A new year, a new you and a new opportunity

At the start of a new year there is a certain impulse to start afresh. Not so much from square one, that would be quite absurd, but from a certain, how can we put it, stage in one’s life? So, as is customary, one will choose to go on a diet after a period of indulgence, we will promise to be more charitable – the older we get so suggests some research – and we’ll give our jobs some deliberation.

With the latter, this is very much a characteristic trend in workplaces up and down the UK, of which our business, the Information security industry, is not exempt. It’s not that we lament our current role – though that can certainly be the case – more that we have a psychological impulse to consider change, to mull over how we can progress in our careers.

“A key issue to consider is whether you will feel more motivated and rewarded by seeking a new challenge in your current role or company than risking a move in uncertain economic times,” John Salt, director of Totaljobs.com, told the Telegraph recently.

“Remember competition for jobs has never been more fierce so if you are going to move companies be certain the role you want is available and you can clearly show why you should get it.”

His thoughts are most astute – this is a challenging time, regardless of where you work and who you work for. Indeed, some of you reading may well be in the unfortunate position of being unemployed. It’s not that you’re without skills or experience, or the lack of impetus to find work. Whether you’re a professional in cyber security, information security or risk management, the current economic environment makes finding work, well, harder than ever before. There are jobs; it’s just that a lot more people are fighting for them.

Companies are also on the lookout for new staff in 2012 and are adopting exciting ways of advertising positions. Take for example an offer of a job for the position of Senior Network Design and Implementation Engineer. The salary is £70,000 to £90,000 (based on experience). The location is London. The client “designs, implements and manages complex IT infrastructures and platforms where it is critical to the customer that their infrastructure has the maximum possible availability”.

So far so good, yes? Well there’s more. If you yourself possess the skills that suit this excellent job, or perhaps know of colleagues, friends and/or associates who would suit this position, then you can bag yourself a cool £500 referral fee (so long as that person is chosen). Not bad eh?

If it piques your interest, the details follow:

The ideal candidate will require the following skills:

Significant experience with Checkpoint/Cisco firewalls and some exposure to switch and load balancer configuration gained in a customer facing business

• Strong design knowledge and experience of network and security solutions
• Strong implementation experience of network and security design solutions
• Strong communication skills and client facing experience

The client lists as responsibilities “design, configuration, implementation of all elements of the managed Network Security service”.

For more information contact James Foster on 020 7510 9042 or email jfoster@acumin.co.uk

A New Year, a new you, a possible new career (or for a good friend of yours) and £500 to celebrate with…it could possibly be the start to a great 2012.