What makes a Security Guard effective? What skills and characteristics incorporates someone you would like to entrust your life, your family, your property or your business? Many people fail to realize that there is so much more to creating a true professional Security Guard than an intimidating appearance. There are definitely more quality characteristics and skills than the minimum required for a license.
Social skills
A security guard must be able to communicate effectively with all types of clients and collaborate with both the client’s staff and other security professionals. An essential skill for a successful Security Guard is the ability to communicate, connect, collaborate and interact with people.
Critical thinking / Decision making
A professional security guard examines, predicts and plans actions for each possible scenario. In crisis situations he can quickly and calmly think and decide the appropriate course of action.
Observation skills (situation awareness)
A Security Guard must be well aware of his environment and be able to perceive and understand what he sees in order to decide on the most effective course of action, preferably before a negative event occurs. While this ability is enhanced through experience, basic knowledge can and should be started in a classroom using case studies, videos from previous events, and hypothetical scenario training.
Knowledge of the law
A security guard must have a thorough knowledge and understanding of what is permitted by law, especially with regard to the possible use of force to suppress riots.
Physical condition
Fitness is not only essential for maintaining the professional image of a security guard, but also for being able to endure sleeplessness for long periods of time, manage stress and be able to effectively defend people and property in the event of emergency.
Self-defense skills
Self-defense training must be continuous for anyone in the field of protection and security. A quality training program contains techniques for controlling or neutralizing an attacker, with constant practice.
Experience under pressure and stress
Training in hypothetical scenarios, without the stress of real crisis, is usually ineffective. The first time a security guard experiences a stressful situation should not be during a real negative event. A successful training program puts the learner in real-world stress scenarios in a controlled environment.
There are many more useful skills and attributes for effective security professionals. All of the above are the absolutely necessary ones. When stress and fear come into play, a guard will do what he is trained to do. If this training is inadequate, costly mistakes will be made and this is not acceptable.
At UNITED SECURITY we give special emphasis on the field of education and continuous staff training. The efficiency and effectiveness of our company’s Security Guards is always re-examined with quantitative and qualitative indicators and is constantly re-evaluated.
