How to Fail an Interview
Summary
TLDRIn this video, TCM Security experts share wild interview stories and offer advice for job seekers. Andrew Prince emphasizes the importance of being prepared and professional, recounting a story of an interviewee who arrived late, affecting their chances. Joe Hudson discusses the consequences of dishonesty, while An Brown stresses the need for interviewees to research the role and company. Andrew Boloni shares his personal experience of interview anxiety and the importance of honesty. Tips include being punctual, honest, and well-researched to make a strong impression.
Takeaways
- 😀 Learn from others' mistakes as you won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.
- 🔐 Uncontrolled privileged accounts are a prime target for attackers, emphasizing the need for robust security measures.
- 🛡️ Trust Keeper's zero trust PAM solution offers a unified approach to password, Pass Key, secrets, and connections management for enhanced security.
- 🏃♂️ Being late to an interview can reflect poorly on your professionalism, even if you have a valid reason.
- 🗣️ It's important to balance being yourself with maintaining a professional demeanor during interviews.
- 🧩 Job postings often list numerous requirements, but it's crucial to highlight transferable skills even if you don't match every listed tool or technology.
- 🤝 Building rapport with interviewers through shared interests can be beneficial, but ensure it doesn't overshadow your professional qualifications.
- 💡 If you don't know an answer in an interview, it's better to admit it and show how you would find the solution rather than attempting to bluff.
- 📚 Researching the company, team, and role before an interview can help you ask insightful questions and align with the interviewer's interests.
- 🚫 Failing to prepare and understand the role you're interviewing for can lead to a quick end to the interview process.
Q & A
What is the main theme of the video?
-The main theme of the video is to share interview experiences and provide advice for job seekers, particularly those preparing for security-related roles.
What is the importance of managing privileged access in an organization?
-Managing privileged access is crucial as uncontrolled privileged accounts can be targeted by attackers, potentially granting them access to an entire network.
What does TCM's Trust Keeper offer that sets it apart from traditional PAM solutions?
-TCM's Trust Keeper is distinguished by its zero trust privileged access management approach, which is fast and easy to deploy, agentless, clientless, and without implementation fees.
What is Andrew Prince's role at TCM Security and what course has he recently released?
-Andrew Prince is an instructor and creator at TCM Security, and he has recently released the SOC 101 course.
Why did the interviewee in Andrew Prince's story fail to make a good impression?
-The interviewee failed to make a good impression because they arrived late to the interview, appeared unprepared, and demonstrated a pattern of unprofessional behavior.
What advice does Andrew Prince give to those who are preparing for a security-related interview?
-Andrew Prince advises interviewees to be honest about their skills, not to lie on their resume, and to connect their experiences with the job requirements even if they don't have exact tool experience.
What was the consequence of the interviewee lying to Joe Hudson in the script?
-The consequence of lying was that the interviewee burned a bridge with Joe Hudson, lost credibility, and negatively impacted future opportunities for help with job searches.
What is the significance of the interviewee's search history incident shared by Andrew Boloni?
-The incident highlights the importance of professionalism and privacy settings during technical interviews, as it can significantly affect the interviewer's perception and trust in the candidate.
What is the Practical Junior Pentester (PJ) exam mentioned by An Brown?
-The Practical Junior Pentester (PJ) exam is a test created by An Brown to assess the skills of entry-level pentesters, aiming to provide a realistic evaluation of their abilities.
What advice does An Brown give for interview preparation?
-An Brown advises interviewees to research the job description, the company, and the team they might be working with, and to come prepared with well-informed questions.
What is the key takeaway from the video regarding interview preparation?
-The key takeaway is the importance of being well-prepared, honest about one's skills, and professional in conduct during interviews, as well as the value of research and understanding the role and company one is interviewing for.
Outlines
📢 Introduction to Interview Experiences and Security Advice
The video begins with a focus on learning from others' mistakes, emphasizing the importance of preparation for interviews. It introduces a discussion on privileged access security within organizations, highlighting the risks of uncontrolled privileged accounts. The speaker promotes Trust Keeper's zero trust privileged access management as a solution. Andrew Prince, an instructor and creator at TCM security, shares his experiences and advice for interviewees, stressing the balance between being genuine and maintaining professionalism. He recounts an interview story where a candidate's tardiness due to a basketball game affected the interview outcome, underscoring the significance of punctuality and preparation.
