well.

  1. It is okay to not know what you want to do. Life is very fluid and sometimes where you start isn't where you end up. I highly encourage folks to do informational interviews. I conducted a good 30-40 interviews before I left the military. Just the experience of asking questions and getting to know industry professionals helped me along the way. Many folks when you reach out to them are more than willing to hop on a 10-15 min call just so you can pick their brain on something. Many times I ended up on a much longer call as a result. These interviews can help you determine where your interests lie and if this is a career field you want to jump into. While you are doing informational interviews, you are also building your network!

Here is my process: https://www.jmhatch.com/landing/blog/informational-interviews

  1. Networking is key. Find your local OWASP, B-sides, Defcon, Cybersecurity Enthusiasts, etc. and go see folks in person. How I landed my current job was partially due to one of these meetings.

  2. Never apply directly to a job req without an internal referral. You are fighting a computer program to get seen by a recruiter... additionally you are competing with 200 other applicants. Use that informational interview to help build your credibility and if the person offers to refer you to the company, then that might be a good place to start. If you meet someone inperson even better. Best option is you happened to engage a hiring manager and completely bypass the system. Network. Network. Network.

  3. If you do choose to fight the ATS, don't use a pdf document or any fancy templates for your resume. If you use something like flowcv.io to produce a pdf resume, the ATS may not be able to read it. Be your best advocate and have a word doc version of your resume to feed into any job applications you fill out. I'll attach an example.

  4. This is one of many approaches. I really recommend you look at all the opportunities to learn and grow as you continue down your path as a job seeker in the cybersecurity industry.