Incident Response Analyst Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Incident Response Analyst resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
An incident response analyst is a highly specialized cybersecurity professional responsible for monitoring an organization’s networks and systems for signs of intrusions or other digital threats. Their job is to identify vulnerabilities and help devise strategies to keep the organization safe from digital attacks.
Because this role requires so much technical knowledge, analysts tend to have strong backgrounds in computer science or information security. And because they’re often tasked with investigating breaches, incident response analysts need to be able to think critically and follow clues to find answers.
Here are some tips and an example to help you write an incident response analyst resume that hiring managers will love.
How to Write an Incident Response Analyst Resume
Here’s how to write an resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
When you’re writing your bullet points, it can be tempting to focus on the tasks and responsibilities of your job. But that’s not enough to make a strong impression. Instead, you should focus on the results of your work.
For example, rather than saying you “analyzed data to identify trends and patterns,” you could say that you “analyzed data to identify $1 million in fraudulent activity, resulting in the arrest of key suspect.”
The second bullet point paints a much clearer picture of what you did and the outcome of your work. And that’s what hiring managers want to see—especially when it comes to your experience as an incident response analyst.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you submit your resume online, it’s likely that it will be screened by an applicant tracking system (ATS) that looks for specific keywords related to the job opening. If your resume doesn’t include enough of the right terms, the ATS might discard your application before a human ever sees it.
The best way to make sure you have the right keywords on your resume is to read through the job posting and take note of the terms that are used most often. Then, use those same terms throughout your resume. Here are some common incident response analyst keywords to get you started:
- Incident Response
- Computer Incident Response Center (CIR Center)
- Computer Forensics
- Network Security
- Security Operations
- Incident Management
- Forensics
- Ethical Hacking
- Information Security
- SIEM
- VMWare
- Threat Intelligence
- Vulnerability Management
- Network Analysis
- SOCM
- Information Security Management
- Intrusion Detection
- Snort
- Kali Linux
- Active Directory
- SQL
- Powershell
- Python (Programming Language)
- VMware ESXi
- Windows Server
- Office 365
- VMware vSphere
- Microsoft Azure
- C (Programming Language)
- Incident Response Training
Showcase Your Technical Skills
As an incident response analyst, you need to be proficient in a variety of software programs and systems in order to effectively do your job. This might include familiarity with incident response platforms, security information and event management (SIEM) systems, and vulnerability management systems. Additionally, it is often helpful to have experience with programming languages like Python and SQL in order to automate tasks and run queries.
If you have experience with any of these programs or systems, be sure to list them prominently on your resume. This will show potential employers that you have the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful in the role.