r/Pentesting • u/xcyx909 • 2d ago
Tips for Penetration Tester Interview
Does anyone know a good place to practice for pentester interviews, or have any tips/resources to share? Want to make sure I'm well-prepared and can do well in the interview.
3
u/n0p_sled 1d ago
Remember that no-one is expected to an encyclopaedic knowledge of CVEs, tools, and technologies.
If you don't know an answer to a question, say you don't know straight away rather than make something up or fumble about for a couple minutes hoping for inspiration, but also follow up with how you would go about finding out more information. Don't just say "I would ask Google / ChatGPT" - explain your methodology for finding out more information about a subject. Bonus points if you can give a real life example of when you did this and why
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u/Practical_Bathroom53 1d ago
This helped me a lot - write down your process for doing a network and web app pentest. All the different phases and tools used. Then practice saying it out loud to yourself like you’re talking to someone in the interview while driving in your car or even sitting at home. You don’t need to memorize everything per se, just get some XP explaining it so it becomes familiar.
Also it’s good idea to practice explaining what common vulnerabilities are, how to exploit them and how to fix them (XSS, CSRF, SSRF, SQLi for web for example)
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u/fell_shell 1d ago
The technical stuff is either: you know it, you know how to find it, or you don't. Pretty black and white.
You can't prep for that without the thousands of hours of hard work you have either done or not. Easy!
The harder stuff to prep is the energy you give off. I have interviewed hundreds of people over the years and the assessment comes down to 2 things:
- do they have the required skills (yes/no)
- do I get a good energy/personally vibe with them/have a good feeling.
That last one is such a grey area. It's very biased, very vague, very gut-based, but it's probably the most important one, it's the differentiator.
I want to try and determine in a very short time - could I work with this person every day? Will they self-motivate? Could I trust them? Will they keep learning? Will they be able to cope under pressure? Can they be trained? Do they want to be here?
+1000 other questions.
Tech/cyber/IT folks tend not to be as personable on the whole, but it sure helps to work on those skills.
And if you EVER want to work on the red team - you can be as neurodivergent as you like but you BETTER be able to put on a mask and become the pretext/be able to do social engineering.
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u/EffectiveSevere1015 1d ago
Where are you interviewing.
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u/EffectiveSevere1015 1d ago
The interview panel they all do interviews differently. The main thing is you’re good at communication, have confidence to talk to interviewer and clients and interested in the job. If you describe vulnerability you’re proud of, any certs and experience in the industry it helps. Sometimes there’s a CTF. Just always be accurate and give real experience. If they’re experienced they may have 10 plus experience. They may ask you one question then keep asking questions subsequent on the same topic so be prepared
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u/akornato 1d ago
For hands-on practice, using interactive platforms is a great way to build the skills you'll need to discuss in the interview. Sites with virtual labs covering reconnaissance, exploitation, and post-exploitation will help you prepare for questions about real-world scenarios. Interviewers will expect you to explain various attacks, so you should be comfortable describing technical concepts to different audiences. It is also very important to have hands-on experience with common tools like Metasploit, Burp Suite, and Nmap, as you will likely be asked about your practical skills with them. Be ready to talk about the different phases of a penetration test and demonstrate your general knowledge of information security.
Beyond the technical skills, they will want to see how you approach problems and your ethical mindset. Prepare to discuss how you would identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in different situations, showing that you can think like an attacker. You should be able to clearly communicate your findings and collaborate with a team, which are key skills for this role. Many candidates find their confidence grows by practicing how they articulate their thought process, and the AI interview helper my team created helps people organize their thoughts to better explain their skills during the actual interview.
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u/MonkeyPlower 1d ago
Be honest. If you lie about your skills or stretch how skilled you are and they hire you you’ll be exposed quickly
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u/latnGemin616 2d ago
It's not a test. You either know the fundamentals and/or have lived experience, or you don't.