The Risks and Rewards of Being Mitchell Carter

”I hunt the good guys who hunt the bad guys.” 

Twenty years ago, you would have thought this was a recruiter’s slogan to attract you to the police force – to take down drug dealers and robbers.

But times have changed. More crimes than ever are now committed by a person sitting behind a computer screen - unrestricted by borders, countries and continents. We don’t even know if the Nigerian princes are always living in Nigeria.

Your mum, your nan and the world’s biggest brands know they need to have their wits about them. And in business an effective cyber security strategy is now a ‘must have’ rather than ‘we’ll look at it if we get hit’.

This is where my next guest comes in. He’s the Bearded One – Mr Cyber Security - Mitchell Carter.

I asked Mitchell about his figures over the last couple of years and I suspect there may be some correlation to what he is doing so well offline and the community he’s building online.

He very kindly (while in lockdown) gave some context to the questions I wanted to ask him.

What was your driver to say: “I’m going all in to build an online community”?

There really wasn’t a single moment of “ah-ha” I needed to start building an online brand and community, but it’s sort of evolved over time. I hated cold calling when I first started doing new business development, so I had to think of an alternative.

I work in an industry where there really wasn’t anyone producing decent content, it was all just reposting the latest Cyber Security news.

 I soon realised that by churning out some content (normally my thoughts and opinions) I could convey my real passion for the industry, and in turn, get more inbound candidates and clients. I’ve also been an early-day fanboy of Hishem Azzouz, who I did a personal branding course with last year, where I learnt the value of planning content and tracking my engagement statistics.

 Can you share how many inbound leads you’d receive?

In a massively candidate-short market, I receive inbound candidate leads more than once a day. I’d say on average I get approached by 75 to 100 Cyber Security candidates a month. From a client perspective, my biggest client in the first company I worked for came purely from an inbound lead on LinkedIn. Pre-Covid I had, on average, 3 to 5 inbound client leads per month. Some of these I’d choose to work with, some I wouldn’t!

What are you focused on to keep building your reputation (online and offline)?

I think what’s incredibly important about building your reputation online is to be yourself. There is too much focus and pressure on being something you’re not. Just be yourself. This is especially important when it comes to the offline reputation. What’s the point in presenting yourself as this unrealistic, fake person when the whole idea is to build your reputation within the industry from an offline perspective?

 Do your clients and candidates come to you for advice on how they can better promote themselves?

Yeah… both clients and candidates have come to me for advice! I’ve also spoken at universities and TAFEs in Melbourne to Cyber Security students about how to best leverage LinkedIn to land a role.

One person I helped a little while ago used a lot of the tips I gave him to get himself a new job (not my industry). I gave him some tips around how to share posts that were personal, to not worry about LinkedIn ’being a professional platform’ and to be genuine and authentic with his posts. This enabled him to have huge success in his job search as his connections got a real ‘feel’ for him, before even starting a conversation.

Looking in your crystal ball what do you see the recruitment industry looking like in two years’ time?

If you’d asked this to 100 people two years ago, I know you wouldn’t have got a single correct response… but I’ll give it my best shot!

I think a hugely candidate-centric approach will happen across the industry. Mediocre and bad recruiters will slowly decrease in number and fizzle out, leaving the ones who truly care about the industry to keep up the good work. I think the companies who refuse to evolve (the ones who are forcing a five-day office week post-Covid, for example) will be obsolete - and bloody rightfully so!

Tell us a bit about what goes into grooming that masterpiece beard of yours.

Ha! It’s a secret that’s only shared between us bearded men, like the Magic Circle but for beards… No, it’s really just the fact my other half is a hairdresser and I use a huge blend of oils, balms and other lotions and potions!

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Thank you, Mitchell. I recommend following Mitchell Carter. Not only does he have a big beard he hits LinkedIn hard with plenty of personality and passion.

 Since talking to Mitchell, I’ve learned quite a few things about cyber stuff which have shocked me to start acting a bit smarter with my technology.

Over my next few articles, I will share with you the world of some of our wonderful female recruiters.

Thanks for reading.