The Cybersecurity Recruiter talks to Joe Scholefield, Director of Compliance, DEFCERT
The Cyber Security Recruiter PodcastShow Notes
CMMC Readiness, Compliance Consulting, and Career Lessons with Joe Schofield
In this episode of the Cybersecurity Recruiter Podcast, Tom speaks with Joe Scholefield, a former sysadmin/network engineer and ex-Dell cybersecurity manager, now serving as Director of Compliance at Deafcert, about helping defense contractors meet CMMC (based on NIST requirements) and preparing for DoD third-party assessments. Joe explains CMMC readiness commonly takes 12–18 months, with faster progress driven by aligned stakeholders, minimal internal resistance, and strong cross-department project management.
They discuss CMMC as both a cost and revenue differentiator, increasing supply-chain pressure from primes like Lockheed and RTX, and a looming assessor bottleneck given the number of companies needing certification versus C3PAOs. Joe shares career advice on knowing when to move roles, the impact of earning a bachelor’s degree over 17 years to avoid HR filtering, the importance of soft skills in consulting, and recommends the “CUI Center of Excellence” Discord community.
00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 01:03 What Joe Does Now 02:52 Helping Clients Succeed 03:36 Racing Through CMMC 05:24 CMMC as Revenue Driver 06:36 Supply Chain Pressure 07:46 Bottleneck and Assessors 08:50 Rollout Timeline Debate 11:39 Why CMMC Exists 13:08 Career Growth Lessons 16:27 Hiring and Soft Skills 19:19 Restaurant Skills for Consulting 20:29 Career Growth and Timing Moves 20:43 Finishing a Degree Late 22:37 Degrees and HR Filters 23:51 Certs and Hiring Signals 24:34 Job Search Fatigue Tips 26:31 Small Teams Hiring Stakes 27:17 Finding Community Resources 29:01 Mentors and Giving Back 31:26 Making Time for Growth 32:31 Work Life Balance Advice 33:08 Golf and Disconnecting 33:55 Wrap Up and Thanks
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00:00 Welcome and introductions 00:39 Lindsay career snapshot 01:41 Threat intel at Human 02:37 New book launch 03:33 Malware needs context 04:42 Spotting real people online 08:25 AI as attack amplifier 09:45 Phishing at scale 11:50 Democratized hacking risks 15:18 Path to VP leadership 20:00 AI proof risk communication 21:53 Time boxing MIT MBA grind 23:13 Writing a book discipline 23:49 Small wins and purpose 25:15 Book writing deepens mastery 26:39 Communication skills through practice 29:15 Behind the scenes struggles 32:02 Mentors versus sponsors 34:41 Security community collaboration 35:48 Whats next and book teaser 37:46 Boat go faster mantra 39:49 Final thanks and wrap up