🔍 Navigating Interview Challenges and Honesty
Andrew continues by advising on how to handle interviews, especially for roles in cybersecurity. He suggests that interviewees should be honest about their skills and experiences, and not claim expertise in areas they are unfamiliar with. The discussion touches on the importance of aligning one's skills with job requirements and being ready to demonstrate adaptability and learning potential. Honesty is stressed as a key virtue that can leave a positive impression, even if it means admitting to gaps in knowledge or experience.
🗣️ Interview Stories and the Impact of Truthfulness
Joe Hudson, the director of growth at TCM, shares his interview experiences, particularly focusing on the consequences of dishonesty during the interview process. He recounts a story where a candidate missed an interview after lying about a car accident, which later led to a loss of trust and opportunities. The narrative serves as a cautionary tale about the long-term effects of dishonesty and the importance of integrity in professional interactions.
🚨 The Consequences of Interview Missteps
An, a security researcher at TCM, discusses the importance of understanding the role one is interviewing for. He shares an experience where a candidate was unprepared and could not answer basic questions related to the job. This highlights the need for candidates to research and understand the job requirements beforehand. An emphasizes the importance of being truthful and prepared during interviews, as well as the potential negative impact of trying to fabricate answers.
🛠️ Overcoming Interview Anxiety and Preparing Effectively
Andrew Bolini, a content creator at TCM, recounts his personal experiences with interviews, both as a candidate and as part of the interviewing panel. He discusses the importance of not putting too much pressure on a single interview opportunity and advises candidates to remain calm and collected. Andrew also shares a humorous incident where a candidate's unprofessional search history was inadvertently revealed during a presentation, underscoring the need for candidates to be mindful of their digital footprint and preparation for technical interviews.
🌟 Wrapping Up with Final Interview Tips
The video concludes with a summary of the key points discussed by the various speakers. They emphasize the importance of preparation, honesty, and professionalism in interviews. The speakers also encourage viewers to engage with the content, participate in live streams, and seek further advice on interview techniques and cybersecurity careers. The video ends with a call to action for viewers to join the community and continue the conversation on related topics.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Interview
💡Cybersecurity
💡Blue Team
💡Zero Trust
💡Privileged Access Management (PAM)
💡Red Flags
💡Honesty
💡Preparation
💡Technical Interview
💡Career Growth
💡Recruiting
Highlights
Emphasizing the importance of learning from others' mistakes due to limited time to make all mistakes personally.
Discussing the risks of uncontrolled privileged accounts and how they can be a target for attackers.
Introducing Trust Keeper's zero trust privileged access management as a solution for security concerns.
Advantages of Trust Keeper over legacy PAM solutions, such as speed, ease of deployment, and no implementation fees.
Andrew Prince's introduction as an instructor and creator at TCM security, and his recent course release.
Andrew's interview story about an applicant who arrived late due to a basketball game, highlighting the importance of punctuality.
The significance of balancing personal interests with professionalism during an interview.
Advice on how to handle questions about tools or skills you may not be familiar with in an interview.
The importance of honesty and not exaggerating skills or experiences on a resume.
Joe Hudson's background in cyber recruiting and his current role as Director of Growth at TCM.
A story about an interviewee who failed to show up for an interview, damaging their credibility.
The impact of burning bridges in the professional world and the importance of maintaining integrity.
Advice for interviewees to be fully committed and prepared, regardless of their current job situation.
The importance of treating every interview as a potential life-changing opportunity.
An's background in digital forensics and his experience with interviewing entry-level candidates.
An interview story where a candidate was unprepared and unaware of the role they were interviewing for.
Advice on researching the company, team, and role before an interview to be better prepared.
Andrew Boloni's experience as a content creator at TCM and his journey into cybersecurity.
Andrew's story of failing an interview due to nerves and the importance of staying calm during technical interviews.
The value of being honest when you don't know the answer to an interview question, rather than trying to make up a response.
A funny interview story about a candidate whose inappropriate search history was revealed during a presentation.
The importance of sanitizing your digital presence and being mindful of what you share during an interview.
