Take a chance, take a walk on the wild side with me.

Since I was released from my previous role as CISO for a prominent furniture manufacturer, I had some amazing support. A number of leads were generated by many colleagues I have had in the past, vendors, and peers in the same or similar role. It was very encouraging, after all, there is a shortage of cybersecurity talent. Right?

In the first month, I applied to over 70 open CISO, CSO, and Director of IT/Information security to include several deputy roles in various verticals. I felt that a leader in information security would be able to excel in any vertical whether it was manufacturing, critical infrastructure, transportation, financial, retail, and healthcare. Out of the 70, I was able to secure interviews with five companies. Of the five, I almost made it to the final round to find out that leadership had pre-selected someone. I could sense the dispare in the voice of the company's recruiter and felt bad for him as he had spent a lot more time getting candidates together and through the interviewing process.

I've gotten a handful of automated emails saying I don't qualify for the position, apparently not even making it through the HR or automated screen process. Why do they always send those emails on a Sunday night? Nothing like going to bed getting your hopes dashed.

It seems I have entered a place in my career that I either have too much experience or come from a premium brand to not knowing the fine details of different compliance requirements (FERPA, GLBA, etc.) or experience in larger environments where I have a background (HIPAA, SOX, PCI). I am in that employment area described by Webster's Dictionary called no-mans-land.