Cybersecurity Mentors Podcast
In this podcast we discuss mentoring in cybersecurity, information for those that are looking to get into cybersecurity, and tips for those that are looking to advance their careers.
Cybersecurity Mentors Podcast
Land the Job: The 10 Resume Mistakes Holding You Back in Cybersecurity
Are you applying for cybersecurity jobs but not getting interviews? The problem might be your resume. In this episode of The Cybersecurity Mentors Podcast, we break down the Top 10 Resume Mistakes holding you back from landing your first cybersecurity role—and show you exactly how to fix them.
From weak objectives to cluttered skills sections, irrelevant job history, and missing proof of hands-on experience, we’ll cover the resume traps that stop recruiters in their tracks.
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to make your next move in cybersecurity, this episode is packed with practical resume tips and career advice you can apply immediately.
Check out our Networking is King Course: How to Build a Career Through Real Connections
You've sent out a hundred resumes. The phone isn't ringing, does it sound familiar? Chances are your resume is the guilty one. It is guilty of one of the top mistakes that we're going to talk about today, from buzzwords to using crazy fonts and just crazy formatting. We're here to talk about some of the most common things that we have seen. As we've helped others by reviewing their resumes and seeing if maybe you're falling for one of these 10 mistakes, could you teach me First learn stand, then learn fly. Make your role Daniel-san, not the mind.
John:I know what you're trying to do. I'm trying to free your mind, Neo, but I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.
Steve:What is the most inspiring thing I ever said to you Don't be an idiot. It changed my life. Welcome back to the Cybersecurity Mentors Podcast. Today's episode is all about the top 10 resume mistakes we see over and over again and how to fix them. Now, this isn't about shaming, it's about learning. So every example we share today is based on real resumes we've reviewed.
John:Yeah. So quick reminder, we're going to talk about a lot of things where people do wrong. We're going to be nice about it. But you know, we see these things and we just want to make sure people are aware. But one sneaky not sneaky, but level up way for you to get your resume seen, even if it isn't perfect, even if it isn't, if you do have one of these things in there, is to get over the gatekeeper, is to make sure you're networking with the right people. You've already got an end. How much more does it make you feel confident If you got an end with that organization and you know somebody or they know you and they're going to put in a good word for you.
John:But maybe you don't know how to do that, maybe you're not sure how to get that connection going. Guess what? We have a course for you and we built this course called networking is king and uh, we, we think it's great. It tells you all these tips and tricks on how to make those connections, how to build real relationships with others and to get you know, get your resume to the front of the line, even if you do have a couple of snafus. Hopefully you don't, hopefully it's magic, it's gold. But even if you do, this is going to help get your resume above the stack.
Steve:Absolutely, and even after watching this video, hopefully you can go back and look and review and correct some of those mistakes if you do have them, review and correct some of those mistakes if you do have them. Not to mention, as always, our swag shop. Oh, wrong way. Our swag shop is live. So go ahead and snag you something, whether it's a hoodie, a coffee mug, a sticker, you name it, we have it. So all the links will be down in the show notes all right.
John:Well, let's talk about the first snafu. What are we calling these mistake? Just mistakes.
Steve:We're gonna call them mistakes. Okay're going to call them mistakes. Okay, we're going to call them mistakes. So what's the first one, john?
John:First one buzzword buffet, and I get it. Well, what is a buzzword? What's the buzzword buffet? Steve?
Steve:Buzzword buffet is when people get a little too excited by using a lot of buzzwords and they're just throwing everything at their resume without really thinking it through and seeing what actually fits and matches with their experience their knowledge, their know-how.
John:They're just throwing everything in there, right, and I think it comes from a place of hey, there's going to be an HR filter that is looking for keywords and they'd be certificates, and I want to make sure I have as many keywords and certificate words as possible to make it through the gatekeeper. That is the whatever it could be AI, whatever the HR gatekeeper. But eventually that resume is going to land in somebody like us, one of our laps, and we're going to be like what in the world? Yeah?
Steve:absolutely.
John:We know what happened, we know what you did, but that doesn't make it look pretty compared to a resume that did not do that. Right, steve, absolutely.
Steve:Yes, and I have an example. So what I'm going to read out to you is an example that we have. So it says experienced in leveraging cutting edge, best in class, synergistic cybersecurity paradigms to proactively ensure robust, dynamic security solutions. What in the world is that.
John:Yeah. It's just it's like, it's just it's ridiculous as long as you got synergistic in there, you're good, you know, we know you're amazing. What in the world? What?
