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Interviewing for a CSO Job: In the Hot Seat

One man's adventure into the interviewing process for a CSO position.

January 01, 2004 — CSO — The call came in early one morning and made it through my usually protective security screen in part because of her particularly pleasant first-name request to speak with me. Without much of an intro, the caller got right to the point. "Would you be interested in the CSO job of the millennium?" she inquired.

After establishing that this wasn't some nutcase, but instead a headhunter familiar to those in our trade, I decided to play. "Tell me more," I answered.

So she laid it out as if she were offering me a winning lotto ticket. "With your credentials, you'd be a leading contender right out of the gate," she cooed. "It's for a company with a new CEO and CFO and a reinvigorated board concerned about integrity, data security, contingency planning. They recently had a very mean workplace violence incident," she said.

I started thinking about the security-related news over the recent past to try and home in on the company. No feedback from the fog.

"So these people are serious about a really senior guy, but do they know what a CSO title is all about?" I wondered aloud.

"I've teed up the CSO bit with them, and it absolutely flies," she told me. "They're eager to make a statement about security in its broadest context. Are you interested?"

"If you've vetted this job and think they're serious, then sure," I told her. "But keep it totally confidential. I'm very satisfied here."

"I'll get back to you," is how she left it.

I didn't hear a thing for a few months. Then another call came early one morning. "Sorry I was silent but, to your point, I wanted to confirm they're serious about this job," she said. "I've put yours and a few other CVs before their selection committee."

Oh great, a selection committee, I muttered to myself. But I was more controlled in my response. "And the answer is...?"

"You're in the catbird seat!" she said as though announcing an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. Hmmm. Let's hope not. "They want to see you ASAP."

I knew I'd have to put this to the wife who agreed to move here on my pledge to sink an anchor into the ground. Getting the Whys and WhereforesMy wife was predictably unenthusiastic. "You're going where to do what?" she said without a hint of a smile. But the kids thought the new company was in an "awesome" area, and my own pathetic look must have led her to relent. "Go get this out of your system. But no promises!"