learn-co-curriculum / writing-your-cybersecurity-resume-summary Goto Github PK

Writing Your Resume Summary

Think of your summary like an abbreviated elevator pitch. This is your opportunity to give the reader (in 3-4 sentences max) some insights into how you would apply your past experience to a tech role, as well as insight into your motivations, passions, and interests. It also serves as information that the interviewer can use for conversation starters at your interview and provides some clues about your “cultural fit” with the company.

The summary is particularly useful for career changers, who can use it to connect the dots around how their experience and passion make them the perfect fit for a given role. It typically goes immediately after your name and contact information, and is your opportunity to own the narrative of your career progression. This is precious real estate on the (typically one-page) resume, so make every word count!

When writing your summary, consider your audience. What do you want the person reading – most likely a recruiter, hiring manager, or future colleague – to know about you? What would be compelling to them about your background and experience? What is unique to you about your skills, projects, past experience (and what skills you will bring to a tech role), motivations for pursuing (or changing into) a career in tech, and/or passion for this field?

Key Components of a Strong Summary

A strong resume summary:

• Is specific. Include the languages and frameworks you want to highlight for the reader (especially those listed in the job description as key qualifications). In addition, go into detail about what draws you to your new field of study or how your background and experience will contribute to your skills in the field.
• Includes factual achievements/skills and not subjective, opinionated traits. Recruiters want facts only, vs. your opinion of yourself. In other words, avoid words and phrases like, “excellent communicator,” “strong work ethic,” or “highly organized”– these are all your own opinions (and not necessarily how others perceive you). Instead, use factual achievements/skills that are substantiated by your previous work and other experiences such as “team leadership,” “client relations,” or “data analysis.”
• Uses the active voice, where possible. The active voice is often more powerful, straightforward, and concise. In active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action. In passive voice, the subject of the sentence receives the action. You can recognize the passive voice because it will include a verb followed by a verb in the past tense. For example: “Experience has taught me…” or “I have learned how to…”
  • Passive voice: Working in advertising has taught me how to work under pressure and meet pressing deadlines while delivering a quality product for the client.
  • Active voice: With a background in advertising, I know how to prioritize competing tasks under pressure, meet deadlines, and deliver a quality product for the client.
• Is personal. Let the reader in on who you are. Imagine they are reading dozens of these. Use your voice and your unique story to engage them and help them remember you among all the others.
• Is customized when needed. While the summary you create for your resume should in general serve as an all-purpose summary across various job applications and interviews, there may be times where it makes sense to tweak your wording. For example, if a job description indicates that a specific skill set (technical or non-technical) is a priority, that you possess, but is not currently in your summary, that would be an ideal time to incorporate it. This helps in not only ensuring your resume’s relevance and appeal, but also can help significantly in search engine optimization and your resume’s visibility and/or ranking on job boards or company ATS’s (Applicant Tracking Systems).

Tips for Writing Your Summary

• Write something out and then challenge yourself to go deeper. For example, "Former marketing professional seeking a position as a Security Consultant or Threat Analyst.” What does experienced mean to you? How much experience? What are the characteristics of a successful cybersecurity professional and to what end are they important? You say you want to have an impact — how will you know you are making an impact through your work?
• Read it out loud. Does it sound like you? Does it sound natural and roll off your tongue? Now put yourself in the reader’s shoes. What are the reader’s biggest takeaways about you?
• Remember that this is and should be an iterative process. Write, review, refine, repeat! It’s often harder to write something short and concise, so start with a longer paragraph that covers everything you would like to highlight and then spend time shortening it.
• Engage with your Career Coach in review and discussion!

Examples of Strong Resume Summaries

• Former intelligence specialist & marketing professional seeking a position as a Security Consultant or Threat Analyst. Currently pursuing PMP certification. Expected graduate of SecureSet Academy with over 480 hours of classroom and lab experience in: Hunt Analysis, Network Security, Systems Security, GRC, Strategy/Analysis, Threat Intelligence and Logs/Detection.

• An ambitious and results-driven graduate of SecureSet Academy with more than 450 hours of classroom and lab experience in: hunt analysis, network security, systems security, governance, risk and compliance (GRC), strategy/analysis, threat Intelligence and log/detection.

  • HUNT Spring 2018 Capstone Team Winner out of 5 teams.
  • A unique combination of experience in technical writing, customer service, and incident response, results in an innovative team player looking for entry-level position with growth potential.

• Mission-driven Intelligence Analyst with over ten years of experience and expertise in conducting all-source intelligence analysis to directly support more than 2,500 military personnel and government employees. Proven record of applying advanced intelligence analytic skills to identify, assess, interpret, and report potential threats. Ability to work collaboratively with inter-agency Department of Defense personnel in high-pressure situations and under tight deadlines and brief on military-political leadership, national military strategy, strategic doctrine, and regional relations with regards to their impact on force developments.

• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) with six years of experience and expertise in designing, implementing, and troubleshooting network infrastructure and security. Proven record of evaluating system vulnerability in order to recommend security improvements as well as improve efficiency while aligning business processes with network design and infrastructure. Superior capacity to solve complex problems involving a wide variety of information systems, work independently on large-scale projects, and thrive under pressure in fast-paced environments while directing multiple projects from concept to implementation.

Resources

• Via Writing and Grammarix - these two blogs are full of posts and articles to help you improve your grammar skills.
• Word Counter - a free online tool for managing and tracking the word count of your resume.