Home » Security Leadership » Career/Staffing

In Depth

Bob Moore Knows How to Get Hired

CSOs will find few security job openings and a wealth of candidates for them. Here's practical advice on landing the right position.

By Daintry Duffy

June 01, 2003 — CSO — He's been offered every security job that he ever interviewed for, and he admits it without the slightest trace of braggadocio. His rsum includes four years at the FBI, 19 with Amoco's corporate security group (now BP Amoco), a nonsecurity assignment managing the Georgian Pipeline Co. in the former Soviet Union, capped off by his current tenure of nearly five years with pharmaceutical giant Merck as its executive director of global security—a lineup of organizations that makes his perfect record all the more impressive. So what does this guy know about landing an executive security position that the hungry hordes of midlevel and government agency security administrators don't?

Getting hired as a Chief Security Officer" is not just about what you know. It's about who you know and where you come from and what you believe and how you present yourself. As if that weren't enough, CSOs are currently standing on a foundation of overlapping responsibilities that are shifting like tectonic plates. The mission a candidate is given when hired is likely to become obsolete by the time he gets around to rolling over his 401(k). Consequently, a would-be CSO needs to be a true jack-of-all-trades—a broadly skilled and highly adaptable creature who is knowledgeable in all things security. But he must also be flexible enough to evolve with the role and pick up new skills when necessary. Harry Shah, CISO of Marsh, a risk and insurance services provider, sums it up this way: "A CSO has to be a futurist, an evangelist, a technology manager, a cheerleader, a change agent, a good bureaucrat, a very good policy-maker, a negotiator and a legal expert. And on a good day, he also has to be a security engineer."

Beyond the CSO's skill set is the matter of the economic climate. It's a tough job market, and companies that aren't waiting out a hiring freeze are taking a very slow and deliberate approach to filling their top security spots.

Yet experts say good candidates are lacking. "I talk to a lot of companies that can't find heads of security. They have hiring reqs open six to 12 months," says David Foote, president and chief research officer of Foote Partners, an IT research consultancy. "When I ask them what they're looking for, it's someone with a broad view, someone who can think strategically, someone who can stand head-to-head with line-of-business executives. Companies want CSOs who can sell security," Foote adds. "They want people with incredible marketing skills who don't look at security as a cost center and a technology domain but a business issue."