When sourcing SecOps professionals, the interview gives you the best chance to vet a candidate’s skills, personality, and fit. This is especially the case when trying to decide between two equally-qualified applicants. Ultimately, your interviewers need to ask great questions to determine which candidate makes the best choice for your organization.
With a goal of the correct cybersecurity hiring decision, here are a few questions worth asking when interviewing candidates. Leverage these ideas for an effective interviewing process that results in a great new employee. It’s the best way to quickly protect your company’s technical infrastructure from the scourge of cybercrime.
Specific Questions to Verify a SecOps Candidate’s Technical Skills
Either during a general interview or a specific technical one, your company needs to determine a candidate’s technical skills. So ask a few questions on specific topics, like traceroutes, VPNs, and the differences between symmetric and asymmetric encryption. These basic queries help vet a candidate’s cybersecurity knowledge.
In addition, leveraging some open-ended questions lets you vet the level of their skill set more deeply. For example, ask them how they define a risk, threat, or vulnerability on a network. This approach leads to longer answers that provide insights into a candidate’s knowledge, as well as their verbal communication skills. These queries also let you see how well the candidate thinks on their feet.
Cybersecurity Professionals Also Need Exemplary Soft Skills
Remember that SecOps professionals also need a wide range of soft skills to help them thrive in their job. These include leadership, verbal and written communication abilities, as well as problem-solving acumen. So make it a point to ask a few questions to vet their softer skills. As noted earlier, asking open-ended technical questions also offers insights into their verbal communication skills and personality.
Find out if they ever mentored another coworker as it provides some details on their leadership potential. Specific questions on any management experience or senior-level job roles also helps in this area. Additionally, ask an open-ended question about their interactions with clients and business stakeholders throughout their career. Find out about their favorite cybersecurity resources, both online and in print.
All these questions provide meaningful insights on their potential fit with your organization. Perhaps a candidate boasts the potential to move into management someday?
Hiring Top SecOps Talent?
If your organization wants to hire a new cybersecurity engineer, reach out to the team at Redbud Cyber. As one of the top cyber staffing agencies in the country, we provide your company with exceptional candidates. Schedule some time with us to discuss your business’s hiring needs.