Steve:are you and and this is like you said, john we get it. You know, there there's certain um, certain things. You're trying to improve your odds at getting at least through the first phase or two phase and get it to that human being. We get that. But come on, please, simple is more and this is a great example. So this is what a good, rewritten kind of example is Developed and implemented security controls that reduce phishing incidents by 30% across the organization. So we rewrite that in the sense that we simplify it. But we're not just throwing some buzzwords in there. We're actually talking about things that we have done, things that we have accomplished, so things that we can say are measurable achievements in that role, in that position, measurable achievements in that role, in that position. So that, to me, is way more important and shows way more value than just trying to have as many buzzwords in there as possible and buzzwords also could be like the the a.
John:You know you're throwing every cert you ever have had maybe it's 10 years old, right, like, oh, I gotta throw some certs in here and make sure I have that too. But this is all. Also, I'm trying to sound proficient, I'm trying to sound like I'm very sophisticated and I know what I'm talking about. But yeah, this is to me. When you read that, you're like what in the world and world? And Steve's example, straight to the point, simple. You know how you can show that you know something. It's when you take that complex topic and you simplify it.
John:Yes, not when you use overly complex words.
Steve:Yes, If you are telling me you're best in class, I'm already not believing you. You're best in class. I'm already not believing. You Show me with what your projects are, what your experience is, what you've achieved in your resume. That's how you show if you are truly best in class. So, anyways, all right, that is the first one. The second one, john.
John:The time traveler. So, yeah, I love these. There's two things to this I think is great. One is and here's the example Proficient and Windows 95, Lotus Notes and Novell, netware. Now, I actually used all of these back in the day, but I would never put these on a resume, a modern resume, because I mean, what are you trying to do? Are you trying to get old man creds Like, oh they were?
Steve:You're trying to show your age.
John:Yeah, yeah, they use Novell. Somebody's going to be like what, okay, dude, are you still stuck in that age? Right, it's not good. And I'll also say another thing Maybe if you're a new grad you can put office on your resume. But if you put it on there, I'm proficient in Microsoft Office. I'd be like I hope so. Like I mean, I get, yeah, there's levels to Excel. Excel can be like maybe you're applying for an accounting job and you can. There's a level, there's depth to Excel. Word. I mean mean, come on, you listen, my middle schooler knows how to use word. Let's go like don't put that on your resume as a skill set proficient and I've seen it a lot of resumes.
John:I've seen it, so yeah, what else about this one, don't put the antiquated software on their hardware on there no, not at all.
Steve:I mean you have to as a so we deal with a lot of different people from different age groups, from different backgrounds, and we we work with a lot of people that are transitioning from from non-IT work into IT work. Right, and for an entry-level job. You might be working with a hiring manager that is way younger than you, and if you start throwing down Windows 95, Novell, I mean, they're gonna be like what the hell is this? Well, what would it? I don't even know what this is. I don't you know. So just focus on the position description. If you know these things, that's great. Maybe there is a point in time in the interview or that you can kind of throw this in and just mention it if the conversation goes there. But don't put this on your resume. That is way more. That is some real estate that you can use for something that's more modern, that can actually benefit you in that hiring process. So yeah, please, please, please, leave that, leave that, leave that alone.
John:Yeah, the only exception I might give is, if you like, mainframes, mainframes. People still use mainframes. Like it's a, it's a thing. It's still out there. Um, and if it was current experience, hey, I, you know, I administered a mainframe, I secured a mainframe, I helped set up the policies around mainframe usage. You might think, well, that's old. Steve said, don't put that on there. It's old, but it's been around forever and it's current in use. Novo Network. If they're using Novo Network, there's a problem.
Steve:No, you're right. You're right, john, absolutely, there are certain things that are still used today. You're right, you're right, john, absolutely there are certain things that are still used today. And I mean my assumption is if you are going to apply to a mainframe position, obviously you want to put down that you have a mainframe experience. There may be a place in time where you actually want to tell that you have mainframe experience if it fits the job description that you're trying to go for. If the position description says nothing about mainframe and then you've done a little extra digging, research on the company and you just can't find anything about mainframe, if that is on your resume, you can use that real estate for something else that can benefit you more. I'm not saying don't put it on there, just be smart about when you put it and how you put it and for what positions, and that's where the whole tailoring comes into right. But anyway, so that's that.
John:So instead, focus on proficiency in windows, linux, windows 11, ubuntu, whatever it is, and focus there, because that is where most of the jobs and opportunities organizations focus on windows or linux and just focus there you have a good example proficient and modern windows and you don't even have to say modern, perfect, I mean just you can say proficient and windows and linux system administration, including examples, right, but you know you could still talk even if you were a novel network server administrator. That still is, is good, even though it was a long time ago. Like you were proficient in server administration, I wouldn't put novel network in there yep, yeah, that's right.
