You know thats a tough question. But how would a company know if they hired a real hacker, because "real" hackers never reveal who they are, and if they are any good they dont get caught. And If i was the CEO, the answer would be OH HELL NO i wouldnt hire one. For one I like to sleep at night, and knowing that im trusting someone who used to steal from other people to protect my network and not sell out to a higher bidder, would give me nightmares....let alone i would be plain out paranoid. And then i wont even think about what if the work relationship went sour, one minute your working...the next thing your whole network crashes and he just quits. Now as far as Certifications go, well I really dont look to far into them. I mean you got a Cert, gratz.....but some people can be really book smart but when it comes down to the real thing they might fail. And then you got people who arent that great at tests, but in the real world they know there stuff. So you have to be careful into reading into someone elses Certs. Yes I admit im one of those ppl who suck at tests, I missed my CISSP by 10pts, but I can hang with the best of them when it comes to making the right choice.