Transcripts
welcome back to another video and
today's quote is learn from the mistakes
of others since you can't live long
enough to make them all yourself so I've
convinced a few of my colleagues to
share their wildest interview stories as
well as some advice for those of you who
are preparing for an upcoming interview
do you worry about privileged access
sprl within your organization
uncontrolled privileged accounts are a
prime target for attackers a single
compromised account can grant access to
your entire Network that's why at TCM We
Trust keeper Keeper's zero trust
privileged access management brings
together password Pass Key secrets and
connections management into one single
control plane for effortless security
and usability unlike Legacy Pam
Solutions keeper is fast and easy to
deploy agentless and clientless and has
no implementation fees so if you're
looking for a new solution to secure
every user on every device then check
out keeper. forward / TCM to schedule a
quick demo with that awesome team if you
like this kind of video then be sure to
let us know down in the comments below
and of course don't forget to like And
subscribe and let's just dive straight
in all right so we've got Andrew Prince
do you want to tell us who you are and
and what you're all about yeah uh I'm
Andrew Prince I'm a uh instructor and
Creator at TCM security um and I just
recently released the sock 101 course so
um trying to bring some some more blue
team stuff over to TCM yeah nice and
it's a epic course for sure so if you
haven't checked it out go and uh check
it out definitely um so give us your
crazy interview story sure yeah I have a
few um one one that really sticks out I
think kind of gives a lesson of the
balance between being yourself versus
being professional is one time we were
hiring for a sock analy role we had an
interviewee or um an applicant show up
like 10 minutes late to the interview
which you know some cases being a couple
minutes late it's not a big deal you
know things happen in this case yeah it
was like 10 minutes or 15 minutes late
and we were just like almost debating
calling the interview at that point but
he eventually showed up and uh he was
all out of breath and it looked like he'
just run like a 5k or something and so
at least he addressed it he said he was
playing a pickup game of basketball
earlier and I guess it was really
intense and it went into overtime and so
he couldn't leave when he wanted to and
so that's why he was late yeah needless
to say the Optics weren't great at that
point and also with this individual
there was I guess a holistic pattern of
this person being unprepared and so this
was just one of the ways that it showed
and so I think the takeaway for me was
like it's really cool to hear about your
hobbies and I want to hear about you
know stuff you do outside of work and
your interests I think that's always
really cool especially you know
something I'll ask in especially like a
more technical interview is to sort of
balance it out and ask you about you
know what you do outside of work and you
know how you you know stay sane in the
industry because it's it's tough just
getting bombarded by technical questions
for you know an hour so in many ways
like telling me that you love to play
basketball or go rock climbing or you
know if you play in a band or you play
music or something that's that's really
cool and if you can find a common ground
or a you know a common hobby or
something in common with an interview
that can go a long way into building you
know more relationships with them and um
you know having stuff to talk about and
stuff so so it can go a long way but
again if you don't have the skills for
the job to back it up or uh if you allow
it to affect your performance like for
example showing up late to an interview
or missing a project deadline or
something like um it's kind of these
patterns that uh if they're already
showing during the interview then um
it's kind of a a red flag because
especially you know your interview is
like the one hour you have to make a a
good impact and so if you're you know
making mistakes early on like that or
just not showing respect to to show up
on time you know as the person
interviewing it's like you have a choice
to make between you know hundreds if not
you know of of applicants and so you you
have to make those quick decisions based
off of stuff like that unfortunately
yeah you've got to make it count as well
given your your time I think I probably
would have gone for I missed the bus and
I ran the whole way and then been like
I'm So Dedicated I ran 20 miles or
something yeah something heroic or like
there was a dog in the road or yeah I
mean I I respect them for being honest
so what advice would you give to those
who are preparing for an interview uh
for example their first sock roll or you
know maybe if they're going for more of
a general Blue Team interview what what
pieces of advice would you give them
yeah um I think a lot of especially sock
related roles and blue team related
roles a lot of the job postings that
you'll see are just more of like a
checklist in in the sense that like
you're going to see a bunch of things
that maybe you don't align to everything
there and you're going to see a bunch of
tools listed it's more so just like you
know organizations looking for a unicorn
kind of applicant and it's again more so
just a checklist and so there might be
questions come up in an interview about
like have you you know used this
