Mastering LinkedIn for Cyber Security Professionals | Your Ultimate Guide

Speaker A: Hey there, Cyber Transformers. This is Emin, your cyber credit transformer for multiple six figure roles that you absolutely love. Have you ever applied for those amazing cybersecurity jobs that we've, uh, always wanted but heard nothing? Wondered if it's your skills, your past experience, maybe certifications or your background or something else? Often the answer is right in your marketing materials, especially social media accounts, primarily your LinkedIn profile. With two decades in cybersecurity, I've seen many missed opportunities just because of a boring profile and lots of mistakes. So in this episode, let's tackle this challenge together and transform your LinkedIn profile into a magnet for those dream job offers. Right now. Let's go. All right, my friends, let's get started. Uh, let's go. If you are new here, if this is the first time watching me, this is Cybercrime transformer Emin, a global cyber security expert with 20 years of experience. And, and I help professionals just like you land multiple six figure roles as high level cybersecurity specialists in eight weeks or less without staking up certifications, even if you don't have the right job experience. And if you're new here, don't forget to like and subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes because this will help you a ton, um, in your cybersecurity career journey. And now let's get started and talk about this LinkedIn, how to master it, and how to avoid certain mistakes. It's very easy as long as you have a roadmap to do it. Okay, so let's just get started with the very first, the most important part of this, which is profile optimization. And starting with your photo, your personal photo, it is really important, my friends, to use a professional headshot that makes a strong first impression. Yes, it's kind of like a common idea that everybody talks about. But the problem is still, I see lots of professionals making huge mistakes. Lots of why? Because they don't see the value. Okay. Or maybe they don't want to market themselves, but that's a big problem. Make sure that you have a very strong professional photo. Take the time and energy. You can hire a photographer to do it, but make sure that it's really good. Okay? What you can also do, you can use different AI tools or maybe tools like Canva so that you can update your LinkedIn photo or any professional headshot photo and make it really, really good looking. And number two, make sure that you have a proper headline. Craft a compelling headline with keywords relevant to your goals. Many times people think what they have done and they talk about their history. But you need to tell a story and why you do what you do. And make it very to the point as well. Because if you are seeking just a random cybersecurity job and talk about, enter lots of random keywords instead of focusing on a specific sector. I help finance sector organizations and companies and this is what I do. I work as a cybersecurity analyst, I'm a penetration tester or I focus on governance, risk and compliance, whatever that is, make sure that it is very to the point so it talks to someone. Because if you're trying to be everything for everyone, that means you are not capturing your audience attention. Another part that most people seem to skip or miss or they don't do a good job is they don't have a proper good looking summary. Please make sure that you write a very concise and engaging summary and highlight your skills and also your goals. Okay? And make it fun. Make it like interesting. Why? Because people, recruiters, hiring managers, they are sick and tired of reading copy paste like summaries with no juice in it, with no personal insights or who you are really. Because that's what they want to say. Make sure they, that you tell your story, not like career, uh, history. And make it fun. Make it engaging too. Let's also talk about the experience and the skills section on LinkedIn. You have lots of opportunities to talk about your experience and skills. But here's the very important part that most people skip. They talk about all the things that they have done in the past and that's why it just doesn't work. Because let's just say you have spent 10 years as an IT help desk support professional. You, you have done so many different things, but right now you want to become, I don't know, maybe an ethical hacker or cyber security analyst. Instead of writing all the things that you have done in the past, be it relevant or irrelevant, make sure that you only highlight the things that you enjoy doing and also that are relevant to your target industry or your target audience. Okay? Especially on what you want to do. If you want to become a cybersecurity analyst, talk about all the skills and all the experiences that you have had about that, about cybersecurity analysis, okay? And uh, it's not just technical. There's people element, there's process element, and that's a hint for you. If you don't have the technical background or experience, make sure that you talk about what you have. Talk about those amazing people and process skills that you have. Why because you can apply it to your ideal role, but you need to do this in a very to the point, conscious way. Okay? You need to make sure that it talks directly to your target audience. And when they see that, they immediately understand, hey, this person is exactly who I want to work with. Does it make sense? This part, it's very important. Talk about experience and skills and make it relevant. And two other tips for you. Recommendations and custom URL. First of all, recommendations are really important. Just like the total number of connections that you have on LinkedIn, make sure that you have at least 500 connections on your LinkedIn profile, but not with random individuals. If you are a cybersecurity professional or if you are making this career transition, make sure that the people that you are connected with, they are cybersecurity professionals as well. As much as possible. Why? Because if you don't have that, that means you are not in the game, you are not in the network. Because hiring managers, recruiters, the moment that they take a look at you, they notice a bunch of different things. So, for example, do you have someone in common in your network? Do you know someone in common? If that's the case, that's great. You can use it. You can leverage. Why? Because they will immediately see the value and they subconsciously, immediately they trust and believe, hey, this person is already in the game. Why? Because we have common connections. A person must know what he's doing. Does that make sense? That's really important. Okay? That's why make sure that your network is relevant and you have at least 500 connections. And you are also actively engaging with them, which is another part of the video I'll talk about. But this is how we get started. And the second bit is recommendations. Get recommendations from people. Okay? It's not that hard. You can request and you can also make it easy. Okay, please write me a recommendation. Okay, you can actually write and prepare recommendation and then send it over to them. And then say, hey, if this is good, if this is nice, if this is acceptable for you, can you please send this recommendation back to me? Obviously, feel free to change, update the