Steve:yeah, all right. So that was number two. Number three is an an all-you-can-eat skills list. Okay, this is like the buffet. This is, yes, and I see this all the time and I see it more coming in from resumes that don't have any previous IT or cybersecurity experience, and I understand you want to let them know that you have skills on all of these different things that you've worked on in your training, in your studies, in your labs, like I get it. But we have to be strategic about this, guys. We really, really do. And having a skill list that is over almost half of one page of your resume, that's not good. If there's other creative ways to fill in some of that, those gaps in your resume, if you can't fill a one page resume, there are other ways to do it instead of just continuing to add every single skill that you've ever acquired. So please.
John:And a lot of times it's actually not even skills that they how do I know how proficient you are in that skill? Just because you put it down doesn't mean that you're proficient in it. You put it down because you thought it was useful for me to see your resume. Oh, blockchain. Okay, did you read a book about blockchain? Did you use blockchain? Blockchain, how do I? I don't know what you did with that, right?
John:And so that big you know list. I will actually usually call people out on it, especially some of my favorite things. If I see something on there, shout out to Nmap. If I see Nmap on there, I'm going to ask you what's your favorite you know switch command? How do you normally like to use Nmap? What the different outputs for me? I'll start quizzing you a little bit on like that tool that you put in your skills list and I'm like, well, okay, let's see if you actually know it, right. So that's also beware, you might think it's going to, it's going to look cool because I have the list and then they probably won't ask me about it because it's such a bunch of lists of things. But I usually use that, if you make it through to an actual interview to call out. Oh, let me ask them about this, to see what do they know about it. So this is another point too, just in general whatever you put on your resume, be ready to speak to it, be ready to talk about it.
John:Don't just put it on there just to get through the HR filter.
Steve:No, please don't. And we see this all the time. People put everything and when we're talking about skill lists, I'm talking about literally people will put on their Python, java, windows, aws, azure, malware analysis, pen, pen testing, threat hunting, blockchain, ai, docker, incident response. I mean, you're literally throwing everything in there and, like john said, we want to switch that to where you can say something like incident response and threat hunting skills and then you could say with splunk or with elk or cloud security, and then you can say with awunk or with Elk or cloud security, and then you can say with AWS, azure, compliance frameworks that you've worked on, you can use NIST, the ISO 27001, like, be more specific than just listing everything out. But going back to what you said, john, I've seen it.
Steve:I was a victim of, not a. Yeah, I guess I was a victim of this. This was me fresh out of college. I was trying to get a job. I had done one assignment, one assignment using Bash Script, and I put it on my resume and I will never do that again because I go into this interview with Sony at the time. I go in there with this interview for just a SOC analyst or a security analyst with Sony, I go into this job and everything's going great.
Steve:I had put on my resume that I was proficient in English and Spanish and they had a person that spoke Spanish on the other side of the phone talk to me in Spanish to see if I actually knew Spanish.
Steve:So thank God I did. But the other thing that they did was they started asking me questions about batch scripting, basically to see how much I knew, kind of where I was with that and for some of the simple was yeah, sure, whatever. Then they started to get in deeper and I had no clue, no idea what to say. I'm not saying that that was the reason why I didn't get a call back, but I'm saying it definitely didn't help me and it didn't look good that I had something on my resume but I couldn't fully talk about it and be confident enough to share real experiences of what I've done with it and how I used it. So definitely make sure that whatever you put on your resume, you have a story behind it, you can give an example of how you used it or how you know it and you feel confident talking about it, even if it's intermediate, beginner, level level.
Steve:Just make sure you have something yeah, no great example, all right so anything else with this one, john, no, um, less is more right. Absolutely less is more all right. Number four this new generation, I have to say, the emoji enthusiast. You don't need emojis on your resume, people, you do not need them and it's a. It's one good giveaway if you use chat, gpt to help you or any ai to to help you with your resume and it has emojis and you literally do a copy-paste and do not remove that. Come on seriously.
John:It's going in the shredder. It's going in the shredder.
Steve:Yeah, it literally looks like a teenager's group chat with just emojis. It's not good. It doesn't look good, it just doesn't give a good impression, not at all. So please, just no emojis whatsoever on your resumes period yeah, I can't think of a good reason.
John:Period and really in general to. I mean, if you're messing around, right, you're. You're in, you're chatting on the job. You can use emojis, right, you're chatting with your team.
Steve:That's different.
John:Yeah, but if you're trying to get in the door, right, you're chatting with your team. That's different. Yeah, but if you're trying to get in the door, you better not have any in your emails, in your, in your correspondence, whatever in your text messages, anything you send back and forth. Just keep it.
