Security Certs for newbie

markoj

Hi folks,
I am about to go over old ground here but I just need some up to date advice on taking security certifications.

I am been made redundant in work where i currently hold a position as a junior infrastructure engineer (1 year experience). I have a keen interest in the security side of things and am just about to sit the Comptia Security+ exam but I do not think it is going to get me too far regarding getting a Junior security position.
I have received about 40 calls from recruitment agencies and one interview so far one the other day for a junior security analyst position but they were looking for CISSP. I cannot see myself getting any work before christmas tech support or anything like it so I will have about 6-7 weeks spare time and I was looking for any advice on what security certifications I can work on to increase my profile
Is all the red tape still round taking CISSP i.e. 3-4 years work experience?
Would I be better going for the SSCP?
I was also looking at the CISCO route i.e. working towards the CCSP.

Basically I just need some advice on what is a worthwhile security certification for entyr level/junior positions I can go for and that is achieveable with 6 or 7 weeks hard work as I feel this is the only way I am going to succeed in getting a few interviews
All advice will be greatly appreciated

Static M.e.

junior security analyst position but they were looking for CISSP

So this Junior role they were looking for someone with 4 or 5 years experience in Security.. I've had so many fights with IDIOTIC recruitment people sending me all over the place for Jobs that were very Senior roles when I was jnr or even worse I once get sent to Dublin FROM Galway to a job interview where they were looking for an administrator, no not even an IT Administrator, I mean working from Front Desk reception work.

Best advice I can give you is to choose who exactly you send your Cv too also try and contact the main security companies in Ireland and ask for an Interview or 5 minutes of their time and tell how interested you are in Security and that you are looking for a Junior role. Tell them you want to work your way up etc.

On the Certs front. Do the Comptia but you wont get much Security credit for it, at least its something though

If I only had seven weeks, I would try for the CCNA or do the Checkpoint firewall exam..

_CreeD_

The thing is Security is not just another position you can move into and purely learn it's principals, what I mean is that it is not like say studying for the MCSE and then being able to support Microsoft servers, it's more of an overlay on top of what should be existing strong system and network experience. You cannot apply your security knowledge if you do not already have a strong understanding of the platforms you will ultimately be protecting. I can see a junior position demanding a CISSP legitimately based on a lack of experience but accepting the value of the knowledge that comes with the certification, that said you're right usually it's just ignorance on the part of the HR rep. who wrote the job spec.
Security+ is pretty much the defacto entry level Security cert moreso as the foundation it gives you is extremely useful as you move on to more specific areas like the CCSP/CISSP/MCSE-Security etc. So I definitely recommend you stick with it. As the CCNA is a pre-requisite for the CCSP you will at least gain some of that necessary knowledge I mentioned earlier on the way (plus the CCNA is a valuable cert in itself). The CISSP is more of a design/policy/management cert and requires less specific but broader platform knowledge than a vendor specific cert. like the CCSP or CCSA/CCSE.
As Static mentioned the CCSA (checkpoint) is also a good choice.