TRU trends and tips from an industry pro make July’s Eye on Privacy report a must-read | TRU Staffing Partners, Inc.

In the second half of July Eye on privacy During the webinar, Jared Coseglia, Founder and CEO of TRU Staffing Partners, and Michelle Dennedy, CEO and Founder of PrivacyCode, will answer attendees’ questions and delve deeper into the latest trends in the data privacy industry.

The audience asked what Michelle would recommend for getting started in the data protection industry.

Dennedy: There are varying opinions on how certain backgrounds can get into the privacy industry. Some people will swear you have to be a lawyer. I happen to be one, but when I set up a program, I try NOT to locate it in the General Counsel’s office – because that is limiting, and your office is then viewed as a cost center rather than a core function.

If you work as a contractor and want to be hired full-time, think horizonWhat do I see as Trendswhat do I see that’s successful, what do executives care about? As a contractor, you get to know things from the inside without giving away confidential information, you can see where things start. I’ve seen people come into these roles in different ways. Some came from marketing, some from legal. So many people came in as consultants or from HR. What are the commonalities? Horizontal functioning. System of systems. Knowing what makes plants run efficiently. Privacy and private data. Data is about people – it’s what makes an employee or a good customer. So, as my dad always said, the only companies that need to worry about privacy are the ones with employees, customers, or who want any of those things.

If you want to get into the data protection business, you need to understand how the system works and learn how to bring some of your specialized knowledge to the table. There are many certifications available now: use the one that works best for you. You won’t get a magical certification that will change you, but you might meet colleagues with whom you can network.

Coseglia: Whether you work in Hollywood or in data privacy, it all depends on who you know. Let’s move on to the next slide.

• The job market for For almost two years, there has been silence about CPOs who dare to make a lateral entry into other CPO rolesWe see this trend continuing as new roles emerge and are defined.
• TRU is increasingly advertising full-time positions, but industry-wide, contract hires still outnumber direct hires. Hiring for full-time employees is very slow. TRU places contract workers on a one-week basis.
• The number of candidates wanting to enter the data protection industry is higher than ever before. It is interesting because it refers to an article in the Wall Street Journal recently, a specific point was made about the drastic difference in salaries between jobs that were advertised two years ago and jobs that were advertised more recently. This dissonance inspires people to enter the industry. The problem is that hiring managers don’t want inexperienced candidates; they just want 30-40% less than they were a few years ago.
• Almost 40% of TRU DPOs who started their assignment in 2023 were offered a direct transferThat is an astronomically high number.
• Last May and June we signed more contracts than in the previous two years. The number of accepted contract offers has increased five times the usual number in the last three months.
• Burn-out: Burnout remains the main reason why candidates look for new roles.

Michelle, do you have any comments or observations on these trends?

Dennedy: I encourage people to contact me to talk strategy. First, a salary advertised on LinkedIn is not the salary you’re negotiating for. So don’t shut yourself down. I’ve heard many people say they wouldn’t get up for less than $250,000. I would, and I’ve been in the business for 30 years. The reality is, once you’re in the field and they see what you have to offer, don’t be too quick to say no. Always let them say yes to you! Second, don’t turn down contract positions. I know healthcare is expensive – while they’re pushing down our salaries, they’re increasing the cost of our healthcare. Take that position to understand the complexities and flow of the business. If you come in as a contractor and understand all the inner workings of a privacy program, you’ll become very valuable. Then they’ll convert you to full-time.

Coseglia: Let’s look at some of our data points. We still see a 60/40 split, with contract workers outnumbering full-time workers. In fact, companies are able to onboard contract workers faster. I think the number of contract workers will continue to grow as demand in the tech industry is growing rapidly. I expect that to all stabilize next year and we’ll go back to a 50/50 split.

Dennedy: And burnout after the last year is a big problem. Everyone is feeling it. People are quitting full-time jobs, becoming contract workers, or opening their own businesses to combat exhaustion and achieve a better lifestyle.

Coseglia: The same thing happened in eDiscovery around the time the first civil rules came out in 2006. All of these litigation support managers (some were lawyers, some were not) said the same thing.

Dennedy: Absolutely. And equality in the privacy industry is declining. When we started, we were the ladies, we were the black people, we were the queer people. Why? Because we all experienced the direct harm that comes from the misuse of private information. That’s the truth. It was nothing but that. These were jobs that nobody wanted. We created them and pushed them into the C-suite because we didn’t want to be ignored.

Coseglia: That mission is what drives people into this business. Sometimes it’s good to lead with a mission and sometimes it’s good to lead with business impact. Let’s look at the speed of hiring. You can see that the speed varies by role. It’s extremely fast at the executive, contract and program manager/director levels, where we see much higher volume. That’s all because demand is high.

Here is the probability of offer acceptance based on when the offer is received. It shows that if you make an offer faster, you have a 70 percent chance that the candidate will accept the offer. This rate has been increasing. People aren’t waiting to see if they get a better offer.

As for the last statistic, remote versus hybrid, most full-time jobs are hybrid jobs. The reason for the increase in the number of contract workers is because the number of contract jobs is extremely high and all of them are now remote. I expect remote jobs to increase as demand for contract workers will continue to be high.

Dennedy: You can’t work in privacy and not be an optimist. I’m an optimist. Look at the variety of different roles, the diversity and types of roles that privacy professionals can take on. It’s incredible. And if you start to experience burnout, start volunteering for other things in your organization or with your local nonprofits. Get experience. There are all kinds of ways to be creative to get the skills you want and meet the people you want to meet. This profession has had so many open doors for so long, you can reach out to virtually anyone in privacy and they will open their door and help you plan your next move.

Diploma

The core idea of ​​this month’s webinar is that while data privacy is maturing and experiencing its growing pains, it remains an essential and viable industry.