Steve:Keep it professional, please please, please, don't show your age yeah, one is the old, this is the young right. Yes, yeah and and um. One of the things I had here on my notes was um these like um ai tools, that kind of skim through resumes and stuff. They can't read emojis, so it could actually hurt you um before you know, instead of giving you any sort of help, which emojis on a resume will never help you, but it can just hurt you even more.
John:So quick, quick story. I don't think we have this in the list because you know, I don't know, it's probably pretty odd. But also, don't try to make your resume into a C program that could be compilable. If you're a computer science student, we're not calling out.
Steve:If you're listening to this jason, we love you, but please leave a comment, jason, if you're if you're listening, please, please, leave a comment.
John:He's listen. He's killing it now. He's, he's doing great, but at the time, as a student, he made, you know, he made a questionable decision to make his, his resume look like a c program and we, you know, we gave him some friendly advice.
Steve:So just don't do that yeah, that did not make it into the top 10 I think that was a one-time unique experience there.
John:Okay, moving on. All right, I'll do the next one. So kick us off. Personal life overshare. So what do you think? What are some examples of personal life overshare in a resume?
Steve:Yes, listen. If you enjoy D&D and drinking with your buddies and hacking your neighbor's Wi-Fi, that's good for you and maybe there will come a time and place where you can share those stories. But please don't put that on your resume, Right?
John:I do think, and I will talk about hobbies, Hobbies. Like you got to be professional about hobbies, right? Yes, please, I think you can say what clubs you're part of. Yeah, long as it's not too off the reservation, right long as it's like a kind of semi-related to to um the job or just just professional in a way, right like I'm. I'm not totally against hobbies, because I might ask you about it you.
John:You know, hey, that's cool. Tell me about this Now would I put you know. Avid video game enthusiast. That's a bit borderline, right.
Steve:Unless you're applying to a gaming company to do security work for them. Yeah, no, yes.
John:Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I think it's better to play it safe, prepare to.
John:Hopefully they'll ask you about you and they want to know about you in an interview, so you have that opportunity to still talk about your passions, your hobbies, your off thing. You know that's all cool. I want you to talk about those things right, Because we ask about that, because we want to know, like, what are you into? You know, how do you, how can we relate to you? But you don't have to put that on your resume. You know there's a it's really a borderline whether or not you even put it on there, unless it's kind of professional ish like Toastmasters Maybe you love Toastmasters and you that's something that's kind of almost like a hobby for you. That's perfect to put on a resume, right, Something like that.
Steve:The last thing we want to do is be part of a crime when we have on the resume that you are doing committing things that could be a felony and now it's like, really we do not want to hire this.
John:We do not want to give this person any sort of access to anything in our environment, like we cannot trust this person.
Steve:And they're literally giving themselves up on their resume. So please play it safe. Talk about hiking or, if you like, to shelter dogs or anything else.
John:Just focus on keeping it professional, please yeah, and, and you have on here the capture, the flag, competition. That that's cool, you know. You know those are security related, right, that's perfect to put on there. That's something you actually do and you like to do. It. Now be prepared, somebody may ask you about it exactly just put it on there and you're like oh, what?
John:which ones do you like to do? You like, uh, you know, I don't know, um, so, just like we said, be, be prepared to talk about it. But those kind of things are perfect to talk, to have and like if they don't ask, talk about it. But those kinds of things are perfect to talk, to have and like if they don't ask you about it, that's fine, right, but it could be a potential opportunity to ask you about it and then it helps you in the interview. Oh, yeah, I'm doing. I've been doing this one capture the flag, or I did this one the other day and it kicked my butt, like those are great opportunities to talk about security and personal life crossover that actually are cool for us to hear about. Oh, I really love doing this. It's something I do in my free time, things like that.
Steve:yeah, also if you have some really cool stories, right like if you've climbed mount fuji in j like that is a story.
Steve:That is a cool, cool story. If you were an extra in like a really cool movie or something like that. That is like that's unique, that's different, that's that's interesting. That could be an icebreaker, a conversation starter, things like that Absolutely. But if you don't have those or if you're unsure that some of your stories would fit, send us a message. We'll be happy to give you some feedback, some recommendations on how to word it, if so. But if you do not have some of those, I would just play it safe. Keep it simple. Like John said earlier, less is more.
John:Yeah, or maybe go climb Mount Fuji and you can put it on your resume.
Steve:Hey, that's definitely a conversation starter for sure.
John:All right On to the next one, the mystery gap.
Steve:Yeah, so this is where, for example, your work history jumps from 2018 to 2022 or 2024.
