Meet Christy Szanti
TekStream Women in Tech Feature
Our latest Women in Tech story is here. Meet Christy Szanti, Recruiter/Partner Manager! We asked Christy about her career, accomplishments and her TekStream tenure. Read on for her insights and experiences: you’ll be inspired by her journey.
As a Recruiter for TekStream, Christy is responsible for screening, sourcing and submitting internal candidates for our consulting practices. Over the past 2 years, Christy has worked on helping to staff the Managed Detection and Response (MDR) team which includes security analysts and Splunk certified consultants that support the security program. Christy’s first career was in environmental engineering consulting after graduating from Purdue University with an environmental engineering degree. After staying home to raise children, Christy spent the next 14 years teaching upper-level mathematics at a top-ten public charter high school, the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science & Technology (GSMST). She is certified to teach High School Mathematics and K-12 Computer Science classes and holds Masters Degree In Mathematics Education. We are fortunate to have her amazing talent on our team!
Why did you choose cybersecurity as your career?
Christy Szanti: As a recruiter for a company who constantly needs cybersecurity talent, I love finding the right people who have the technical and soft skills to do well in these roles. To be able to find these people, I need to know what each role needs, though I actually do not do the technical part myself. I love recruiting in the cybersecurity field because I speak to people all day long who are very passionate about what they do and how they are helping people. My first two careers were in environmental engineering and Mathematics Education and I feel like those past experiences help me be a good recruiter for technology and cybersecurity specifically.
What is your biggest accomplishment, and what are you most proud of as it relates to your career?
CZ: As this is my 3rd career, I am most proud that I was able to transition from two very different careers, into recruiting. I also am proud of helping build out TekStream’s MDR talent, since I have been involved in hiring the majority of the talent that works in our MDR program.
What advice would you give a young woman pursuing a career in technology?
CZ: In general, when I advised students on what they wanted to do in their life, I always said to start with something you love. What is your passion? What are you good at? Another piece of advice is to find a mentor. In every role that I have had, there has always been someone that mentored me and that helps a lot.
Why did you choose TekStream?
CZ: When I decided to stop teaching, I reached out to my friend (Diane Vogel) who is also a recruiter at TekStream to see if she could help me find a job. I sent her my resume and she suggested that I apply to TekStream instead of applying somewhere else. I absolutely love recruiting at TekStream, especially hiring fellow co-workers! It is so rewarding to see when the people that I helped bring into the company do well and also love it here.
Christy, thanks for sharing your experience and your advice. We are glad you’re on our team!