Mastering Your Cybersecurity Career: Skills, Networking, and Navigating Job Hunt for Freshers

we are moving on to topic that has been on everyone's mind lately the skills shortage in cyber security sub cyber SEC Security Professionals demand but how do we bridge the gap between job Seekers and opportunities out there exactly dri it's a Hot Topic and it is the only topic that affects a lot so we are excited to bring you a panel and the panel is on the topic is there a skill shortage between cyber security how can we bridge the gap between job and the job

Seekers on how we can tackle this issue they'll discuss everything from the current job market to the skills that are high in demand and what both Seekers and employees can do to close the gap so let's welcome our panelist to the stage uh I would like to call up on stage uh Mr Sanai Singh sankal parans Sashi Prasad shubam Kumar and Sagar [Applause] tiari please be seated

sir Sashi sir is not present no he's not here let's proceed guys can anyone check on Sashi

sir let's wait till s comes but before that

so I would like to call up on stage mudit

Buel so the stage is all yours let's wait for 2 minutes Sashi sir if there's any issue we'll let you know just two minutes hello guys

all right guys a quick demographic check how many of you are actually looking for jobs three people 4 5 6 7 sir is not present so we all right so eight people are looking for jobs you are setting up nine how many are giving jobs or like looking for people 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 all right so we have less number of people who are looking for jobs and then more number of people who are actually giving jobs and yet we find people on Linkin and everywhere crying that there are no jobs in the market there's recession is isn't that an full of irony that we are seeing here like this is a

conference and I don't think eight of you have met these 10 of people have you then like what was the point of you coming here ask yourself you paid money to attend this conference and yet you didn't talk to a person who was giving you a job although there are less number of people looking for jobs and more number of people who are giving jobs all right starting on that note uh we have four speakers here who have like s sir who has trained people and then we have Saga s and Cham sir who have started their own company after I guess working freelance so they are making money and then we have finally have sir

who are who uh who have been recently graduated and then find is open for opportunities so we'll have that Viewpoint as well so I start off what do you think why is this Gap and why are like people still searching for job jobs and they're like more than open and then both of them are not meeting each other that's a a really nice question uh according to me so coming on to today's perspective in cyber SEC uh we have seen a lot of numbers uh online that India is on the verge of 23.3% increase in cyber security market right now uh as uh we just counted there are less number of people who are looking

for jobs rather than people giving the jobs I guess that's because of not um non interactive thing that we have right when we come to these kind of communities right these kind of meetups um usually when I train my students I usually tell them that please go into these kind of communities go into meetups and once you go into meetups once you attend meetups there are sponsors in the meetups that are looking actively for the jobs Cloud sick outside have their QR codes right so uh I guess that uh little bit of this knowledge that people do not have who are coming into this field right might be impacting this thing and uh uh you know these kind

of communities are bridging that Gap according to me also uh you know people who are coming up with cyber ranges I thank them a lot because cyber ranges Not only would give you a platform to bridge this Gap but would also give you a lot of things to learn and uh you know connect with the industry people right so to get that particular particular thing that was my perspective I'll come back to it to add something more to it all right so uh like there are people who have these skills like let's say you post a job on LinkedIn coming from clouds myself we have been looking for people like for the past 6 months or any

year and there are like almost 30 positions open when we try to post a job on LinkedIn in an hour let's say we receive 500 CVS and then a hour later we like run our basic test like if we want a 2-year experien person if we want this particular skill and we should cut down on the CVS we get down to let's say 25 30 CVS left and then when we actually talk to them it's like they have lied on their CVS and they don't even know how the internet works and yet all these people expect jobs not from not only from us but from everyone else have you also seen that in any organizations you

have been like when people actually ask for jobs are they actually capable enough for filling them uh so definitely that is one of the thing that happens ke uh when you're looking for the job and you're applying and you know the amount of applications that are there for the job and the amount of uh CVS that are being shortlisted there is a huge discrepancy in that number so I think to overcome that from my perspective and from my experience that is one thing is to think out of the box when applying so one of the thing is that you know uh like most of the employees and most of the people what doing you can have a different kind

