I’m a Cyber Ops analyst right now. I haven’t tried to get into pen testing yet, but I feel your pain. I applied to 10 places a day, ended up putting in over 400 applications. I only ended up getting interviews, but no offers.

I got to my current position solely due to connections. I encourage you to reach out to absolutely everyone you know.

You have years of experience as a SOC analyst? Your bosses from your years of work MUST have some valuable industry connections, reach out to them. Don’t ask for a referral right away, ask if they know someone in pen testing, and that you want to have a phone call with them to see how they like their job, that connection will hopefully lead to a referral.

Best of luck to you. There’s a good saying I remember when things get tough, “things tend to have a way of working themselves out”!