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Appli­ca­ti­on tips for pri­va­te secu­ri­ty guards: How to app­ly successfully!

Application tips for private security guards: How to apply successfully!

Secu­ri­ty guards play an important role in the pri­va­te secu­ri­ty indus­try and are often the first point of cont­act for cus­to­mers and visi­tors. If you are a secu­ri­ty guard loo­king for a new job, a suc­cessful appli­ca­ti­on can make the dif­fe­rence bet­ween suc­cess and fail­ure. The chan­ces are quite good due to the situa­ti­on on the labour mar­ket. It is also cal­led an employee mar­ket — mea­ning: the­re are hard­ly enough qua­li­fied appli­cants for the cur­rent vacan­ci­es. You have — depen­ding of cour­se on some fac­tors like your edu­ca­ti­on and the desi­red place of work — in prin­ci­ple a good choice!

In this artic­le we will give you tips and advice on how to suc­cessful­ly app­ly and find your dream job in the pri­va­te secu­ri­ty industry.

10 appli­ca­ti­on tips for secu­ri­ty guards in the pri­va­te secu­ri­ty sector

  1. Crea­te a meaningful cover letter

The cover let­ter is the first impres­si­on you make on a poten­ti­al employ­er. It is important that you take time to crea­te a strong cover let­ter that high­lights your expe­ri­ence, skills and moti­va­ti­on. Make sure you tail­or the cover let­ter to the com­pa­ny and the secu­ri­ty job adver­ti­sed and that you find out about the com­pa­ny and its activities.

  1. Update your CV

Your CV is your most important appli­ca­ti­on docu­ment and should show­ca­se your work expe­ri­ence, skills and qua­li­fi­ca­ti­ons. Update your CV befo­re you app­ly and make sure it is clear and easy to read. Use bul­let points and clear for­mat­ting to high­light important infor­ma­ti­on. Also include what trai­ning and cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­ons you have com­ple­ted and what expe­ri­ence you have had in the secu­ri­ty indus­try. Pro­vi­de your cer­ti­fi­ca­tes of com­pe­ten­cy, refe­ren­ces and any trai­ning cer­ti­fi­ca­tes. Do not include Fake docu­ments and con­vin­ce you with a pro­fes­sio­nal cor­rect expres­si­on.

  1. Empha­sise your skills and experience

As a secu­ri­ty guard, you should be able to quick­ly reco­g­ni­se dan­ge­rous situa­tions and react to them appro­pria­te­ly. In your appli­ca­ti­on, empha­sise your skills and expe­ri­ence in the field of secu­ri­ty and make sure to high­light your com­pe­ten­ces in the are­as of com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on, con­flict reso­lu­ti­on and de-escala­ti­on. Howe­ver, do not exag­ge­ra­te, e.g. by eccen­tri­cal­ly spraw­ling nar­ra­ti­ves of your past exploits as a secu­ri­ty employee!

  1. Be pre­pared for the interview

An inter­view is your chan­ce to pre­sent your best side and con­vin­ce the employ­er of your skills. Prepa­re for the inter­view by rea­ding up on the com­pa­ny, pre­pa­ring ques­ti­ons and thin­king about the ans­wers you would give. Make sure you are on time and well pre­pared for the inter­view and that you cle­ar­ly pre­sent your qua­li­fi­ca­ti­ons and experience.

  1. Stay posi­ti­ve and confident

As a secu­ri­ty guard, it is important that you appear posi­ti­ve and con­fi­dent. Be con­fi­dent in your skills and expe­ri­ence and con­vey to your poten­ti­al employ­er that you are the best choice for the job. Remain pro­fes­sio­nal and poli­te throug­hout the appli­ca­ti­on pro­cess and make sure you lea­ve a posi­ti­ve impres­si­on. At this point, plea­se do not bad­mouth your old or pre­vious employ­er. This does not make a good impres­si­on and the manage­ment staff in the pri­va­te secu­ri­ty indus­try are often bet­ter con­nec­ted than you think!

  1. Use your network

Use your pro­fes­sio­nal net­work to find poten­ti­al employ­ers and learn about job ope­nings. Talk to for­mer col­le­agues, super­vi­sors and other cont­acts in the secu­ri­ty indus­try and ask for recom­men­da­ti­ons or infor­ma­ti­on about vacan­ci­es. Online plat­forms such as Lin­ke­dIn or XING can also help you find poten­ti­al employ­ers and make cont­acts. You can also indi­ca­te the­re that you are open to offers. Some­ti­mes head­hun­ters also get in touch who can be hel­pful in fin­ding jobs.

  1. Be fle­xi­ble and open to new challenges

In the pri­va­te secu­ri­ty indus­try, the­re are a varie­ty of tasks and posi­ti­ons that requi­re dif­fe­rent skills and expe­ri­ence. Be fle­xi­ble and open to new chal­lenges and check whe­ther you are sui­ta­ble for other posi­ti­ons or tasks. You may be able to con­tri­bu­te your skills and expe­ri­ence bet­ter in ano­ther posi­ti­on or be inte­res­ted in a new challenge.

  1. Pre­sent yours­elf professionally

As a secu­ri­ty guard, you are the company’s figurehead and should the­r­e­fo­re pre­sent yours­elf in a pro­fes­sio­nal man­ner. Make sure that you wear appro­pria­te clot­hing and make a well-groo­med impres­si­on at job inter­views or other pro­fes­sio­nal occa­si­ons. Also pay atten­ti­on to your body lan­guage and appearance and make sure you com­mu­ni­ca­te poli­te­ly and professionally.

  1. Do not shy away from high demands

A maxi­mum of 20 years and 10 years of pro­fes­sio­nal expe­ri­ence — of cour­se that’s not pos­si­ble. Employ­ers often wri­te quite a few requi­re­ments in the job adver­ti­se­ments. Don’t be afraid of this, but be honest if you don’t (yet) meet a requi­re­ment. You can still gain expe­ri­ence in your new job, you can impro­ve your for­eign lan­guage skills by taking cour­ses on the side (e.g. at the adult edu­ca­ti­on cent­re) and you can make up for miss­ing addi­tio­nal trai­ning. Employ­ers are often more fle­xi­ble than you think, espe­ci­al­ly if it is other­wi­se a good (human) fit!

  1. Keep your eye on the ball and don’t be afraid of setbacks!

Landing a direct hit on your first appli­ca­ti­on and get­ting your dream job is the excep­ti­on rather than the rule. Don’t be afraid if you don’t suc­ceed with your first appli­ca­ti­on, but try again some­whe­re else. Often it is hel­pful to ask for open feed­back about why you did not make it to the short­list or to have pro­fes­sio­nal appli­ca­ti­on trai­ning, whe­re your appli­ca­ti­on docu­ments are also review­ed and opti­mi­sed. Just stay on the ball here, sub­scri­be to rele­vant job offers on job por­tals. You will then be auto­ma­ti­cal­ly noti­fied when new vacan­ci­es ari­se in your search radius.

Con­clu­si­on

A suc­cessful appli­ca­ti­on in the pri­va­te secu­ri­ty indus­try requi­res time, effort and com­mit­ment. Use the tips abo­ve to opti­mi­se your appli­ca­ti­on and find your dream job. Stay on the ball and con­ti­nue your edu­ca­ti­on. Compa­re job offers and try to sell yours­elf in the best pos­si­ble way. Be con­fi­dent, fle­xi­ble and pro­fes­sio­nal and show your poten­ti­al employ­er that you are the per­fect choice for the job.

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