specific tool or have you used like Syra
cotta or something and you know it's up
to you to be able to say if you haven't
if you have if you don't have that
experience to say like no but I've done
this kind of thing and so if you can
sort of break down the objective of
whatever tool that they're referring to
and if you have experience using
something else that's never an incorrect
answer to say right it's um just because
you don't have exactly what they're
looking for if you've done something
similar or if you have you know similar
experience with a different tool it's
really important to bring that up and
and say like hey no but I've used this
and so it's going to you know take me 5
minutes to to get a hang of you know
whatever tool you're looking for so I
think people get hung up on I need to
learn this tool and this tool before the
interview and it's like I think you just
need to like do a you know take a step
back and and sort of do an inventory of
your current skills and um often you'll
find a lot of what you've done probably
aligns with what they're looking for
it's just not you know a onetoone
matching a lot of job postings that have
all of those things on it also force
people to list like everything on their
CV so if you've written five lines of
python you're going to put python on
your on your resume and things like that
so yeah kind of avoiding that I think is
also don't fall into that trap because
when it comes to the interview and
they're like ah okay so you're you're
super you've got this skill and you're
super experienced in it um it's going to
kind of make you look bad as well so
just yeah like you say ignore the facts
that it's on the posting and just show
what you have and I think that's the
exactly yeah just just don't lie because
you know it's never terrible to to
respond saying you don't know something
and you can figure it out way to connect
back with the interviewer after the
interview and say Hey you know I I
researched what we were talking about
and this is you know what you're looking
for this is the answer or whatever so
that's that's always an option if you
just if you haven't come across
something before that they're talking
about if you're not sure um it's better
than trying to improvise on the spot in
my opinion yeah perfect that makes sense
awesome thanks very much for your time
all right so uh good to have you here
Joe do you want to give us a quick self-
inroduction yeah man I appreciate you
having me join I love talking about this
stuff I'm Joe Hudson I have been your
teammate for I guess about 16 months now
something like that 15 months uh
currently the director of growth here my
favorite part of my job is I'm I'm
really responsible for talking to
everybody that we work with globally so
I get to meet with people all over the
all over the world whether it's through
our customer base and clients on the
Consulting side or it's in the
Partnerships that we work with or it's
our program uh focusing on Career
Improvement so really get a chance to do
that a lot but uh previous to this I
spent about eight years in cyber and it
recruiting and before that I spent N9
years in Elementary School teaching and
before that I was just a dumb young guy
guy so uh a lot of growing up here over
the last 10 years no this is this is
perfect because you've met so many
people and you have like your
backgrounds in in recruiting so I
suspect you have a ton of crazy
interview stories so let's let's give us
your your craziest how to fail an
interview story oh well you know I would
say I probably have thousands of
interviews that could go back through in
the Rolodex you know there was one that
is not so crazy to believe that it would
happen it's very very normal I think
actually but it involved not telling the
truth and Burning Bridges I had a guy
for example who I worked with he wasn't
even in my field that I was usually
helping like I was focused more on cyber
security at the time and he was kind of
a more of an IT focused person he really
hadn't crossed over the line but he was
really looking to get into cyber
security and I had a local executive
leader that I knew I was willing to ask
for a favor and I wouldn't normally do
that but this guy I really believed in
him I had helped him for about 4 years
at this point on my own just going
through his resumes always keeping it
updated every interview we ever had I
was helping him get prepped I mean I was
meeting with him I was going above and
beyond for this guy and I stood no
opportunity to really make anything from
it and I got him an interview just
created out of thin air he needed to
just show up to a local lunch it was
about 5 minutes away and he didn't get
back to me a couple times and I was like
oh man what's going on you know and then
the day of uh the guy you know the
executives at lunch and he hits me up
and he says hey this guy's a noow and so
I hit the guy up never heard from him he
was like I'm really sorry man I was in a
car accident and I went oh my gosh you
know of course are you okay you know I
just believed him because I've been
building this relationship for four
years with this guy and turns out um he
was just lying you know and the reason I
bring that up is because he's reached
out to me probably three or four times
since and he needed help for whatever
reason he cowered in that moment he lost
his nerve he lost uh you know he lost
all his credibility with me and he
burned a bridge but he also still has
not gotten into cyber security and I
really think that that was a phenomenal
