In this short article I want to try to address the main questions that many people looking for a career in close protection business have in the early stages of their career.

Now, to make it clear the commercial close protection industry is a very difficult industry for most people to enter, mainly due to the fact it is a very small and clique world where doors usually open for people if they know the right people. So, to start with, networking is a valuable key to opening the doors.

My personal experience and opinions comes from working over 30 years’ within the security, close protection and risk management industry in various Central/East/West African countries, Europe and Asia in operational and management positions.

International Operations & Security Manager with diverse expertise within the security spectrum and real-world experienced security professional with many years’ experience in hostile and culturally diverse environments and regions.

Most people’s career path these days usually start with some type of close protection training, whether it’s a mandatory licensing courses or from a private run company. Everyone needs to be trained but the issue I am seeing these days is that what a lot of the courses are teaching has little or no relevance in reality. An over emphasis is put on self-defense or firearms training and little time is spent on the skill sets that a someone will be using on a daily basis.

It’s a sad fact that one major problem with close protection training companies is that a lot of the instructors do not have the relevant close protection experience to be able to deliver realistic course content. Most are just teaching what they have been taught on courses, by instructors who are teaching what they have been taught on course without understand how what they are teaching could be applied in reality. A lot of theories that sound good in a classroom will not work when working with clients and can lead to issues and contract terminations very quickly.

I have heard of one European close protection school whose owner is telling their students that they must take control of their client’s passport, the client must do as they are told, the client should not be ordering their security team around etc. Well, this might be good for this guy’s ego when talking in front of his students but has obviously no experience of actually working with clients.

To keep this short, firstly why would you want the client’s passport, to have a copy sure for their client profile but to have their actual passport is not required. If there is an issue and you get separated from the client for whatever reason, how can they travel without their passport.

You can guide and educate your clients, but they are paying the bills, you are part of their staff like the nannies, cooks, and gardeners. And if you start to rudely order them around you will be quickly looking for a new job. For students who attended this school their careers have started on the wrong footing and they would need professional etiquette correction, to say the least. If left to work with a client unsupervised they could start major issues by just trying to do what they were told to do on their training course by some who claims to be an expert but in reality has no actual hands-on experience.

Another question most people have is do they need to have military or police experience and if its relevant. Well, in my opinion the benefits of military or police experience is that those that have served understand discipline, can work within a team, and are used to being told what to do and ordered around. Some of the skill sets are transferable to the close protection industry but many have no relevance. One problem with former military or police is they are used to working within a ridged structure and can find it difficult to adapt to working with clients in the more informal commercial work environments.

The big question for most people is that they are told they need to have experience to get employed but how can they get experience if no one will give them their first job? Well, you have to be persistent and if your serious about your chosen career then they must gain experience in other relevant areas of the security industry.  Like every industry, you need to start at the bottom and work your way up. The chances are, unless you are very lucky, you will not be walking into a full time CP job straight after you have completed a course, and from my perspective, if you do, I would also question if you had the experience to be able to competently perform your duties, unless under professional supervision or had experience in related security fields.

One thing many people do not understand is that most close protection jobs are short term so you have to think about how you will be earning a living and supporting yourself between contracts, if you are ever lucky enough to gain employment. Here I have listed a few areas of the security industry where you can learn skills that are very relevant to the close protection industry and will help widen your knowledge and give you solid foundation skills that cannot be learnt on courses or via webinars.

Door Supervisors (Bar/Club Bouncer)
For some reason, many people in the security industry look down upon the world of club and bar security but it is a place where you can learn vital skill sets. To start with, as long as you are working with professionals, you will be learning and employing people skills, how to be aware of your environment, how to read peoples body language, how to deescalate confrontations and potentially deal with violence and its medical and legal aftermaths. Use of force is always a last resort but even if you eventually end up working with high-end clients in luxury environments you need to know how to deal with physical threats and confrontations.

I was recently specking with an associate who was telling me that he had regular calls from people he knew who many times required door supervisors at short notice and were paying good money, but many of those that approached him for CP work would turn down the offers of a night or two of well-paying door work. My associate said that many of these CP people would tell him they were not going to risk getting glassed or bottled etc. but if he offered them a “high-risk” CP job he was sure they would eagerly take the job even if the pay was well below par.

