I held senior roles at Bank of America and EY. At 56, I can't find a job, and it led to a bit of a midlife crisis.
Source: Business Insider ·
A 56-year-old cybersecurity executive shared the challenges in her years-long job search and how it led to her launching her own venture.
From the source
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Siobhan MacDermott, a 56-year-old tech founder based in Menlo Park, California. It's been edited for length and clarity. I've never been underqualified for any job that I've applied to. I was vice chair at Bank of America and principal at EY. I held senior roles in cybersecurity at AVG and McAfee. I've sat in boardrooms with Fortune 500 CEOs, advised governments, and built practices from scratch. Then, in early 2024, when I was 54, I had to relocate from New York City to California for family reasons, leaving the management consulting job I'd held as a partner at The Consello Group. I didn't anticipate what could happen when someone tries to re-enter the institutional world in their 50s — particularly as a woman in a career space that doesn't fit neatly into a job description. The most surprising barrier has been the gap between what I've actually done and what the market knows how to categorize. I'm worried because I'm not sure…