opportunity for him cuz I built up his
character to the next level and it kind
of goes to show that I even you know
even after all that time and building
all that trust you know I was naive and
I was taken advantage of by someone it
made me look bad definitely made the
executive mad you've helped them so much
and then that impacts you so that's also
like yeah ripple effect man lost the
client uh lost the trust of him he was
someone that you know needed some help
and he lost a really great asset Set uh
I think to have in his corner someone
that was trying to go to bat for him it
was over he took a contract job and he
just didn't want to tell me and he was
nervous of how I would react I've
completely ignored him at this point if
he listens to this he probably knows who
he is I root for the guy to do well but
the point is you know in an interview
you have an opportunity to to really go
to the next level of yourself you you
know not not just challenging yourself
but really bringing in people with you
to the experience you know if people
have have invested their time to help
you get prepped or to set it up or are
planning on showing up I mean that is a
opportunity that could change your life
forever and to just kind of throw it all
away and throw four years of
relationship building up with me away
over a simple little lie because he was
nervous to say he took another contract
I know it's not that crazy of a story
but it's very normal it's a very normal
thing to happen something like that has
happened many times to many of my
recruiter friends in the past and I
don't think people quite understand the
Ripple affected ads and I certainly
spread the word about that guy to other
people who I've said hey I know that
they you guys reached out to me about
him I couldn't put my name on him
anymore he's not an honest person so I
feel like it's quite an easy thing to
justify to yourself like ghosting a
recruiter you're like ah they're just a
recruiter they're not that bad because I
mean in this case it's different cuz
you'd built up the relationship in the
end it's going to bite you like you know
it always comes back around so um you
know just treat regardless of who it is
like a human and and be like hey you
know I can't make it tomorrow or
whatever you know I've taken this
contract they'll be happy for you and
then and then you've still got that
relation ship going forward so generally
speaking what advice would you give for
those who are preparing for an interview
and they're committed they're definitely
going to turn up what would you say the
top few things that you think they
should do on I'll go through and maybe
give a different scenario briefly for
different types of people where they are
in their interview kind of mindset or
their stages so we'll talk about someone
who's desperate for a job right and they
think I got to get this job well the
first thing is to not be blinded by that
feeling in my opinion you know you still
need to look out for red flat if you
need to pay your bills and that's all
that matters and you're willing to take
a pretty terrible job for it by all
means you know no one's going to tell
you that or judge you differently but
there's a lot of people out there that I
can tell have been blinded by their sort
of self-created desperation and they
have walked into bad situations because
they're not asking the questions they're
not looking for the red flags and they
are just trying to get the job because
their current situation is so bad so
they don't necessarily prep like they
normally would they don't prep with the
mindset of I have to sift through this
and a lot of times being able to
challenge a job in an interview is how
you set yourself apart it is how you
stand out as someone who is not just
sort of receiving questions answering
and regurgitating information it's like
no I want to pick this apart because
this really matters to me and I think
when you go in with that mentality of I
need to determine if this is a good fit
for me you're much more likely to
actually perform better in the interview
and have General conversations uh so
that's something that I would recommend
if you're a passive looker however I
think one of the biggest problems that
people have with interviews is not going
all in for That interview and being of
the mindset of like no no no it's this
or bust you know like it's do or die I
got to get this in this job like if you
can get in the right mentality of every
interview is the potential to completely
uproot everything you know and make it
better in your life but you got to
figure out if this is a good fit and I
just hear way too many people like yeah
I'll just I'll see how it goes you know
I'll show up and I'll just have a
conversation and I think that they miss
out on a lot of people miss out on
really great opportunities because of
that so I think it's the mentality that
you know you prep yourself for that
really teas up a good conversation or
one that is just it's not going to move
the needle or you're not going to get
what you need or you're just not going
to make the right impression because
your intensity level isn't at the right
fit so that's a couple tips that's a
great one actually because I know a lot
of people who go to interviews to see
how it will go and if that's an
opportunity of a lifetime they're
probably going to miss it because they
didn't take it seriously so as a as a
good tip as well awesome well thanks
very much for your time and uh yeah