kind of uh out performing your exposure like uh like art writing an articles you know playing cdfs U publishing your research making an GitHub repository whatever you are learning as a student post it out so that you can have a great amount of reach and you can have a great amount of networking so that will make you know make you uh you know this person does some kind of public work this person is active in certain sense it might be helpful for recruiter it's not a 100% wayy you will get a job out of it but it is one of the way to grab the attention and as a from a recruiter perspective this might

helpful for you uh so that is one other the thing so the people eight people who are looking for jobs I guess you are making notes right now you have to start a blog you have to start posting what you are doing so that people like us who are actually hiring could see you and like from a stack of CVS you actually stand different from them well let scalp sir you have been looking for jobs like for recently out of these four people you have been the one who has been most recent in searching for jobs what are your problems what do you think the recruiters are

missing so as other speakers highlighted uh uh keeping our uh like thinking out of the box so that is uh something uh I approach I keep like cold emailing is one of the way uh that helps uh to get uh at least to get an interview later uh student has to prove their abilities in the interview so having uh like prepared consistently applying being consistent with your skills and uh consistently uh learning uh will I think help the students in my opinion so it's basically like uh the people are just clicking on that apply button they are praying and spraying if you know that reference and then like whatever strikes they'll take it instead of like actually wanting a

job reading the job description what the job actually wants from them and if they are suitable for it or not so if you actually want a job and you think about what job you want then go down for the job profile and then maybe select it if I'm not wrong that is what the conclusion is like to add something sure so uh mainly what I would like to add here is that people should not fear before applying I mean a lot of time it happens that you have the required set of skills but then instantly you start judging yourself like whether you are capable enough or not to go into that scenario or not first of all you should

be Fearless before applying and also constantly sharpen your skills you don't have to wait and just blame every every single time that sh GPD is coming AI is coming what I will do but you need to harness your skills every single time you don't have to wait uh for the right time to come because it will never be there so constantly do and uh clear your Basics and that is the foremost thing that I've seen in most of the people that they don't know the basics of the things and a lot of uh in interviews what we have seen is that uh the recruiters even hire those kinds of people though that don't have that level

of skills that they are seeking but have the ability to learn you should have the ability to learn to cooperate between your teams and uh you should be excited about what you're doing and constantly try to search for different areas of cyber security because this field is so vast and so beautiful and that is why you also need to come into such conferences to understand these things so that's my perspective um I I guess uh I can add one more line to it that as you said that people do fear right while they come into this uh interviews and all While submitting their CVS uh I I have asked a lot of people you looking

for job why aren't you applying on LinkedIn there is easy apply option there are lot of you create your profile and it would give you Auto suggestions right so they were like that recession recession is but I what I feel is that cyber security is a recession free recession there is no impact of recession on cyber security at least there's a lot of data flowing not not let's say not in web 2 but in web 3 right now you see um AIML websites like the websites which have blockchain running right the money is flowing 24x7 in blockchain right those people are hiring actively so uh I guess that that fear should also not be there that it

would be recession cyers is ultimately recession free uh even in the future coming future so it's like uh there is money in cyber security and it's as a it's already growing you might see a slight decline when the recession hits but then because the entire sector is growing so much that decline will be invisible to you I would also like to add one more thing that don't always try to seek for money that is out there because most other the people they are going for a particular type of field just because there is a lot of money try to do the things that you love as being shown in a lot of movies but that's the reality

because in the end when you are perfect at something then only you will be not just perfect but good at something then only you will be able to skill in that sector as you see that AI is coming and they it is able to do a job lot better we can't just understate that so that is why we need people who have good amount of skills because you need to be there you just don't need to do dumb amount of work just you know copy paste and stuff and you are complaining that uh you don't have a job you have to upgrade your skills a lot in that sector so we mentioned skills that you should have

skills but how does one get these skills or what skills should he have it's about discovering discover as much as you do try to uh go into for example these conferences are one of those areas try to go and see for different uh what the speakers are trying to tell you and uh give you a lot of opportunities and giving you an insight into different type of fields uh for example whether it be web3 crypto or uh whether it be for entx example from us uh you need to discover first you need to understand that what you like and what you don't like and then just go through it and upgrade to that areas and Char GPD is

there for you I mean type the skills needed for this and this job and it's there so yeah right so it would be like uh a controversial question but then how much do these all these certification companies and all these CER certificates help in a person Landing a job in my case uh what I have seen is that uh when I applied for one of the job then they required a lot of those certifications OSP but uh I hadn't done any of that so don't judge me on that but but the recruiter was able to ask me those questions related to it and I was very much able and confident that I am able to solve it so I showcased my skill

