Job Reconnaissance Using Hacking Skills to Win the Job Hunt Game

There is considerably more skill in the IT and security communities than is reflected in the jobs people are able to attain. Most people's limiting factor in their ability to get better jobs is not technical skills or even the soft skills necessary to do well in a new job. It is that getting a job is a completely different skill set and one that most people only practice every few years.

Job Reconnaissance: Using Hacking Skills to Win the Job Hunt Game explains the job hunting process, why the most commonly followed models fail and how to better approach the search. It covers the entire job hunt process from when to decide to leave your current job, research new possible job opportunities, targeting your new boss, controlling the job interview process and negotiating your new compensation and the departure from your current job.

This is not a complete all-in-one job-hunting book. This book assumes that the reader is reasonably competent and has already heard most of the "standard" advice, but is having difficulty putting the advice into practice. The goal is to fill in the gaps of the other books and to help the readers use their technical skills to their advantage in a different context.

The emphasis in Job Reconnaissance is for infosec and IT job seekers to leverage the same skills they use in penetration testing and recon toward job-hunting success. These skills include targeting, reconnaissance and profiling combined with a technical look at skills other career search books commonly miss.

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• The Ethics of Reconnaissance and Job Searching
• The Cold, Hard Truth
• Geek Culture
• Protection and Avoidance
• How to Read This Book
• Chapter 1. Foundations: What You Ought to Have Done before Buying This Book
• Task Management
• Time Management
• Your Personal Brand
• Content Creation
• Personal Brand Management
• Chapter 2. Time to Leave: How to Know When You Should Move On
• The End of the Road
• Economic Cycles
• Identifying What You Want
• Chapter 3. Résumés and Cover Letters: Why the Common Approach Only Works against You
• Résumés Close Doors
• Networking Opens Doors
• Cover Letters Open Doors
• Using Résumés to Tell Stories
• Creating and Tuning a Master Résumé
• Example Résumé and Story Cards
• Chapter 4. Talking about Yourself: The Fine Lines around Boasting, Bragging, Belittling, and Begrudging
• Telling Timely Stories
• Socially Engineering Your Audience
• What to Avoid
• Presentations
• Chapter 5. Targeting: Cyclical Filtering to Choose Targets with High Likelihoods of Success
• Job Tasks
• Job Potential
• Location and Size
• Rating
• Technology
• The Short List
• Example Short List
• Chapter 6. Initial Reconnaissance: Uncovering Seeds
• Ethics
• Continual Reassessment
• Time Management
• Google
• Bing
• Alternate Search Engines
• Quick Reference
• Filling in the Lists
• Harvester
• Filling in by Title
• Threat Agent
• Recon-ng
• Chapter 7. Deeper Reconnaissance: Uncovering Hidden Data
• Company Analysis
• Professional Analysis
• Personal Analysis
• Hail Mary Sites
• Chapter 8. Metaphor Mapping: Adjusting to Your Target
• Discovering Existing Metaphors
• Guessing at Metaphors
• Chapter 9. Repositioning: How to Make You Stand Out
• Rebottling the Genie
• Loading Social Media
• Custom Résumé
• Custom Cover Letter
• Targeted Networking
• Chapter 10. The Phone Interview: Dial M for Meeting
• Prerequisites for a Good Discussion
• Goals for the Phone Interview
• The Actual Phone Interview
• Planning the In-Person Interview
• Chapter 11. The Portfolio: Items to Leave Behind
• The Portfolio Process
• Custom Documents
• Business Cards
• Notes on Design
• Chapter 12. Thinking about Money: Making the Most of Change
• Total Compensation
• Chapter 13. Before the Interview: Plan to Succeed
• Physical Investigation
• Question Planning
• Time Planning
• Appearance
• Planning the Conversations
• Chapter 14. Interview: Take Control
• The True Purpose of the Interview
• Social Niceties
• Using Your Tools
• Manipulating the Conversation
• Chapter 15. Post-Interview: The End of the Interview Is Not the End of the Interview
• Clarification Emails
• Thank-You Notes
• Checking In
• Revising Your Portfolio
• Subsequent Interviews
• Chapter 16. Salary Negotiation: Everything Can Be Flexible
• Working with Total Compensation
• Negotiating Basics
• Accepting or Rejecting the Offer
• Chapter 17. Giving Notice: Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
• Preparing for the Worst
• Benefits
• Gotchas
• Formal Process
• Negotiating Notice
• Counteroffers
• Exit Interview
• Chapter 18. Conclusion
• Appendix A. Resources
• Search Resources
• Hiding Your Identity
• Managing the Process
• Managing Money
• Social Skills
• General Business
• Ethics
• Appendix B. Interview Questions
• Common Interview Questions
• Appendix C. Emotional Concerns
• Constant Progress
• Knowing When You’re Stuck
• Getting Unstuck
• Asking for Help

• Covers the entire job hunt process from when to decide to leave your current job to the departure of your current job
• Suggests how to research new possible job opportunities
• Shows how to target your new boss, controlling the job interview process and negotiating your new compensation