A CSO Career Change: James Mehta

James Mehta served for 28 years in the U.S. Air Force, eventually reaching the rank of colonel. He conducted criminal, fraud, and counterintelligence investigations and operations across the force before transitioning into leadership roles of increasing scope and responsibility. His Air Force career culminated in being the commander of all Office of Special Investigation units in the Pacific region.

Now, Mehta is chief security officer for Acuity International, LLC, a professional services provider. He is also a member of the ASIS International CSO Center.

“I had the privilege of performing military and law enforcement service simultaneously, allowing me to gain experience and learn lessons in both areas,” Mehta tells Security Management. “My military service taught me the value of teamwork and mission above self, the importance of believing in the mission, and taking care of people. While much of law enforcement service mirrors military service, law enforcement taught me that good people sometimes do bad things, things are not always what they appear to be, and you always need to follow logical steps to find the answer. It also gave me the opportunity to work with civilian and foreign law enforcement officials which gave me exposure to other cultures—both professional and personal.”

Most public service skills tend to translate well to the private sector, Mehta says, since they mirror the skills desired in employees: dedicated work ethics, clear and timely communication, reliability, and integrity. But there were some major differences Mehta had to contend with.

“The biggest difference I noted is that the private sector can be more transient—employees come and go much more frequently,” he says. “Also, the level of position or responsibility is not as closely aligned to seniority or length of service. In public service, the highest-level decision makers frequently have a long record of service in the same organization and have progressively been promoted into leadership roles through experience and long-term success. This is not always true in the private sector, and it is simply a different model to recognize and adapt to.”

Mehta also had to adjust to the new vocabulary of the private sector, but it boiled down to mentally translating existing concepts to different terminology.

“The underlying skills and traits of a security professional or leader are the same in the public and private sectors, it’s really the environment and ‘uniform’ that changes,” he adds. “Don’t forget that the private sector is hiring you for the skills you learned and honed in the public sector…so just apply those in your new environment and you’ll find you have transitioned before you know it.  It is really not all that different than a change in assignment or a promotion into a new position in the public sector.”

Don’t forget that the private sector is hiring you for the skills you learned and honed in the public sector.

That’s not to say that every job will be a perfect fit. Individuals will need to explore how to best use their public service experience in the private sector to maximize their contributions and find their sense of purpose. Sometimes this requires creative thinking to connect past experiences with current missions.

“While you may not have experience completing the exact private sector task in the job description, you have most likely done something similar in your public service experience that you can apply,” Mehta says. “For example, at Acuity International, I have used my investigator skills to follow up ethics hotline complaints, investigate fraudulent invoices, recover company equipment from former employees, and explore potential insider threats. These are real situations that almost all companies face on a daily basis where an investigator or detective could excel, but those completing these responsibilities may not be in positions titled ‘investigator.’ The bottom line is to figure out how to apply your polished skills in a new environment.”

Figuring out what those positions could entail and where a transitioning professional’s experience could best fit in can be tricky. Mehta strongly suggests having many conversations with people across your networks about career changes and what you think you might want to do.

“Don’t be shy about reaching out to people that you don’t know who have a similar background and are doing work that interests you,” he says. “Every security professional in industry with public service experience made the transition at some point, and most will be generous with their time to help.”

Don’t limit yourself to just professional networks, either. Consider alumni from your public-sector organization or schools, your neighbors, your kids’ friends’ parents, your spouse’s network, your religious community, and your volunteer organizations, Mehta advises.

“You will likely need to do dozens of these interviews; I probably did close to 75. Spending 20 to 30 minutes doing ‘informational interviews’ with people from all of these networks will help you do two things,” he says. “First, you will home in on what job you really want to do by expressing your thoughts out loud and getting feedback and advice. You may find the job you thought you wanted to do is not really what you thought it was and something you had never thought about is perfect for you. Second, you will expose to all of these people (and their networks) who you are, your talents, and that you are looking for an opportunity.”

Claire Meyer is editor-in-chief of Security Management. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her directly at [email protected].