Steve:And there's that gap of nothingness and it's just completely empty. And we we as the potential hiring manager with no backstory, with no history of what went on, are seeing that and that's a red flag. That's a red flag for us, um, because we don't know, like, what happened. Did he go off the grid, is he work, is he a spy? Like you know, I, I don't know, like, what happened during that time. So it's, it's understandable if, hey, a family emergency happened or if there was some health care issues that had you stepping away, like, absolutely that's understandable. But you have to know that, going into an interview or going into creating a resume and submitting it, the person on the other side is going to be asking questions Like why is there a gap? Did they get fired and they took them that much time to find a job? Why did it take them that much time to find a job? There's just so many questions that come up. There's so many things that kind of go through someone's mind as to why is there that gap, right?
John:a great example is grant, who we're talking to again this season. Right, he worked and then decided to go on walkabout. Yeah, right and went across the country, went to some national parks, got to see cool things you know, became a baker and worked in a farmer.
John:Yeah, yeah, like, worked on a farm and then decided to come back to cyber security and that's okay. You know, yes, like, we're like man, that that's actually cool. You went and explored and did a thing and it had adventures, and then you know you're back on, you're back to it, you're trying yeah, I gotta make some money here, right? So you know you can craft, you know craft that in a way on your resume so it helps fill in that just empty blank, like if you put something in there that says, hey, I did the few things, I did some things here. That helps us understand. Well, wait a minute, why did they? Why is their last job here and now they're trying to apply for this job?
John:and then, look, when we interview you, we want to know hey, tell me more that you want to word it in a way that is like a teaser. Hopefully it's a good story or there's something good behind it. You know sometimes bad things happen and that's understandable too, but if there is something where you had a gap that you could lead up to, you're going to be asked about it. You know they want to know. Can you help us understand what was this gap? And then if you've got a story and you've already- teased it in the resume, then that just is even better.
Steve:Yeah, absolutely so having a gap is not a terrible thing. So don't, please don't misunderstand us. It's just people are the hiring manager or company is going to be curious about it and want to know more and ask you questions. So just be ready. Just be ready to answer those. Hopefully there're, you know, there's enough information to say, oh, this is why, and it's good and we can move on. Um, but if you've just been a couch potato sitting in your couch just hanging out, it's going to be kind of tough to sell that when someone asks you what happened during this time.
John:So unless you're just straight up, just honest, like, listen, I was, I'm a dummy, I was complete moron. I thought it would be cool to live on my live off my parents income and I found out I hated it. Okay, all right, we can work with that, you know. But we got to go from somewhere, like we. Why do we want to hire you now to know that you were a bum? But if you're super honest about it and vulnerable?
Steve:you might have a chance.
John:Listen, don't be a cash potato. Right I get it. If you're going to take some time off, go climb Mount Fuji. Hey, we're trying to tell you, yes.
Steve:There's a running theme here.
John:I don't know Something about Japan.
Steve:Yeah, the thing is this, though One thing that we do recommend all the time you've heard us say it is that if you are going through a rough patch where you're trying to look for a job, you're doing all the things you can do. You're just being unlucky, right. Right, that person is continuing to be involved in the community, continuing to do things to educate themselves, to better themselves. So that is a good story. Right, that is a good story to say, hey, I got hit with a little bit of bad luck. I was, you know, let go or laid off or whatever.
Steve:My project ended in my previous company and you know the economy is tough right now. Things are crazy. I've been having a little bit of a challenge finding a new opportunity, but in the meantime, I've been working on XYZ, volunteering, working on projects, continuing your education, getting a certificate. I mean just showing that you are constantly proactive and you're continuing to improve yourself. That is all, as, as a hiring manager, we need to know to say, oh, this guy, he's got it. That gap understandable, we know what happened, let's move on.
John:Yep, absolutely All right, Greatly said the next one. I did everything, man. So your example here I managed all cybersecurity operations for a Fortune 500 company, man. That's pretty impressive, congratulations. But what did you do, right?
Steve:Yes, and that means what?
John:Did you do anything? Yeah, I mean the point is is like you're just so general, so vague about your, your top. You know what you put in your resume. You can start your management. You can talk about management. You can talk about leading, but led a team to do what led this, led the security team to blank blank, blank right. Manage the team that helped reduce X, right? You know things that are actionable. More specific, don't just leave it to wide open. I mean, I can try to. I can make up some things in my head of what that means that you managed a uh, all cyber operations, but you don't want to leave it to imagination, right?
Steve:No, no, you do. That's the last thing you want to do. You don't want the hiring manager to have to think and guess what you mean by what's on your resume. A resume should be pretty cut and dry, just just simple, to the point. This is what they did.
Steve:Okay, it's enough to tell the hiring manager what you have done and what you have experience with, so that then they can come back and then want to interview you and want to dig deeper in the interview. Hey, in your resume it says here that you led vulnerability management program. Can you tell me more about what that entailed? What did you do? How did you do it? Because they may have the same issue and now they're asking you well, how would you handle that situation? Or how did you handle that situation? Or how would you, because we want to, how did you handle that situation? And how would you, because we want to hire you to come do the same thing for us?
Steve:But before we do that, we want to see if what you plan to do is what we have in mind as well, or if it's even better strategy than what we thought. So it's good to say you know, be specific for sure. The other thing is you want to leave the ego at the door, because cybersecurity is not an individual sport, it's a team sport. You need your team to be successful for an organization. And if we kind of read the resume as I, I, I, I, I unless you are a one man shop at your organization, meaning you are the sole cybersecurity person, then I'm not going to believe you and I'm going to think it's kind of fishy that you are the one doing everything.
Steve:The other thing is we've seen it where someone says I did this, I did that, I did that, and then we ask them for more details and then we come to find out oh well, he was part of the team that was in charge of setting up Splunk or doing this or that ever, but he didn't actually do the work. It was somebody else or a couple other people in that group who actually did the work, the configuration, the setup, but they're taking credit for it. But then when you ask them a question, then you find out no, they actually had nothing to do with it. They were just part of the team, but they didn't really do the heavy lifting. So that also just looks bad, right, because at that point we take it as this person's lying.
John:It's not a good look, for sure, great point.
Steve:Yeah, so just something to finish up here. So specific accomplishments are more believable than vague ones, or?
John:vague claims. So be specific. Say exactly what you did. If you did work with Splunk, say what you did. Don't leave it just vague right. Be specific enough.
Steve:Yes.
John:That's where some of the craft comes in of the resume writing. It's like don't give us a paragraph of every little thing, but be more specific than general, I guess a good way to word it.
Steve:Yeah, yeah, all right. The next one, oh man. So this is important, right? Believe it or not. I think this is probably one of the most important things on a resume because it's like first impressions, right, even before I read the resume. If I get a document sent to me that I'm reviewing that has crazy fonts and it's like in pink, like the, the is pink, like what am I reading?
John:like, come on guys, like seriously yeah, yeah, I mean thinking about the, the presentation of the resume yes fonts are mainly what you're presenting. Some, some people put color. I'm not. I'm a little too, too uh, reserved to put colors and all that stuff. I've seen good resumes that have color. That's okay. I'm just a little bit more old school. If I were going to do it, it would still be black and white. But your fonts, I mean, that's really your resume. You're the words that present your words on the resume.
Steve:Yeah, absolutely. And it's not just the font but just the format of the resume itself. That's like first impression. It's like you're going into an interview and you're wearing a white t-shirt and it's like, come on, man, that's first impression. You could be amazing at cybersecurity and have all the experiences and check all the boxes. But if my first impression is not good, then you're already starting in the negative. So for a resume, it's the exact same thing. You want it to be clean, to the point. I am also kind of old school, like John, but I've also seen some pretty interesting resumes that include picture, like people have put their actual picture on their resume. That I was like okay, well, he, this individual made it work they made it work I wouldn't recommend that for everybody, but this person made it work.
Steve:but yeah, people could argue and say oh well, that's common sense, steve. Well, you should see some of the resumes we get, that's right Now.
John:I'll be honest, it's been a long time since I've had to actually do a resume. You know I need to update it. You never know We've got to keep it. Keep it handy. Steve might take over and I got to update it. You never know we got to keep it, keep it handy. Steve might take over and I got to get it. Get a new job? Um, but font wise I don't. I'm not the most like, I'm not scrutinizing my font, but I do try to make it look right. So what? What are some font recommendations?
Steve:So keep it professional. So, ariel, uh, cambria, um Times, um times new roman. I mean, you might think those are boring, but that's just simple, to the point yeah, just don't don't use wingdings no, no, don't, yeah, please don't, um, but anyway, yeah. So formatting speaks before words. Do so, keep it clean and to the point, please.
John:Yeah, awesome, all right, the next one.
Steve:All right.
John:Number nine what you got.
Steve:Certification chaos. So this is where we're working with an individual who has taken every single certification possible, has taken every single certification possible and they are just throwing them all into their resume without trying to tie certain ones to position descriptions, to what they're applying to. But this person has taken every single certification under the sun and they're just throwing it all into their resume.
John:Yeah, yeah, no, I mean I think like some people used to do and I don't see this as much anymore but even on their email signatures at the bottom, and they just put a line Acronyms. Yeah, just acronym after acronym, and I'm like okay, great, you're a great test taker, good job. Um, and I think to just point just this point of like well, you could have gotten a certificate in something technical, but has nothing to do with the job that you're applying for, so should you put that on your resume?
