Naomi Buckwalter

Written in early 2024

I was able to catch most of a livestream with Naomi Buckwalter, Elizabeth McConnaughey, and Chad White, discussing the state of Tech and Cybersecurity Hiring in 2024. I came in a few minutes late, but it was highly informative.

I haven't gone back to rewatch from the beginning, but here are my notes from when I joined 10-15 minutes late.

Liz mentioned that she reviews resumes, and I reached out after the stream.

The State of Tech & Cybersecurity Hiring: 2024 Edition | LinkedIn

Keys to Writing a Resume

1. If your resume is not a page long, it's going to get skipped
   1. A hiring manager will typically only spend 7 seconds on a resume
   2. Experience/Tools/Highlights at the top
   3. If your
2. Need to be able to speak to everything on the resume
3. When you enter experience, speak to the impact
   1. I think I've already done this...
4. Know who your audience is
   1. The different institutions will have completely different personalities
5. Add context and impact
   1. What was the impact? What was the career-enriching result?
6. Link to your other assets
   1. Conserves space on a resume and gives recruiters and hiring managers a better sense of you as a person
7. Adding color to resumes can be a bad thing
   1. Hints are good, but not
   2. Think about this as a dating profile
      1. "Women don't want to see all your hunting pics"
   3. What networking groups are you involved in?
      1. Volunteer, community work, eagle scout, etc.
   4. What projects?
   5. Do you speak a second language?
      1. And speak to the level

How to find a mentor

1. Look on LinkedIn/MeetUp to find local groups, and just network/talk with people
2. Really critical to have a clear idea of where you want to be in the next 5-10 years
   1. If I know exactly where I want to work, I would look for people in those places
      1. See how they got there
      2. Then you can either reach out to them, or you can then look for other people who are on a similar path
3. Networking messages
   1. Bad questions
      1. Do you have 30 minutes?
      2. Can you look at my resume?
      3. How do I get a job?
   2. Good questions
      1. Keep it specific; ask specific questions
      2. I've just applied to this job, I have one or two questions
      3. I saw you were at X for Y years; how did this transition look like? Any tips?

Parting Comments

Chad:

1. Slow your roll, be intentional, be specific, be kind (especially to yourself), and just keep working on it

Liz:

1. Don't take it^[1] personally
   1. If you take everything personally, it will weigh you down, and put into a victim pit, and it can be very hard to get out of
2. Connect with local recruiters
3. Look at the larger established companies to find those entry positions