we'll catch you next time you bet man
thanks for having me all right so we've
got an here and do you want to give us a
a quick uh tldr on who you are and what
you're all about hey everyone my name is
an Brown I am a pin tester here at TCM
security um and I'm the creator of the
PJ which is the Practical Junior ENT
researcher exam and uh got my career
started about five or six years ago in
in cyber security actually went from
college to internship to a role in
digital forensics and incident response
and ended up leading a team there so
I've got a little bit of experience uh
both interviewing for roles and also
interviewing people to to hire them onto
a team so do you want to share your
crazy or interesting interview story for
us sure uh so the the role that I had in
forensics uh my team I only hired people
that were first coming into the industry
uh we were doing Cloud forensics and
email forens forensics and so uh I think
one of the craziest interviews that I've
I've LED is actually uh with an
interviewer who although you know they
had ample time to actually research this
role they they had no idea what they
were interviewing for so this person
came on and um as we were asking them
specific questions about email or
Microsoft which is one of the major
platforms that we did forensics on they
weren't able to answer any of the basics
just just even the basics stuff uh so I
think one of the biggest suggestions
that I have for individuals is you know
as you're interviewing for roles and as
you're looking at these roles if you
don't know what these job descriptions
are calling for if it's an entry rooll
for sure at least go out and do some
research before the role to try to
figure out what you're going to be
answering um so we it was supposed to be
an hourong interview and I think we cut
it in about 10 minutes just because it
was we just knew kind of immediately
yeah that's a big red red flag were they
just kind of stumbling trying to make up
answers on the spot when it was kind of
clear that you know they weren't really
sure they were they were trying to make
up answers on the spot which me to you
all is also a big no no if you don't
know an answer um just you know tell
your interviewer but yeah I mean it it
was pretty obvious after about the
second question that you know it just
wasn't a fit what advice would you give
to people who are preparing for an
interview or maybe have got an interview
coming up I don't know like tomorrow
night or something what would you say I
mean there's some obvious stuff here
right so like get get really good sleep
you know don't go overboard you know
make sure that you eat in the morning
make sure that you kind of keep your
habits that's maybe the the obvious
stuff right but because I'm big on ENT
you know I would definitely go out there
and do some pre oent not just on the job
description itself but the company and
the team if you can you know look and
see who your teammates might be look
into their backgrounds the person
interviewing you I don't think that it's
weird or anything like that to actually
go and check them out on social media
and see if there's anything that they're
particularly passionate about there's
always a moment in an interiew where
they ask you if you've got questions uh
so making sure that you have a really
great researched question um is one of
the big things that I always wanted to
see when I was interviewing people I
think about Sean Evans who does uh hot
ones um and how how great his interview
skills are right you know I want like a
sha Evans style interview question from
the person that I'm interviewing I think
that that just makes it so much more
interesting yeah yeah that's that's
great advice and I think especially if
you're in multi-round interviews um even
if you don't know who you're interview
who's going to interview you the first
time the second time around there's
really no excuse for you to find out
about the people who who you did meet so
um we um we actually just had a an
interview on the team for the pinest
team and um I I went out and looked
looked this individual up and found out
that they're a coffee lover um and so I
was able to even kind of you know align
with the person make them feel a little
bit more comfortable hopefully um in
this interview um and also get to meet a
potential teammate on a different level
you know talk talk about hobbies and
stuff so uh I don't think any of that is
like unrealistic in in the world of
interviewing nowadays it's you know you
want to like the people that you work
with well thanks very much for your time
and uh yeah hopefully we'll have a a
live stream or something about
interviews coming up soon so uh yeah
we'll see you on that awesome cheers
Alex all right so we've got Andrew here
and uh what's up Andrew do you want to
give us a quick self- introduction hey
yeah thanks Alex so my name is Andrew
bolini I go by digital true on most of
the social medias though and I am a
content creator here at TCM security so
I'm the author of our iot hacking course
and working on some other cool courses
like a help Des course right now so do
you want to give us your crazy or
interesting interview story to uh to
kick us off yeah absolutely I've got a
couple of them so the first one is I'll
just share one that I actually had a a
very bad interviewer or one that that I
kind of failed and flunked on and I'll
share my experience with that and then
I've got a funny one for you afterwards
as well for when I was interviewing
someone about 5 years ago or so actually