John:if it has nothing to do with the job you're applying for, then no right, um, if it, if it's in the same ballpark, maybe. But really keep it simple, keep it clean, keep the certs on there that are specific, even though you might even think, well, there's security, right, and even for me, like I wouldn't put, I my a plus certificate that I got in 19, whatever that, nobody cares about. That 25 year old certificate that I got right not for you at this point in your career yeah, exactly, it's not relevant.
John:It's not important now I'm glad I got it, but you, I should not include that in a resume no, absolutely.
Steve:And we're not saying that having certificates is bad. They are good. It just depends how you use them and how you show them in your resume. So, for example, if you have taken every single resume under the sun for cybersecurity, for entry level, but you don't have any stories or any work experience to go with them, they can only get you so far. The other thing that John was just talking about is tying them to different position descriptions, tailoring your resume so that they fit each position description.
Steve:I was working with an individual. He had a two-page resume and he was kind of fighting me on the idea of bringing that down to just one page and he was trying to I guess trying to get me to understand. But I've done so much. I want them to see everything that I've done, and I kept trying to tell him they don't care about everything that you've done, they care about what you've done that fits the position description for the person they're looking for. That's what they care about. So if we can pull out the things that fit this position description and put them into a resume, it will be one page and it'll be solid.
Steve:Unfortunately, we went back and forth, back and forth. Back and forth Didn't really work out, and that's okay. Sometimes, you know, people want to listen to you, sometimes they don't, so we wish them good luck and, you know, want to listen to you sometimes they don't. So we wish them good luck and, you know, see you later. But I get it like sometimes people get a little too emotional with like, but I've done all these certifications. I want them to see what I've done also, because maybe they don't have a real world experience.
Steve:So again, they're just trying to fill that one page with as much cyber security content as possible, which I get it. But there are more creative ways to do that. One page with as much cybersecurity content as possible, which I get it. But there are more creative ways to do that and we can help you with those things. We can help you how to phrase something or how to explain something, or just shifting the focus on your resume to utilize the space in a proactive way that will actually fit the position description and make your resume look solid. So, yeah, I mean it is good to have certifications. Just use them smartly and really focus on listing the certifications that match the position description. That would be my two cents here.
John:Yeah. Last thing I'll say on this is just like I had to at some point, cut off years of experience off the resume, right. Like it didn't make sense for me to have jobs that I had in 1999, even though they were it jobs on my resume Like, yeah, it's it, but it's not really going to be helpful. Number one it's too much, yes. Number two it's not directly applicable to what I'm applying for. So I get it, you're kind of like, but I write and I had certificates in there too, but it's not going to help me. Keep it simple, keep it straightforward, keep it focused on what you're applying for. Just because you've got experience and a lot of people that are transitioning from other jobs. This is a challenge because you're thinking, man, I've got 15 years plus of other type of career experience. I want them to know that I'm not like a new right out of college or whatever. I want to make sure they see all this career experience. Well, you can do that, but you don't have to put every position that you've ever worked.
Steve:No, and you want to highlight positions where you have done tasks, things that can translate into a cybersecurity role or being part of a cybersecurity team, right, anything that has to do with customer service. You will need that. We want to highlight that. Anything that shows you in your problem solving skills, we can use that. We can recycle that and repurpose that of your previous employment information, but tailoring it and talking about it in a way that will actually benefit your future growth in cybersecurity, to highlight certain things that does match a cybersecurity role, especially entry level. So, again, if you would like some help with that, let us know. We'd be happy to help you. We do this all the time. So, yeah, and last but not least, is the objective like at the very top of your resume. You know, sometimes we see people add an objective, sometimes they don't. I can go either, or, but if you are gonna do it, please just I say don't do it.
John:I say don't do it. I used to do it. I used to have's like your objective is to get a job, we get it. We get it Everybody. That's their objective. They're applying for this position. I think it is. I think it is old. I don't really think it doesn't really add to your resume. Put it that way, like how does it help me to know? Okay, I know you want this job, you've applied for it.
Steve:Yeah, and what we see is people will have an objective and then right under it they'll have like a summary, like a professional summary, like a summary, and I'm like it's kind of the same thing. I would choose one and I actually prefer the summary more than I do the objective, because, like John said, we know what the objective is. You're applying to this role, you're applying to this position, so I think it's just again taking up space where we can add more important things, things that will actually strengthen your resume and your opportunity. And I mean, I wasn't going to say that but, John, I believe you, I think, at this time and age, get rid of the objective altogether, forget it.
Steve:Don't worry about it, just go straight into your summary and then give us the meat and potatoes of the rest of your resume.
