- All right, the time is here.
You were selected after that initial triage.
They schedule your first interview.
What do you need to do prior to that interview?
Well, first of all,
you really need to research
as much as you can about the company
that you are going to get interview for.
The worst thing that can happen is
the interviewer comes to you and say,
"Why do you want this job
and why do you want to work for us?"
If you don't know the culture of the company,
the mission statement, what the company stand for,
it's gonna be hard for the interviewer
to see in you a potential candidate
because you didn't do your homework
by understanding more about the company.
So that's very important.
That will give you that initial impression that,
"hey, this person is really prepared.
This person did the homework research
and it feels like we are on the same page.
So that's very important.
The other thing that you need to do is go back
to the position description
and review the job again, review everything,
the requirements, the responsibilities,
what are the responsibilities for this job?
Because you have to have a very clear understand
so that if the interview ever ask you about,
are you aware of what you're gonna do?
You can explain with your own words.
What are the technical requirements?
Review the technical requirements,
Be prepared for that.
Have a good understand
of the ramification of the technical requirements.
For example, if it says you're gonna be
part of the vulnerability management team,
okay, what this really means.
So try to bring to the table things like,
okay, as far as I understand,
I would be part of the vulnerability assessment team,
vulnerability management team.
My understanding is that vulnerability management team
will take care of the assessment
and the remediation of vulnerabilities.
But of course, if there are other tasks
that are included on that,
I'm absolutely willing to learn more,
and I'm looking forward to understand more,
what the vulnerability management team does.
So, this acceptance acknowledgement of what you need to do
and the open mind to learn more is very important.
So keep that in mind.
The other thing is part of this process,
this research process, will give you some confidence,
which means that,
by the time that you come to the interview,
you should be calm, you should be relaxed
because you know what, you're not gonna make things up,
and you know what the job is about.
So stay calm.
If the interview is online,
which nowadays usually is,
most of the interview are happening,
is taking place via Zoom, via Teams meeting,
any form of online conversation.
So make sure that you have your camera on,
make sure that you turn your camera on,
that you are in a location
that has a professional background.
Believe it or not, I interview people that were,
the background was they're bad and was a completely mess.
So it just didn't give a good impression.
And sometimes that initial impression really takes a toll
because the interviewer might see that.
I'm like, wow, that person seems to be disorganized,
not really professional.
So just don't give any excuse for misinterpretation.
Be in a very professional place.
Even if it is a fake background,
it's fine, blurry background,
but as long as you present yourself in a good way
and be well-dressed.
You have to think that this is a interview.
Be well-dressed.
Don't do interview on tank top, for example.
Be well dressed, presentable.
Imagine that you were physically there.
All those things are important
because, as Professor James Uleman says,
you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.
And this is absolutely true.
As much as you...
The society has an open mind
and inclusion nowadays.
That first impression is really important
because it opens the door for more welcoming experience
throughout the interview process.
So think about that.
Now, as you advance to different rounds of interview,
you may face different type of questions,
what we call the competencies.
So those questions will assess you in different areas.
Again, keep in mind that this is based on my experience.
So different organization may have different practices,
but overall, they always evaluate you in some areas.
And some examples will be check your adaptability,
how easy it is for you to adapt to different scenarios.
So they will give you a scenario,
and this scenario require you to have adaptability,
how you deal with pressure,
and adapt yourself to continue to deliver with quality,
how you are collaborating with others.
Do you try to resolve everything on your own
or you co collaborate?
These are so much important for secure professions
because, if you think about secure professionals,
they must adapt fast because the threat landscape
is evolving every time.
Every single day, you have something new.
So you have to adapt to new challenges.
So that's a very important attribute
for a secure professional.
Collaboration, well, this is vital
because you, as a secure professional
and regardless in which job role you are,
a secure analyst, a cybersecurity architect,
a pen tester, doesn't really matter,
you have to collaborate with other professionals,
you have to collaborate with other teams.
So measuring your level of collaboration
is very key for the interviewer
to understand how well you're gonna fit in a team
and in the organization.
Customer focus, a lot of people say,
well, customer focus is only for support professionals
or people that deal with support.
That's not true.
At the end of the day,
you either have external customers,
customers that are paying for the service,
or you have internal customers.
For example, if you work in the secure department
of a hospital or a law firm
your customer, your peers, your customer,
the person that you're gonna serve,
your peers, your users.
So you have to understand how to be customer-focused
not only if you are in support.
That's a huge misunderstanding
of the concept of customer focus.
You are going to deal with customers.
The only difference is what type of customer is.
So you should be empathetic.
You need to understand,
put yourself in this person's shoes to understand the pain
when you're dealing with, for example,
with a secure incident and you are investigate,
you need to ask questions,
but you need to ask questions
in such a way that that person will collaborate.
You cannot imply fear on people
because you're gonna see a lot of resistance.
So you have to be focused on,
okay, I want to help you,
and show empathy when you're talking to your customers.
Technical excellence.
Of all, this is probably one that is really focused on
understanding your technical abilities.
So if the job requirement says
that you need to know certain technologies,
that's the moment that you are going to be evaluated.
So if you think about just now,
we could say there is four rounds of interview
because the first round could focus one thing,
the second round focusing collaboration,
the third, customer focus,
the fourth, technical excellence.
But there are different approach to that.
Maybe one interviewer will focus on
adaptability and collaboration.
The other interview will focus on
customer focus and technical excellence.
So you may have multiple competencies
that will be evaluated at the end of each round,
and this is completely normal.