I've told this story before so I won't
go too in depth into it but I initially
got into cyber security from um Heath
Adams that the the Cyber mentors pH
course back before there really was TCM
company or anything it was just on new
to me and someone recommended it to me
and I kind of fell in love with the idea
of pen testing and cyber security
through that course so I decided I'm
going to try and land a pentest job and
just through some networking and people
I knew I ended up chatting with someone
that worked at a pentesting company in
the city I live in and they were like
hey I could I could probably get you an
interview if you want we're hiring right
now and and so like all I had heard
though was like pentesting jobs are like
super hard to get and like everyone has
a hard time and like it's really hard to
break into and I was like oh man this is
crazy that I'm getting this interview
and like I I taken Heath's course like
but I'd only you know taken it over a
month and in my mind I was like this is
such a crazy break that getting this
this interview like you know I put it on
such a pedestal that like this was going
to be like my one shot at getting um
like a pentest job or breaking into
cyber security because I I had this
connection through the network and so
phone interview like initial phone
screening interview went well but then
the next step was a technical interview
where they actually had a setup and um
you know now that I remember back to it
like it wasn't all too different from
like something you had experience in
like the PNP or PJP where they had like
a active directory environment um and
they gave me this long list of things
they wanted me to do in the environment
a lot of it was like really Recon stuff
they were more concerned with that a few
basic things to exploit and everything
was like scored already so it's like
really intimidating and like it was on
there was like you need to score 70% or
else like no questions asked you just
can't move on and I was just like so
intimidated by like the pedestal that I
had put this scenario on and that it was
going to be like my only shot that I was
like so nervous I'm usually not like
this but I was like shaking hands on the
keyboard and it didn't go well cuz I was
so nervous and like there's only an hour
and that's not a lot of time and like if
you're really like second guessing
yourself and kind of nervous then like
you there's no way you could score the
points they wanted um in an hour cuz you
basically just need to sit down run all
the commands you need let them run
through like write up your little report
and be done yeah so I ended up not doing
great on that interview and it really
bugged me because like I had the
document afterwards like still like they
emailed it to me and like I had in my
mind like a you know my mental notes
about like the network layout and the
devices and stuff and like after had
calmed down and like just kind of
thought about it even for 5 minutes I
was like oh man like I could have I
could have done that and like there was
so much stuff like I remember I did run
responder and like I got back playing
Tex creds but I was just so busy like I
didn't even think to like try them
anywhere and it was like a learning
experience to like just be like calm
down and like there'll be other
opportunities and I I ended up I still
work in cyber security I ended up making
the transition it wasn't like it was the
only opportunity but just something in
my head put that on such a pedestal that
I yeah experience with coding interviews
so I'm reasonably good at the
programming challenges that some jobs
give you but sometimes you just like if
you don't get it within like 10 or 15
minutes and then you start looking at
the timer and it starts to tick down you
get more and more stressed yes I could
remember like I was on speaker like the
other thing too is like the director was
like this was not like um like a
take-home exam or anything like I was on
speaker phone with them and I could hear
her in the background like remember I
typed like one command and she was like
like mhm oh and I was like oh no I don't
know like I'm just trying to run like
the end map that Heath says is good like
maybe they have like a different switch
or something they want to run on it I'm
I'm just over there running like uh the
heath atam special and map you had an
audience giving you like reactions yeah
yeah like she didn't the person didn't
say too much but uh from then on I could
like hear them like kind of like you
know every they they were taking notes
and things like that or for all I know
could have been Al T like like a Al Tab
and responded to emails but like every
time I heard them typing too I was just
like oh God what are they writing about
me anyway and it's funny now I actually
um that company I I had some some people
from their company come to one of my
trainings once like that I did a few
months back so was kind of an
interesting Circle all around so that's
my that's my my flunking one I have a
funny one though as well this is a short
story you know throughout my career I
have actually done some interviewing
when I've been uh you know not the
hiring manager but like in a high high
senior position in a team or part of the
um hiring process and we were doing on
one of my teams that I worked on
somewhat of a techical interview that
required doing a presentation and uh one
tip I always like to do if I'm doing a
presentation or something especially to