and they were very much happy to employ me and and that has not just happened with me but a lot of people that I know yes uh there are certain aspects of certifications that are necessary but still you shouldn't hinder yourself or hold yourself back to apply because a lot of people are there to listen and cold emailer cold emailing is one of the best things out there so there are like nine recruiters out in the public I'll open the stage open the mic to you what are your problems what do you face while hiring people why are like you still unable to hold uh all right yeah so one of the you know thing which I recently

noticed that I recently posted okay sorry to interrupt but then what role are you hiring for just for the eight people to look at you and then secur anal Security senior security analyst all right okay so recently you know one of the issue which I faced was I posted uh you know kind of a job opening for the position of security analyst and I clearly mentioned the email address you know to sh me the resume now I got somewhere between 40 to 50 you know CVS on my mailbox but I got around 200 comment as just an interested right which makes no sense so at the same times those who are applying for the jobs though you know should have the

basic idea right that I'm mentioning the email address you share me your CV and you are you know commenting just interested which makes no sense even after having you know multiple certifications so I have seen people you know who mention kind of particular single certification when they do before their name right they don't even mention their name like they just mention certification so there's a lot of thing which I mentioned about the certification even I don't hold any of the certification still like you know I'm doing good in security so yeah that's a thing all right uh anyone else would like to give the comments yeah sure can we get to the front row the mic

to the front

row hello okay so I'm gorov I'm hiring for quis and I'm uh I have posted specifically mentioning that I'm hiring for purple team research Ro unfortunately most of the resumes that I received whether through email or through U LinkedIn messages or through WhatsApp it says that they're not related at all sometimes people send me uh resumes that have uh experiences related to se Ops totally different thing purple team research is different you have to make the exploit okay your expertise is in a different area I'm not downplaying you I understand you have good skills however it's just said it is not a good match right now I even got a resume from someone working in the

chemical industry and they said that they wanted to well switch I understand totally go for it however right now as the job description mentions we're looking for someone experienced someone who can drive and join the foundational team so it becomes difficult for me to understand like what's going on there what more can I do I don't know what how how easily how better I can explain in the job description or or rather the LinkedIn post that I make I try to make the post as short as possible because people don't read the entire post a lot of time then there are people who kind of almost force me into refering them like one time someone messaged me hi any

opportunity res like at least talk to me like a normal person bro then there are people who force me to saying oh my resume is is got shortlisted into Google why aren't you referring me well I'm happy for you you go into Google then so I would really really recommend uh people please read the job description I know you're good but sometimes I have to make sure that your specific experiences match the match our requirements so I think the learning is read the poe please right a quick uh like round up what we have decided like discuss so far all the tips is like when you come to conferences you talk to other people and

you introduce yourself second is read the LinkedIn post or the job description and apply for post which actually suit you and the recruiter like don't just spray and pray and then don't fear when you are applying if you like match half of the skills tell them tell them in the LinkedIn message you send them tell them in the cold email you send okay this is the skills I have if you have a like if you're applying directly out to a random job post then you could mention what skills you have and if like let it on the recruiter to find a role for you or if you're applying for a particular job role tell that why are you fit for it if

I'm not wrong if that sums up anything more should we add to this so as a certification part you uh discussed right uh forgot to mention this as well just have a message to all the beginners which I also tell most of my students that if you're a beginner out there how many of you are beginers here just want to see the hands okay still a lot so if you're into this thing coming into this field don't think of certification is the only key to uh go forward in the industry I guess certification is required when you're already doing a job and you want to have promotion go further into the things be specialized into some field that is

where certifications are important even for your pay scale as well but when you're starting right the a lot of my students who have entered into the industry without certifications I do not have any certifications I go into a lot of you know disclaimer I don't have that too right so so yeah actually your skills matters the most right your skills matters the most and make most out of it and then try to go into the industry once you are earning right then you can start for the people who are around 17 18 19 20 your parents have worked hard to put you in college please do not waste or do not ask them to pay

