Cultivating a healthy addiction for career success

Going beyond the typical interview answers and resume claims will help you demonstrate why you stand apart from the pack. Michael Santarcangelo shows the way.

By Michael Santarcangelo

May 19, 2010 — CSO —

In the Career Compass program, the initial exercise focuses on identifying and distilling five key elements that differentiate the participant from others. The purpose is to move beyond standard statements to unearth what really sets each of us apart. It is preparation to successfully respond to a general question of "Why should I hire you?"

The key to success is to move beyond cliche, marketing speak and traditional resume fodder. Even for the practiced, this can be a challenge. Over the years of guiding people through this process, a common assertion (one of the five) is generally stated as "I have a passion for learning and self development."

Also see Security: A career, or just a job?

Taken at face value, this is the sort of vague claim anyone can (and probably does) make when attempting to impress and interviewer. While the wording of the claim is forgettable, the trend itself is important: most successful people have a lifelong addiction to learning.

As a lifelong learner—I freely admit I am interested with childlike amazement at everything—this is something that I cherish in myself and in others. Learning and the passion for learning can be personal without intent to demonstrate or prove the value to anyone except the individual.

However, if the addiction to learning is a basis for creating differentiation, it is important to describe, measure and demonstrate the claim.

Cultivating the Addiction to Learning

The desire and ability to learn is important to a successful career. Actions speak louder than words, and more important than the desire is the discipline to practice learning on a regular basis.

On my first job out of college, at 22 years of age, I was assigned to a technical team and ended up sitting next to a guy in his 50s who had been a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. Bill was (and probably still is) an amazing guy; he was cool in nearly any situation, spoke ill of no one and always either had an answer or was willing to find one.

We'd often eat lunch together sitting at our desks, and I still recall a key piece of advice he shared with me one day, "Michael, the key to success in life is to keep learning. You never know it all, and the technology is always going to change. If you keep learning, you can do anything. You'll always have a job."

While I was already a passionate seeker of knowledge and experience before I met Bill, his words resonated with me then and carry with me today.

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• Are You Making a Security Career or Working a Job?
• 5 Steps to Communicate Security's Value to Non-security People
• 10 Tough Security Interview Questions, and How to Answer Them
• Sharpen Up Your Security Resume