a customer just recording uh is I think
it's important and you know this Alex to
sanitize your desktop and maybe either
use a VM or if you're going to use a
browser like just put it in incognito
mode it's just a good tip to have and we
had someone do a presentation and they
needed to use their browser to look
something up uh and they were not in in
on Cognito mode and they were just on
their personal browser and there was
quite a few uh I I won't go over the
specifics of them but not suitable for
work things in their in their search
history when they started typing things
that um everyone noticed I think they
kind of noticed it too live and uh
honestly other than that like a lot of
their stuff was pretty good but we just
couldn't really move forward because
role involved like a lot of presenting
and being in front of you know public
audience or sometimes customers and like
that mistake was just like too grave to
be like oh could we trust them to be in
front of a customer cuz really the job
interview is like um almost like you
testing out for the job itself right and
that would be like such a bad mistake to
makeing the job I suppose you could be
caught out if you didn't know you had to
share and then and then suddenly you're
like scrambling to share screen and you
share something accidentally I've
definitely in the past had like um
emails with like screenshots and stuff
and then like they've screenshotted both
monitors and then there's been like an
Excel file full of passwords and and
things like that sent to me and yeah in
an interview definitely got to be uh got
to be on the ball got to be careful what
advice would you give to those um who
are preparing for anv well if you take
from my first story like one of the
things that I learned is you know
there's going to be lots of
opportunities um for interviews and you
know it is tough to do to not like put
it up on that pedestal especially if
it's something like cyber security where
people are very passionate about it and
this might be like their opportunity or
shot to break into it as people say but
if you can just keep that in mind that
you know there's going to be more
opportunities and if you if you're
working hard and you know doing all the
right things then eventually you land in
the opportunity that's right for you and
you'll probably have a lot more success
in your interviews if you kind of go in
with that strategy this is one tip that
I give a lot of people because I've seen
this happen in interviews that I've been
the interviewer or part of like the Hing
panel and that is if you do not know the
answer to a question I I would much much
rather someone give me the answer of
like you know what I don't actually know
about that but here's how I would learn
about it or if you know this came up on
the job and I wasn't sure about it then
these are the steps that I would take
that gives so much more weight in my
opinion than trying to BS an answer or
just come up with something on the spot
because like a lot of times that's
that's honestly what you're looking for
like I mean if you're asking like I
don't I don't think it's a good
interview practice to ask like very
specific questions where they should
know like you know what is this specific
port or like tell me what this acronym
means but if you do come across things
that you don't know yeah it's much
better to just say you don't know it and
give a explanation of how you'd find the
answer because when you start bsing it
really comes across like everyone knows
I've been interviews in the past where
they've been like um how do you exploit
this and if I recall off the top of my
head it was like um how do you get code
execution from MySQL using SQL injection
I was like oh yeah you can use like in
MySQL exact but you don't really see it
these days because it's not a default
config and they're like no no no give us
the exact command and I'm like are you
serious I should have been like no you
give it to me tell me but yeah you do
run into those situations and I think
you're right it's better just to say I I
don't know but I would you know check my
notes or this is how I would I've had a
few interviews where we asked something
like just to get an idea of and
sometimes it like it's honestly not
always even just for to be like you know
this specific thing but like you know
could you tell us what you know about
this topic and they'll go down like this
long story and it's like 10 minutes
later which you're kind of like wasting
your interview time as well CU
realistically that time is like kind of
yours yeah and you're you're being
Guided by the a good interviewer will
guide you to help you basically showcase
your skills and your strengths that's
kind of what the whole purpose of the
interview is it's not like about acing
every question right um at least in my
opinion for a good interviewer and if
you go on these long
like you know where you don't actually
go anywhere or you're just you're
wasting you know 10 minutes or 15
minutes or whatever of like your time
that you could be showcasing yourself to
a prospective employer yeah exactly yeah
I totally agree all right well thanks
very much for your time you're welcome
and that's it for this video once again
if you enjoyed this format then let us
know down in the comments below and I'll
be sure to make more videos like this
and of course don't forget that you can
join us on Discord or every Wednesday
for our regular live stream catch you
next time name
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