I work in Cybersecurity, and have about 4 years experience. I’m currently in a SOC Manager role. Working at an MSP, it hasn’t always been easy to deal with the politics surrounding some of our clients, especially in the current administration.
One of our clients is, at least from my perspective, directly involved with supporting and advocating for genocide. This has been eating at me for months, and finally culminated in me telling my manager I was resigning.
He took it well, and they asked me to stay on for 90 days while I looked for a new job. The issue is that I’m 45 days into this and have barely received a few nibbles from my applications. I know my resume isn’t perfect, but I’d thought my experience would be enough to hear back at least from tier 2 analyst positions, if not the management ones.
They’d probably let me stay if I asked, but my soul can’t take it anymore. But I’m really worried about the job search getting even harder once I can’t say I’m currently employed.
I have had 3 career changes in my life. Each one has become more rewarding than the last. Getting a new job usually took 6-9 months and some tenacity.
Use this time to beef up your skills, get certification. Also go exploring, go hiking, get a new hobby. As you get older, you start to realize those little non-work moments where you had time are some of the best ones, at least I did.
On the job front, some ideas: use AI to match the job you are applying keywords to the keywords on your resume and cover letter. Or, if you’re anti AI, consult an employment coach to beef up your resume. Get a decent LinkedIn profile and get a little active on it. Reach out to recruiters in the industry and let them know you’re looking.
Times are very chaotic now. With AI coming to the forefront and also the mood swings of a certain government, some businesses are holding off on hiring for the dust to settle, but there are companies still growing who need people.
If you hold ethics in high regard as you say, no amount of money is going to be worth selling your soul to the Devil at the expense of your mental health each day.