rewrite if you want to. That will massively help me grow my career. And also don't feel like, hey, please do something for me, but also give something in return. Okay? It could be as simple as a, uh, nice compliment or maybe something that person might be interested in. Maybe a recent tool, maybe a recent article, magazine, or maybe even a small gift to show that, hey, you know what, I'm interested and I take the time and Energy to see what you might be interested in. And another point is custom URL. Make sure that your URL is easy to read. Okay? And you can easily share it. Why? Because you will share this with, with your, in your marketing materials so that people can easily find you on social media accounts and they can connect with you. But if you don't have that, you know what happens. It's much harder for them to find you, connect with you. Make sure that you have all these personalization angles and elements on your background. Huh? Before we proceed, just to let you know, if you want to see an example of what a good LinkedIn profile looks like, please wait until the end because. Because I will uncover and I will give you an example of what you can use immediately. Take a look at it as an example. Almost copy paste, not copy paste, the content, but the structure. And I will give it to you by the end of the video, so stick around. And now let's continue with the engagement and message look. Engagement is really important because just like in different social media accounts like YouTube, Twitter, even TikTok, Instagram, sharing content consistently and engaging with people is key. They are very important because if you don't do it, how can people find you? You use LinkedIn. You use different social media profiles for a number of reasons. It's not just to have a good looking profile. When recruiters or hiring managers need that, they can take a look at that. Yes, that's very important, but it's not enough. You can also use this as a tool, as a machine to help people find you. How can you do it? It's not that hard. Just spend 20 minutes a day. That's it. Spend 20 minutes a day and then find relevant content, write and contribute to different articles. You can start a newsletter, but you can share what you believe and what you think, what you have. And don't be like, oh, I'm new, I don't have enough, etc. I'm just a reader. No, be present, be out there and then share consistent, relevant content for your target audience. You can like, you can comment on posts, you can follow people, you can network, you can engage. This is how you build momentum. And instead of being an outsider, you can start being an insider. And also messaging. Don't start with an ask. Build a relationship first. You, you probably noticed that as well. It happens to me all the time. The moment that I take a look at my inbox, I see lots of messages, but at the same time I see lots of different messages that I know immediately that people are Trying to sell me something because I'm a business owner with years of cybersecurity experience as well. That could be different. Hey, do you need marketing help? Do you need sales help? Do you need this? Do you need that? Whatever, okay. Or maybe people asking directly for jobs, can you help me? Give me this, give me that. But the moment that when I take a look at my inbox and those messages, I immediately understand if, if someone is trying to sell me something or they just want to connect with me. And that's a big difference. Please don't make that mistake and make sure that you are authentically connecting with someone. Okay? Does it make sense? This part. Engage with them, Connect with them later, after days, after weeks, when you build a relationship and people will come to you and ask, hey, is there anything I can do for you? Because you've been following, you've been sharing a lot of content that I like, and I really want to connect with you too. Is there anything I can do to help you, support you? Maybe this is exactly what happens. But first of all, you need to be present and give and give and then ask in the later stages. And here is a quick shortcut for you. Join relevant groups. Can you imagine a cybersecurity professional and all the networks, all the companies, and all the connections that the person has, it's totally irrelevant. It's not even in cyber. And that's a big problem. So what you can do to fix this problem, build meaningful connections and relationships, is you can join relevant groups. If you are focusing on, I don't know, automotive industry, cybersecurity, defense analysis, you can find dedicated groups like that. And also, especially in your region, you can pick your city, New York, Los Angeles, different parts of the world, and you can just connect with them. Okay, that's really important. And it's so easy to do this way. You can even find opportunities to meet with people face to face and then learn a lot of things and improve your connections authentically, genuinely. Why? Because you are out there and you are connecting with them in a, um, in the best possible way. They see you, you share, you give, and then they also give something to you. You can meet. And this is how pros in this business, cybersecurity professionals, this is how they create opportunities. Not like sitting on the sidelines, but providing value. Before we go, uh, a quick final tip. Here's the thing. Yes. Now you know the fundamentals of LinkedIn and uh, how attract opportunities and grow your network. But here's the key. If you do this just once A week, once a month or something like that. That means you are not creating enough momentum. Uh, and that's a big problem, my friends. You need to do this daily, at least five, six times a week. So you are constantly engaging and connecting with people. Because if you don't do it, what happens is obviously there's an algorithm behind LinkedIn as well. And that algorithm does not promote you, your background, your profile. So that you will always look for individuals and then try to connect with them instead of making it very easy for you, which is let people come to you, okay? They will find you, they will connect with you. You don't even have to do anything, just click Accept. If you want to capture this, if you want to do this, but you need to gain momentum. First and foremost, it starts with you. You need to do it. And then if you do it consistently, you would notice that you not only start engaging with lots of people and then recruiters, hiring managers, they will notice it, see you, and then you will start getting job offers and even interviews. And when you apply for role as well, the moment they take a look at your profile, they will say, hey, this is the person that I want to work with. All right my friends, that's it for today. But if you want to learn more and if you also want to download the perfect looking amazing LinkedIn profile and if you want to learn how to do it, all you have to do is just visit www.cybertransfarm.com and grab your seat for a detailed cyber security career training. The super simple five step strategy to six figure salaries in a rewarding cyber security career that you love without cold applications or getting another degree. Even if you don't have years of experience. If you enjoyed the content, don't forget to like and subscribe and I will see you in the next episode. This is Cybercredit Transformer Emin. Bye for now. M. Sam.