What makes a great security guard? Well, first consider what makes a terrible one… If the guard isn’t punctual and doesn’t show up on time, or at all, for their shift, then that’s bad, right? If the guard dresses sloppily, how are they going to garner respect? What if they’re saying all sorts of sexist or racist things? That’s not going to go over well, for sure, especially these days.
Great security guards are like boy scouts or girl scouts, in the sense that they’re honest and prepared for the task at hand. You obviously would want to only hire honest guards who won’t lie to you, right? You’d also want them to come to work on-time and prepared. They need to be dressed properly and have the necessary gear they’d need, like a smartphone or walkie-talkie, etc.
Some guards are great leaders and others are great team players. Either way, they need to be the kind of people who are good at communication and cooperation. They should think rationally and have quick reflexes. Ideally, they should also be fit and have some strength in case they need it to deal with offenders they have to physically wrestle.
Does a great security guard value and respect life? Yes. They also have the kind of education and training that helps them know what to do when the going gets tough… They need to react quickly, and they have to make sure they’re doing things “by the book” so they don’t go rogue and end up on the nightly news…or in jail.
When you hire security guards, and you want great ones, you should ask them what kind of training they have, where they trained, and what certificates they earned. For instance, in Chicago, they could attend the Security Training Center which offers a variety of security training courses. In fact, if you’re a guard and you’re looking to better yourself, call Security Training Center and see what courses you could take that you haven’t already– 773-445-4413.
