The Only, Not The Best

"What is the one thing I must do to become marketable?"

"For every job I apply for, there seem to be hundreds of applicants. How am I supposed to compete against so many people?"

The one who is the best in the competition probably isn't the best at one. We have all heard the term "best fit¨, but what does it mean? In my experience, it refers to a combination of requirements, or what I call an intersection.

Some specializations have so many practitioners that they should no longer be called specializations. They are fields unto themselves. Take cybersecurity penetration testing, for example. (Penetration testers are also known as "ethical hackers," people who validate security controls by breaking and evading them.) Penetration testers used to be rare. Now, thanks to the glamorization of the job and an overheated cybersecurity training industry, the field is overflowing with entry-level pen testers.

So what's a new entrant to the field supposed to do? How can someone who specializes in a crowded field get selected?

One way is to find a secondary specialization, preferably from outside cyber. It could be something non-technical but essential to businesses.

For example, at the moment, I am building a SOC (Security Operations Center). In most respects, the requirements are pretty standard. There's SIEM, there's a lot of Cloud, threat analysis, operations, and the usual. But there's one crucial thing in the mix:

SAP

When I search LinkedIn for people in the United States with "SOC Analyst" profiles, I get over 11,000 hits. Searching for "SAP" yields 202,000 hits. Combine the two, and I get 19 results.

Of course, far fewer jobs require SOC Analysts to have SAP experience. But there are some, including those I'm currently staffing. When I search for this...

SAP AND "SOC Analyst" NOT "Special Access Program"

...I get 174 jobs in the results.

19 people, most of whom aren't looking for work, have an edge over 11,000 likely candidates for as many as 174 positions.

Consider other secondary factors. Location is one. Not every good job is 100% remote. If you're in a suburb of a major city, look for IT and cybersecurity jobs that you can drive to in 10 minutes. Even for remote positions, being local gives you an edge over most of the world.

Instead of targeting a field with many positions, find the combination of experiences and capabilities that narrow the field. Find combinations of skills that few have and target employers that might value those highly.

Be the one candidate at the intersection of two or more valuable capabilities. If you are the only option, being the best in one area matters far less.

What intersections do you see in your background? What secondary skills and experience have helped you stand out against the competition?