But, in reality there is no way he would offer a decent CP job to any of these CP people, if there were too afraid or unable to work in a club or a bar how could they be trusted in a hostile environment or with a client who was under an active threat. Without the real-world experience of deescalating or dealing with potentially violent incidents within the law, these CP people were completely untested and inexperienced. Maybe in their mind they were ready to fly around the world like knights in shining Armani after doing a CP course and maybe having some time in the military etc. But they obviously had unrealistic perspectives that had been fed to them by inexperienced instructors and from what they had seen and believed on social media.

Event Security
If you are working in the close protection industry it helps greatly to understand how things work in the environments, you will be working in with your clients. Many CP job are specifically for escorting clients when they are attending events or business meetings, so understand how the general security for such things work is essential to ensure your procedures and protocols do not clash with the venue’s security team or procedures.

If you are working with professional event security companies you should learn the basics of access and crowd control, customer service, fire safety awareness, situational awareness, conflict resolution and how to deal with emergencies and crimes. All of these skill sets are valuable in the close protection world, especially in time if you move on to managing security teams or the client’s general security.

Hotel Security
In the close protection business, you will be spending time living in and working from hotels and it is essential that you understand at least the basics of how the security personnel and procedures for hotels generally operate. This helps not only when operational with a client but also for advance security if your tasked to select and secure hotels and venues for the clients’ future visits.

Working in quality hotels you will learn people skills and customer services while dealing with a wide array of customers with a wide array of problems. High-end hotels are also excellent places for networking as the guest are also potential clients who may need close protection services. There is also the opportunity to see how visiting close protection teams work with their clients and exchange business cards with them while make sure you let them know if they need any help in the future your available…

Manned Guarding/Cash in Transit
The manned guarding industry is always looking for decent personnel but finding decent companies to work for can be difficult as the pay can be low, the hours long and the conditions not really favorable. That being said, there are decent companies out there and there is a lot that can be learned from working in the manned guarding industry.

Understanding how the general security and safety for offices or industrial sites work all adds to your knowledge base that will benefit you in the long run. If a CP client works from an office building, then shouldn’t his CP personnel know how the building is secured and how the building security team operates? If the client owns an industrial business, then doesn’t it make sense that their CP team understands the safety hazards within the industrial sites the client could be visiting or working in, all threats need to be identified and considered, right?

The manned guarding industry can be far from glamorous, but it can put money in your pocket and give you valuable knowledge and experience all of which is applicable to the close protection industry.

Conclusion
If your serious about a career in the close protection industry you need to have solid foundations and the only way to get those foundations is to go and start working in the security industry in some way. You have to be willing to work and cannot expect to start at the top. You are going to have to put in hours, effort, and networking to possibly open the door so you can get a foot into the close protection industry. And then hopefully it will have been worth your efforts.

Many people quickly become disillusioned with the close protection industry due to infrequent contracts, no job security, long hours, problematic clients, and unthankful employers but that is the CP business. You can make good money in the CP business but never get into the mindset that you can live that same lifestyle as your clients, you are the hired help, just like the nannies, drivers, cooks, and gardeners. And be assured, if the clients need to save money, you will be the first to take a pay cut or be fired unless the client has an active threat.

In time, if you stay in the security industry, you will see that from a management perspective that the time you put in working various sectors of the security industry enables you to identify, understand and avoid problems and issues that only those that have firsthand experience can. As with many CP instructors, many security managers do not have the firsthand experience of actually providing regular security services or close protection services but the end up being given those positions by uninformed clients, those they have BS’ed or their friends.

Now, after several years of gaining experience within various sectors of security industry to compliment your training courses you will have become more employable. And even if the close protection positions elude you or you manage to work on a detail or two and find out its not for you will have the foundations to progress into operations management or recruitment positions within the security industry, which will have a lot better job security, stability, and a lot less stress and aggravation than the close protection business.

So, hopefully this short article has given you some tips on starting a career path in the close protection business. Try to always train with experience instructors, try to always work with the professional companies and hopefully in the end the long hours, sore feet, boredom and hopefully only a few cuts and bruises will get where you want to be, and make you an asset for a client or company and not just a well-read, untested, inexperienced liability who thinks they know everything.

 

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Establishing Your Career Path in Close Protection
By Andrew Chatzkelowitz

Andrew’s unique perspectives come from over 30 years of experience in local and international security arenas covering close protection, risk management and security operations. He has gained extensive real-world experience in hostile and culturally diverse environments in various countries and continents.