Security Guard Jobs – Exploring The Negative Aspects of Security Officer Work

Although security guard jobs are often readily available in most major cities, there are many problems that come along with the job, and they should be considered before making the decision to pursue a career as a security officer. Too often, in a desperate attempt to find work, people will take almost any kind of job only to discover that they don't like it. Here are some of the negative aspects of security guard jobs that you should be aware of:

1. People may disrespect you. Often clients and/or customers will take their problems out on people they think they can bully or disrespect. Security guards are often the target of others frustrations. If you take what they say personally and feel a need to retaliate, you put yourself and your employer in jeopardy. There will be occasions where people will try and antagonize you. If you let them and you lose your temper, you will lose. It's just not worth it. If you're the type of person who gets angry when others 'disrespect you', a job in the security field may not be right for you. All law enforcement professionals face this on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately, it's people in authority positions that others like to direct, or rather misdirect, their troubles.
2. The pay is not always the best. Starting pay can sometimes be as low as minimum wage. And very few private security guard jobs pay more than $15.00 an hour. It is true that the more licensed you are, the better your pay opportunities will be, but it's fair to say you will not grow rich or even live comfortably working in the vast majority of security guard positions.
3. It can sometimes get kind of boring. Most security guard jobs are rather routine. There are ways to break the monotony but, at the end of the day, you will often be doing the same tasks repeatedly. If you are a person who requires constant change or needs to be continually stimulated, you may find the security guard profession rather stale. Many people mistakenly believe that they will see a lot of action and be involved in taking down criminals. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, unless you are protecting yourself, you are almost never allowed to touch anyone.
4. Sometimes promotions are hard to come by. Although many companies offer advancement, there are often dedicated, hard working, security guards who simply don't get ahead. Although this is true in many fields, the security profession is particularly vulnerable to having good employees passed over.
5. Unstable schedules can often be the norm. Even if you have a set post, your employer or security guard company may call you frequently to fill-in for other officers who were not able to show up for work. Even if you have a valid excuse, your boss may unfairly view you as inflexible because you did not fill the post, despite the fact that it was not your assigned job to do.
6. You can sometimes be held accountable to what other officers do. Often you must take responsibility for how other security guards perform their job. In fact, one bad guard can ruin or even lose an entire account. It's troubling to know that your future may rest in the performance of your fellow guards.

The above are the most obvious problems that face security officers, but these negative aspects are not always factors for every job. They are just valid concerns to be conscious of before considering taking a security guard job. There are many perks as well, and which will be discussed later.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Security Guard Jobs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.