When you say "the ethical hacking cert" do you mean Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)? If so then no. In fact having it on your CV might even hurt your chances of

When you say "the ethical hacking cert" do you mean Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)? If so then no. In fact having it on your CV might even hurt your chances of getting a job because it is so meaningless most pen testers look at it as a joke. You don't need the OSCP to call yourself a proper cyber security member at all, there are plenty of pen testers that do not have it. But it can be a convenient way for a junior to break into the industry. The other option is to do bug bounties which demonstrate that you are capable of going through the entire pen test process in a real world context. Also, one thing to point out is that reporting is a huge part of pen-testing. Being able to write with perfect grammar and punctuation is vital.