Landing a CIO job has never been easy for consultants. Companies, especially big ones, tend to shy away from candidates with consulting backgrounds, worrying that they lack the tact, political savvy, and ability to operate with an existing IT staff and within a limited budget necessary to be successful, says Steve Kendrick, an executive recruiter with Spencer Stuart’s global information officers practice. So if you’re a consultant, your best bet is to market yourself to small and midsize companies. Smaller companies with growth goals often seek to leverage your experience working in different industries or with other companies in the same industry. A number of consultants have recently bucked the trend and landed CIO jobs: Brian O’Connell proved his mettle to The Hartford Financial Services Group after working on a project for the company while employed by Accenture. He was hired as CIO of Hartford Life in October. Jeremy Gill had been advising $651 million engineering firm Michael Baker on its information security practices when it hired him as its vice president of IT, also in October. Roger Johnsen provided executive IT consulting services to iTerra Communications and Google before being hired as $10.8 million Intraware’s vice president of IT in September. Steve Dewsnap had been working for Mace Security International as an independent consultant for five years before the $49 million defense products company hired him in September. Tim Kutz worked in Accenture’s global forest products practice before joining privately held paper and packaging distributor Unisource Worldwide in August. So, consultants, don’t despair. There’s prejudice out there, but you can beat it. Related content BrandPost The Era of Multi-Cloud Services Has Arrived How to unlock the benefits of multi-cloud environments By Adelino Simao Mar 21, 2023 4 mins VMware BrandPost Why CISOs Are Looking to Lateral Security to Mitigate Ransomware How to fight ransomeware attacks with lateral security By Adelino Simao Mar 21, 2023 4 mins VMware BrandPost 4 Factors That Influence Modern App Success in a Multi-Cloud Environment Enable your developers to do what they do best: code By Adelino Simao Mar 21, 2023 5 mins VMware Feature 10 cloud mistakes that can sink your business Just a single mistake can send your cloud strategy plummeting to earth. Here’s a rundown of how not to approach the cloud. By John Edwards Mar 21, 2023 8 mins IT Strategy Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe