How hard is it to be a security guard? I'm thinking about trying to apply for one. I don't have a Guard Card.
Depends on what you'll be guarding. It's stereotyped as a shit tier job for police academy drop-outs though
It's the easiest and most boring job in the world. It's not a very good job if you're just out of high school and looking to go to school due to the industry's preference towards full time workers (Much easier to schedule 24 hour security with 40hr/wk workers), but the pay is usually at least halfway decent, the perks are good if you get in a gated community or shopping center (lot of free shit, usually food and drink). After a few years you can look for a place taking armed guards, get all that shit sorted out, and make a couple bucks an hour more.
Don't be fooled though, it's pretty much a dead end job with soul-rending work. Make sure you don't get stuck with some graveyard patrol shift, look for sit-down jobs where you can do homework if by some miracle you're able to juggle school with it.
>>28337029
This. Although some security jobs are pretty sick, e.g. for city zoos, high end businesses, etc
>>28337068
the graveyard shifts are the best because you dont have to deal with people or management
>>28337014
most places require training before they'll give you any type of responsibility or weapons.
pay is shit. 8-11 an hour for unarmed and 11 thru 15 for armed.
15+ for good stuff and 20+ for federal stuff
coincidentally the places with responsibility and weapons are normally the places that pay the most
>>28337092
Graveyards are fine if you're watching monitors or sitting in a booth. They're not nearly as nice if you're supposed to patrol around on foot or cart or car. I'd rather do nothing in front of management and assholes than do nothing alone in the dark for 8 hours.
But yeah graveyards where you can sit down and go on 4chan or do homework or read or /v/ or what have you are awesome
>>28337142
patroling isnt bad per se.
it keeps you awake when there literally isnt anything else going on, and so long as whiever the client is doesnt either A) have a detex system and B) have you constantly patrolling then it is fine.
most of the time partrols take up a only a percentage of your time and the rest is leisure time.
then there are places like parking garages and stuff that generally dont give a fuck what you do so long as customers dont complain about you sleeping.
I knew a dude that sold weed while working in a parking garage. not that I reccomend that.
I'm going through Air Force ROTC and was thinking of trying to join Security Forces.
Is it pretty much like the whole sitting in a guard Shack or in a guard tower?
If so I'm cool with it, just trying to learn what to expect
>>28337014
Its super easy.
A lot of lazy, fuck ups do it. Dead end job for sure. You can work your way up though, and get paid a lot.
The nuclear power plant near here pays $24 a hour.
It's good for school, and some people experience. More so if your going into law enforcement.
I currently just worked a 0745-1400 shift at some old retail store. Make $12 as a contractor.
>>28337810
How did you get that? Did you go through an agency or whatever they're called for it? The only things I am able to find here involve going through an agency and being underneath incompetent supervisors according to reviews.
>>28337822
>being underneath incompetent supervisors
That pretty much describes the entire world of work.
90-95% are very irregular hours and very rarely will you start out full-time. There are never raises. It always starts within a dollar of the minimum wage. The job can either be sitting and staring into space for 8 hours or they can have you be a glorified clerk depending on who the client is. Two security guard gigs I had were contracted to warehouses and I basically did the job of a receiving clerk for eight hours, moving up and down and all around pissing off the truckers merely doing what I was trained to do while maintaining 8-12 clipboards of information. Underpaid for the bullshit I had to deal with.
They'll almost never make you a full-time employee because they're cheap and have tight budgets due to offering cheap contracts to clients. They would have to do the entire benefits thing and keeping you part-time always makes you flexible for them. Often times a security company will schedule you to work two-three days per week but ask you to do doubles while at the post and call you on your "days off" to come into work. You can get fourty hours if you want but they'll make damn sure they're in complete control of when you get them. Security companies are the most Jewy employers I've ever had and I am to no longer be working in that "industry." It's great to do as side work in addition to your main source of full-time income but PLEASE, for the love of all that is holy, do not get into security with the mindset of making it your main source of income or a career path.
>>28337872
This
Kiss asses make superviser. Kiss asses kiss ass because they can't get good jobs on their own merit. 90% of your bosses in the real world will be incompetant.
>>28337924
cont.
*I am glad to no longer
It is absolutely dead end with horrible compensation and prospects and no, it does not segway into law enforcement or government stuff. They look at security guard experience as "lel-tier." At least with something like retail you get more more stability and you learn a wider variety of skills as well as working for companies with a larger budget to compensate you with as well as offering upward mobility. Even if you consider that a stretch, security comes nowhere close so it is absolutely abysmal.
>>28337810
>dead end job
I got hired by a company, got assigned to a chronic care hospital, paid $12.50/hr, a few months later I got hired by them making twice that.
I still talk to the other sad cunts that have been in the same shift for a decade, some guy my dad's age living in social housing and a barely literate African dude.
>tldr it's easy as fuck but shit work to be used as a stepping stone.
Why not try to get a PI license? At least that's exciting,
>>28337434
horrible ass shit FOR enlisted. As an officer if you wanna sit around and jerk off itll be good. If you are looking for action they have DAGRE and USAF SWAT who do a lot of sitting especially the units in Montana.
>>28337963
How would I go about getting in with DAGRE or USAF SWAT?
>>28337014
You fill out an application, you're not a retard nor is your piss hot and you're hired. Low pay, long stretches of boredom, and a dead end job can all be yours.
>>28337014
Easy once you get whatever certification you need.
Job is easy/boring as fuck except when some incident happens and you're expected to take all action and all liability.
Pay is mediocre but work is plenty, you shouldn't have trouble getting hours.
I started as a guard in security and then worked my way toward systems installation and am now managing teams and making guard and technical sales when I can. Pretty good pay, get to drive around meeting people all day and wear fancy clothes.
If you can take initiative, the industry has a lot of room for growth both within whatever company you join and as an independent contractor.
Don't get stuck though, we have guys who have been in our company 10-20 years who still earn wack pay in the same position. It's up to you to prove your worth in other areas of the business.
>>28337924
There is a lot of truth here - the margins that security companies work with are usually >5% so it's difficult to see raises unless the client is willing to put out more cash for the services. Usually you'd have to prove your worth and be in mind during the contract negotiations.
>>28338697
thats <5%***
>>28338664
translations, be white and know how to bullshit. Just like 100% of life.
Welcome to the new age caste system.
>>28337872
>tfw your crybaby, hipster, weak-as-immune-system, I-may-be-secretly-related-to-the-General-Manager Supervisor got shitcanned after the company got bought out and the position not filled.
>Automony > everything.
>>28339004
>Be white
Code for I expected to get handed shit and didn't.
If I'm applying for somewhere should I say I did some previous "security" work for a friend at a farm or something? Had something like a good amount of thefts or animals threatened (by other animals) and say I'd stand watch? Something like that.
>>28339385
bro, just go get your certs then apply for a good national company. you will get hired unless you are a dumbfuck.
>>28339492
Two separate entities in my sentence there, pal.
Also, the company is willing to pay for certifications, so this is to be hired for that.
So far I'm unarmed working only graveyard patrol. Bout to go armed in a few months, is it worth sticking with the job to eventually work at a nuke plant? What are the requirements to work nuke security?
Like others here have stated most companies just require certs so you can work within city limits. For example here in CO if I wanted to do armed work within CO Springs or Denver I needed a guard card. I just went to the county clerks office and asked for the forms, read what I need to qualify, got the certs, applied and received my guard card, Here are a few examples of the process.
https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/denver-business-licensing-center/business-licenses/merchant-guard-individual.html
https://coloradosprings.gov/business/doing-business/business-licenses/security-licensing
In the end it turns out I didn't even need it since the firm I was hired by operates outside city limits where no licensing is required except my MED badge.
>>28340855
I swear I cant open a thread without seeing you. Wanna grab lunch sometime this week?
>>28340913
haha wow we really are running into each other alot. Shoot me an email with when and where Ill check my work schedule.
>>28337948
>I think my [wife/husband] is cheating on me! Follow them around for evidence!
>blackmail the wife/husband and get 10% of their income a year
>do this to several other people
>paid 4 lyfe
>>28340969
Sent
>>28337014
This pretty much sums it up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXkxgRjzh0M
but for my personal experience I've worked shit security jobs where you feel like you life is wasting away, to jobs where the pay was good and you get to wear a finely tailored suit and watch millionaires get drunk and fuck.
Working alone a high traffic post like say a Wall Mart Parking lot is shit, also it sucks when you have to sit in a company car that has never been washed, and countless food and other unsavory stains and maggots growing in the upholstery and carpet and the dash and panels have a thick layer of hard sticky filth and you know your overly fat coworker can't possibly wipe his ass anymore and the overly elderly coworker is just a smelly old man and incontinent.
medium tier jobs are when you work at factory business building and warehouse, where you may actually have to do work like run checkpoints but sometimes your just paid to be there.
Best paying but still awful since you have to be in the same room as rich yuppies is VIP and executive parties.
A unarmed guard card is easy to get and only costs 40 bucks to renew and I recommend everyone have one as a fall back emergency job when you get fired from jobs you like.
you can make a career of it, but once again, it's only nice if say your working a high value site where everyone is on the same page...most people who work security are retired old folks or young kids who couldn't get hired as a burger flipper.
I'd say working security at a hospital is the best because your included in the emergency plans and you can feel good knowing your helping people.
Most other jobs your a human scarecrow for insurance purposes.
>>28341142
Armed guard is another thing entirely almost, it's expensive to get into the initial training class and pay for the permit and waiting a long time for your armed guard card and you have to retest at the gun range four times a year so ammo and paying fees every three months can get to some people and if you miss a test or forget to renew your license then you have to retrain all over again.
While most armed positions pay better, the positions are rare or very non permanent. So you might end up having an armed permit you paid a lot of money for and then not have a job available.
Most stable is money trucks but much like the fire department, most people stay while unarmed guards have a higher recycle rate.
>>28341206
>>28341142
Hit the nail on the head. Nowhere near as fun as Paul Blart made it look. Although make sure to check local regulations and city ordinances to see if your city actually requires a guard card. I was surprised when I found out most areas I work in require no licensing at all even for armed jobs.
>>28341354
How much has security changed in CO since legal weed. Is anyone scared of being arrested by the feds?
>>28341354
What do you do that you get to carry a rifle?
>>28342830
I think the pot plants are a....
>>28342853
I'm sorry, I'm retarded. I need to go to bed.
>>28342822
As long as you hold a MED badge you can work in the industry without worry. At my firm we had a whole afternoon of legal briefs from the firm's lawyer on all the legal aspects of the gig. Feds haven't raided anyone since 2014 and that was only after a lengthy investigation since the place was selling out of state. It's a myth that they will just raid willy nilly and arrest everyone. There are many security firms operating in the industry right now. It's a really fast growing sector and will only get bigger as more and more states legalize.
>>28339203
story time?
>>28340855
God damn, how many security personnel from Colorado lurk /k/? I know of at least 12 not including myself
Stay away from AKAL if you don't want a dead end job ran by fucksticks
>>28337934
>it does not segway into law enforcement or government stuff
says you, I made $85k last year as a security contractor.
>>28343265
that's it? my buddy pulls well over 6 figures with his government contract.
you're getting shafted.
>>28341142
>I'd say working security at a hospital is the best because..blah, blah, blah....
Id say working at a hospital is the best because 90% of the staff is female and spend 60 to 80 hours of their waking lives at their jobs which results in loss of or cooling of their current relationships or outright not meeting anybody to begin with.
I SLAYED pussy when I worked as security at a hospital. Like, fucked nurses and assistants while I was on duty.
highscools and colleges are like that too.
>>28341206
>retest at the gun range four times a year so ammo and paying fees every three months can get to some people and if you miss a test or forget to renew your license then you have to retrain all over again.
this is unique to your locale.
most states do require a renewal/requalification, but I dont know of any that do it "4 times a year"
I work a serious government contract and we're only required to qual twice a year, and prior gov contracts only once a year.
to retain my "guard card" it only requires I qual once every 5 years
Expect boredom, expect to fuck up when a situation actually does happen because you thought it would be an easy job, and expect a dead end.
Anyone will hire you if you don't have a criminal background. Lack of experience is preferred because a lot of companies sell you the training which means they make money from hiring you, its mutually beneficial.
>>28337029
>tfw never become a cop because of the polygraph
>become paul blart instead
