How I got my first Cybersecurity Internship in Canada

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great day! This blog will state how was I able to get my first Cybersecurity Internship in Canada!

My background:

I’m a fourth year Computer Science student at Dalhousie University
I have the ISC2’s Certified in Cybersecurity and Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification
An active learner on TryHackMe, with more than 90 rooms solved related to defensive security
Participated in multiple Capture the Flag competitions worldwide

Here is what I did and helped me out:

Reverse engineer job postings: Read what is the posting asking, and map it to your current skill set. In my case I was targeting SOC internship roles.
Apply what you learn: I learned a lot of things from TryHackMe as beginner, and I wanted to apply those things which I learned into something that can be recognized by hiring mangers. To do so I created Homelabs!
Went to networking events: I figured out that in this job market, its important to have connections in the market on top of your core tech skills, as when time comes, you can reach out to the people whom you met in those events and can potentially end up getting a referral!
Getting some non technical experience in Cybersecurity: Find local organizations which are looking for voluntary roles in cyber. This will help you to get some experience which you can add to your resume as something is better than nothing at all!
Find a mentor: I dont know to mention this but a right mentor can guide you to a right direction, correct your mistakes, can help you create your own path and a lot more things! Having one can definitely help you in your journey. This can be someone you know personally or can be someone whom you can reach out to on platforms on LinkedIn as people with more industry experience often like to help each other!
Apply within 24 hours: Whenever you see a posting that is posted apply as soon as you can. Applying early can help you out a lot a lot of times, companies screens out candidates within the first 24 or 48 hours (it may depend on company to company though, some may consider reviewing all the applications when the posting gets closed)

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Homelabs:

If you are a beginner, then these are the most important part of your resume along with your soft skills and certifications (Will touch upon this shortly!)
Train yourself on platforms like THM (TryHackMe), LetsDefend, HackTheBox and gain practical skills in the domain you want to get into.
Use those skills like SIEM tools, IDS/IPS (You can use Snort/Suricata for this, its totally upto you!), Windows VM, Ubuntu VM, etc., depending on what you are building.
A question that came to my mind is what topic should I choose for making a HomeLab? Answer is pretty simple: If you have taken training through Cybersecurity training platforms (the ones which I mentioned above), you will definitely come across different scenarios in which either a server got compromised or something similar to that. You can refer these scenarios and build a story/idea on your own, defining how your homelab will look like.
Another thing which you can do to generate ideas about different topics for making homelabs is to read current cyber news on internet. Based on as new vulnerabilities come up, you can spin up a Windows VM that can act as victim, Kali VM that can act as an attacker and a SIEM tool like Wazuh or Elastic SIEM (14 day free trail) which can be used to monitor logs on windows machine. Now the combination of this becomes what is called an attack-defense lab. You will be launching exploits using Kali VM and will be monitoring your Windows VM using SIEM tools.

Certifications:

There is a lot of buzz around certifications in cybersecurity in the market.
The reality which I understood by networking with professionals is that these are important but shouldn’t be solely used for job hunting.
By this, I mean is that certifications gives you credibility, i.e., they will help your resume to pass the initial screening but your experience and homelabs are the things that will help you to clear your interview.
If you have the certifications like CompTIA Security+ and/or CompTIA Network+ then its good enough to show an employer that you have a solid understanding of security and networking fundamentals paired with your homelabs.
If you are getting/passing a certification make sure that you are also doing some hands on homelabs related to the certification as that will help you to build up your skills from the knowledge gained after gaining a certification!

Conclusion

Breaking into cybersecurity, especially in a competitive market like Canada can feel overwhelming, but it’s absolutely achievable with the right approach. What made the difference for me wasn’t just certifications or platforms, but intentionally connecting learning with real-world application through homelabs, networking with professionals, and staying proactive in the job search. By combining consistent hands-on practice, early applications, mentorship, and strategic use of certifications, I was able to stand out despite being a student. If you’re starting out, focus on building practical skills, telling your story clearly, and staying persistent because the effort compounds faster than you think!