more 50,000 one lakh rupees for just a certification chance right earn your own money then try to go for the certification that's all sure can we have the mic there also the people like who are looking for jobs next question would be for you like you have a chance after this to speak your mind out so think if you want to Sure sir please yeah uh so as uh the speaker said right uh that you know uh don't you know go for the certificate it's not the only way right uh make your own project right go to chj ask what are the you know projects that I can build okay upload it on the GitHub right second thing like uh

this is my personal experience that uh there was a malware uh researcher like he used to claim that he's a malarcher and he applied I was like interested like okay uh and he was a fresher and uh uh he asked me for the you know uh assistant uh manager position I was like okay I will give you I will fight with the uh upper management but I will give you but the condition is you have to show me the code I you know uh he shared the screen I just H he like out of nowhere he he didn't expected that I just asked what is S2 i s t o i that is string to

integer he didn't know that you can copy the code from GPT okay but you cannot be blind yeah makes sense at the end we end up hiding the wrong guy because we have a deadline right you you have a lot great chance to stand out just understand clear your fundamentals you can copy we all copy it was Tech overflow before now we have chity okay but understand that what you are implementing right so this was my take on this yeah thank you so basically build proof of work that you know what you are telling about then you have something to Showcase your project speed blogs so you like apart from other people don't be limited to your CV put

in links or references to your project so that when the researcher sees your CV or when the recruiter sees your CV you could go in and actually see what you have built what you have done so he gets a different viewpoint on the level of skill you have which would I guess help him a lot and you a lot in getting that job all right the students who were like the people who are looking for jobs yeah go ahead please uh yeah hello everyone so I'm kales jwal and I recently passed my third year like just today our results were out so uh as a fresher I will be honest I'm very I have very

basic skills of cyber security I started like two to 3 months ago in cyber security so as a fresher how can I apply for internships to gain more experience and learn more cuz I have explored LinkedIn and few other websites for internships or for jobs or something they both are like you need 2 years of experience 2 to 5 years of experience 7 plus years of experience as a fresher I couldn't find internships that are focused for like freshers and for just third year graduates who are here for Learning and all all right so I guess one point is that you see 2 years experience 7 years experience jobs more is because because those roles stay open for long we have

been looking for a senior researcher and it has been open for 6 months but then when we look for freshers that position gets filled in a month or two so that is maybe one of the reasons and then I'll let others People Help why do you think this happens uh so one of the thing that you can do is like uh the fellow speakers have said already like improve the networking you know uh have a particular point of contact and like if you're seeing that there are opportunities for 2 years or three years of experience and if you're not uh finding eligible enough for that segment so you know have a right person in any

company find it through Linkedin or maybe get it to uh get them then through email address and have a right set of networking part and tell them your intent if you don't have that kind of of skills you say but tell them your intent like what whatever industry you want to work in and what is your uh like if they working on a particular product or any software and anything like that so what is your take on it so that is one of the way to tell showcase your skills out there so whatever you have learned in that way show show them out and have a networking part so that could be useful for you all right anyone else who wants to

look why he's not getting a job all right final question last uh um so there's this uh thing how do you know which skill you can put on a resume because sometimes you have just started and you think it is better to include it in the resume then you go in the interview and you find out oh I shouldn't have included that because I don't know as much as I thought I did so how do you quantify which skill is good to put in a resume as per your skill level and I think okay this matches with my description so I I include it but then when I go for the job I find out

that they wanted a certain higher level so how do I quantify it then you practice more no like not to be rude but then like making the resume time I want to know like see I if I think I'm good at ENT I'll put ENT okay and I'll build it up to the level I feel satisfied with okay then I apply then the recruiter asks me something it is possible that I don't know the answer to that and then I'll up like I'll see if he's satisfied with the level of uh oent I know he will hire me if he's not he'll say this is this is something you are missing I'll ask him what am I missing I'll build

that I'll message him next month okay yeah thank you that was the answer I was looking for like to quantify you have to quantify yourself right how can someone else help you quantify you you put a number to yourself and then let the other person or like get the skills match all right that was for this discussion quick recap around uh build your proof of work build what you have done show them showcase them create a CV which tells your story certifications are uh let not spend your father's money on your certifications spend your own money and learn like go for the skills instead of the certificates I would rather say we have decided that skills

uh these certificates help you get a job rather they help you get those skills so if you get those skills and then put them on your CV they would like match anyway and then build your LinkedIn build your Network contact people and that should help you all right thank you speakers for like helping us out there thank you audience for being such a lovely one