John:Yeah, like a good example you have here is objective to obtain a challenging position where I can utilize my skills in a growth oriented company, and that was that was like a normal thing for people to put on resumes. But it's, it is old, it really doesn't help add value to you, to your resume. Um, we know you're trying to find a challenging position and it's kind of played up anyways. Um, so I would just skip it.
Steve:I agree, I agree. I would say just skip it altogether and tell us you can. You can say this in better words, better phrasing, under your summary.
John:Yeah, really, if you, if you don't agree with this, drop a comment like hey. I think objectives are number one.
Steve:Feel free to comment.
John:If you remember your objectives back in the day, throw them in the comments. Like, hey, I had this on my resume? I don't think. Hopefully I don't have any resumes old resumes that have this on there, but yeah drop it in there, yeah, yeah.
Steve:And if you, if you agree, disagree or if you've had any of these mistakes in your resume, let us know in the comments, shoot us a message. We'd love to help you. But yeah, that is the top 10 mistakes that we have seen. With the number of people that we've had the pleasure to work with and just reviewing resumes, this is what we're seeing and hopefully now you, the listeners and our viewers, can go back, take a look at your own resume and change some things up. If you have one or more of these in your resume, if you have one, or more of these in your resume.
John:Yeah, I mean, and once you build a good structure, good bones, then you can tailor it. You know you don't have to get crazy and customize it completely with every job position, but you do want to do the best you can to customize it to that position. But don't overdo it right. I know it gets frustrating and if you're applying for a ton of jobs You're like I just can't customize it for everything, don't? The bones are there. Your skills and experience are not going to really change a lot based on the position, but you might just tweak it from there. What do you say about that?
Steve:No, absolutely. I was going to say so. When people, when people kind of hear us talking about, oh, tailor your resume for each position, they think the worst. They're like, oh my God, I'm going to have to write a new resume for every single position If I'm applying to 15 jobs per week. That's, that's a lot of resumes. Well, hold on a minute, right? Especially if you're just now starting. There's only so much experience and so much knowledge you have.
Steve:What could classify as a tailored resume is some of the things that we were just talking about. Right, if you have certifications that better fit that position description, I would highlight those. If there's specifically named security tools that that position lists that they want experience with and you have experience with those tools, then I would focus on those tools. For example, if you have uh, if you have experience using both uh, splunk and elk for a sim, but you're you're applying to a position where they've highlighted splunk, that I would just put splunk. I wouldn't even put elk in there, because that's really what they want, right? So when they're going through that review of keywords and key things that AI unit, they have Splunk the word Splunk in their position description and if they see it on your resume. That's going to be a good hit.
Steve:So that's kind of what I would do, right, you only have so much experience with certain tools. You only have so much certifications. There's only little bits and pieces that you can do to switch. But again, if you've been doing projects that deal with fishing, you know and fishing is a big thing that they are looking for in this position I would make sure to highlight that again, you have one page of real estate to work with. So that's where you kind of shift and move and switch things around to continue to fit that one page. But you have a list of things that you have done. So then you can pick and choose and just change little bits and pieces here and there. That is tailoring a resume. That is having a tailored resume for a specific position description.
John:Absolutely Great advice. Now, thanks for putting this together, steve, and I think everybody can can get a little bit of something from this, even me like hey, I mean I need to. Yeah, you got to keep it handy. Keep stuff handy for your resume always be ready. Um. But you know, somebody may ask you, even if you're long term in a position hey, do you have a recent resume ready?
John:um, you're like oh, shoot I don't yeah let me get it up to date, and I I'm I'm guilty of this too, um, but it's just good. Somebody might ask maybe you're getting a new uh position, maybe you're getting upgraded, maybe you're moving up into a different position somebody. Sometimes they'll ask you for that resume as well, and you don't want it to look sloppy.
Steve:Yeah, not at all yeah.
John:Yeah, all right, steve. Well, I think that's it. Anything else to close us out?
Steve:No, I just want to say thank you all for listening. Again, we are here to help you. So if you have a resume you'd like us to review, send it our way, or you can schedule a free mentorship session with Cyber Professional Services. That is us, and we'd be happy to give you some feedback.
John:All right, Thanks everybody.
Steve:Thank you for tuning in to today's episode of the Cybersecurity Mentors podcast.
John:Remember to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform so you get all the episodes.
Steve:Join us next time as we continue to unlock the secrets of cybersecurity mentorship do you have questions or topics you'd like us to cover, or do you want to share your journey? Join us on discord at cybersecurity mentors podcast and follow us on linkedin. We'd love to hear from you until next time time. I'm John Hoyt and I'm Steve Higuretta.
John:Thank you for listening.