Cybersecurity Resume

A cybersecurity resume is a document that summarizes a Cybersecurity Analyst’s work history, education, and skills. Resumes show what a job candidate can bring to a company, and what sets one cybersecurity professional apart from another.

The applicant tracking system (ATS) is used by most cybersecurity recruiters to sift through resume submissions to filter out the best candidates based on relevant cybersecurity-related keywords. Use our cybersecurity resume guide to learn how to write a cybersecurity resume in a way that will capture the attention of hiring managers.

Together with the cybersecurity cover letter, your resume is the best way to help potential employers understand why your skills and background would make you a great candidate for a Cybersecurity Analyst job.

To write a successful cybersecurity resume, job seekers should follow these steps:

• Write a compelling cybersecurity resume summary/profile
• List your cybersecurity skills
• Highlight relevant professional experiences (after reviewing cybersecurity job description)
• Describe your most impressive achievements with statistics to indicate outcomes
• Mention your educational background
• List any security clearance, certification, or award you have received

To make the resume-writing process easier, start by doing some planning and preparation.

Unless you are switching from another industry and looking for an entry-level Cybersecurity Analyst position, you can skip the cybersecurity resume Objective and instead focus on writing a compelling summary. A compelling cybersecurity resume example summary could be: “Junior Cybersecurity Analyst with three years experience working as part of a small cybersecurity team that in the past year reduced security vulnerabilities by 43 percent, conducted regular intrusion detection, security assessments, and information security infrastructure reviews, and worked with law enforcement to report 11 instances of security breaches or potential cybercrime activity.”

Review the job ad and identify the most important cybersecurity skills or qualifications the employer is seeking, then make sure all of them are listed prominently somewhere in your resume. And each resume you submit should be tailored to the company you are applying to. Browse their website and social media to learn more about their work.

To illustrate your cybersecurity skills, you should be able to quantify the impact of your efforts. Rather than simply saying that you worked to identify security risks, for instance, include some numbers to show the result of your efforts. For example: “Conducted malware analysis that led to 15% reduction in attacks on content delivery networks.”

When you’re ready to begin writing, keep these best practices in mind for your cybersecurity resume.

• Be brief: Your cybersecurity resume should be simple, clear, and concise. The ideal length is one page.
• Personalize the content: The content in your cybersecurity resume should be tailored to each job you apply to. Highlight relevant technical and soft skills, achievements, and certifications. Avoid sending generic resumes.
• Stay organized: Structure your content using clear headings. Use bullet points to help readability.
• Use action verbs: When describing your responsibilities and accomplishments, use verbs that pack a punch. Examples of strong action verbs include: advised, delivered, executed, coordinated, and led.
• Quantify achievements: Numbers and metrics add credibility to your achievements. Show the measurable impact you can bring as a designer.
• Write accomplishment statements: Don’t simply state your previous job duties. Instead, craft accomplishment statements that emphasize results. Use the formula action verb + task + result. For example, “Conducted over 15 initial reviews pertaining to information security, standard operating procedures, and database security, resulting in approval of new security baselines that led to 36% reduction in security breaches.”
• Edit and proofread: A cybersecurity resume with excessive errors will be instantly rejected. Check over spelling and grammar before submitting your application.

The purpose of the cybersecurity resume is to market yourself to employers by showcasing your skills and qualifications.

A cybersecurity resume should tell a great story – they provide insight into why your education and work experience makes you the best candidate for a CyberSecurity Analyst role. The resume should convince the company that you would be an asset.

Ultimately, a strong resume will help you secure an interview.

To write a well-structured cybersecurity resume, you can follow this general outline:

• Contact information: Include your name, email, phone number, and LinkedIn.
• Profile/Summary/Objective: Compose a brief statement that highlights your top skills and accomplishments, as well as your passion for cybersecurity. If you already work in cybersecurity, consider dropping the objective.
• Experience: Include relevant professional experience.
• Skills: Include your core technical and soft skills that match the job description.
• Education: Include school name, degree/certificate, and graduation date. You can also add relevant educational achievements.
• Certifications: If you have completed a cyber certification or attained a security clearance, list it here to stand out.
• Awards/Recognition/Activities: Showcase other accomplishments that will help you stand out.

You will want to include these important sections in your cybersecurity resume:

• Profile/summary: In a few sentences, introduce yourself, summarize your cybersecurity achievements, and highlight your skills. Keep this section specific and focus on your top accomplishments.
• Experience: List relevant professional experience in reverse chronological order. For each past cybersecurity experience, include the job title, employer, start and end date, and location. Write two to three bullet points about the results you achieved. Frame your experience around your accomplishments, rather than your responsibilities. For example, instead of “Led information security, ” rewrite it as, “Wrote new system security documentation that led to 30% increase in organizational information security.”
• Education: List the name of the institution, the degree or certification earned, and the enrolment and graduation date.
• Skills: Highlight your technical skills, including the tools and software that you are proficient in.
• Awards/Professional Development/Other: Differentiate yourself from other job candidates by listing awards, volunteer experiences, conferences, or other activities and involvement.

The skills you include on your cybersecurity resume should match what the employer is looking for. Review the job posting and list skills that are most relevant to the position.

Some of the common cybersecurity tools and skills you might want to list in your resume include network security monitoring tools, encryption tools, web vulnerability scanning tools, penetration testing, antivirus software, network intrusion detection, and packet sniffers, along with knowledge of programming languages including C and C++, Python, and JavaScript.

If you are applying for cybersecurity jobs, try using this cybersecurity resume example:

[NAME] [Phone Number] [Email] [LinkedIn]

SUMMARY

Passionate Cybersecurity Engineer skilled in [top skills]. Past cybersecurity accomplishments include [list cybersecurity accomplishments with numbers].

EXPERIENCE

[Job title, Company] [Month, Year – Month, Year]

• [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
• [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
• [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]

[Job title, Company]

[Month, Year – Month, Year]

• [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
• [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]
• [Action word] [skill/task] [result/impact]

EDUCATION

[Degree earned, School name]

[Graduation date]

• [Relevant courses]
• [Academic achievements]

SKILLS

• [Technical skills]
• [Software/tools]

CERTIFICATIONS AND CLEARANCES

[Certification earned, institution name]

[Graduation date]

AWARDS AND ACTIVITIES

• [Award]
• [Volunteer experience]
• [Conference]