Some help and assistance from the big guns

Raptor · **Some help and assistance from the big guns**

Hi ladies and gents,

I have been reading pretty much every post on the forum and found all of them very helpful in one way or another. I will say that there is a huge amount to take in, especially not coming from a military/security background.

I have read quite a few posts on how to get into CP with a military background and one other that had no experience and requested some information. I have been all over the internet looking at the Close Protection Officer role and found some very useful information but to be honest it seems to be a very blurred as to what you should do to get anywhere in this environment.

I have no experience in security other than a driver role which i enjoyed, like the previous gent who posted i am late 20's and have been in Training & Development and Sales and retail at management level. I have come to the conclusion that a Close Protection Officer role is for me and where i want to succeed.

So this is where i am so far:

Close Protection Course - Booked and paid for.
Got as much info on the job as is possible national and international.

Here's where i am now:

Once you have your License and NVQ where do you go to get the experience you need? I ask this because in order to get the work,you need the experience? Or do you?

Self employment seems to be the best option in the UK but if you decide to do that where do you get the work from?

If you are looking to get international experience and your a fledgling like me with no mil exp what do i need to do to succeed?

I have also seen a lot of associations for Bodyguards and Close protection officers, are they worth the subscription??

Theres a lot of information here and a lot of questions, i would love some help and if at all possible sharing your experiences in the industry? The reason i ask for the experiences is because you can learn a huge amount from mistakes people have already made.

You can also PM me

Regards

Will

dogbomb · 03-01-2008, 12:53 PM

hi raptor,im in the same boat mate left thr army in 82 worked in the building industry for 20yrs decided to be cpo did the ronin course in sa in 2006 sept and have found it really hard to get any work,sent my cv to just about everyone you could find on the web and got nothing. the only job i have done was the england football team (rst work) and i only got that by being recomended by another ronin grad, it seems no one is willing to give new people a chance in this industry,all the lads on my course are now in iraq due to just leaving the forces and have the exp of hostile enviroments which is rightley so, but unless you have people in the industry you know it is very difficult,thats the good thing with this forum,you can get a lot of info about work,and people tend to share it with you,plus i have found some more cp companys on this site infact more than anywhere else that i didnt know about,i will tell you now you wont get work in hostile enviroments unless you have relivant experiance,and doing courses like crg hostile course wont get you work either and if you do get offered work in such areas with no experiance then the company isnt bothered about your saftey worse of all you would endanger the lads you are working with if that happens you wont find much work afterwards as word of mouth is everything in this game.you need to start at the bottom in the uk ,you will find that you will be working with doorstaff on many jobs,so if you have done a good course you should stand out from the rest and once you have been noticed you should start to get some offers of work,but you have to live in or near london,as i dont i find it very hard to get anything long enough to make it worth my while,the best road to go down as it has the most jobs is event security start at the bottom and work your way up, hope i have been some help to you cheers

hippy · 03-01-2008, 01:05 PM

The industry is still, despite the advent of the SIA and licencing, very much cap badge driven... It is execeptionaly difficult to get your feet through the door unless you come with proven experience.. Harsh but let me try and put it to you from an employers perspective...

Part of my job, well the largest part, is providing threat assesments for my companies buyers and senior staff when they travel abroad. If from my threat assesment it is deemed a potentially dangerous location/time frame then I have to decide to cancel or postpone the trip or provide protection..

If protection is the route I then have to find appropiate people to fill the position..

So, in my shoes, my operations director is visiting China.. I have deemed this to require protection.. Do I hire a guy with no experience and three weeks training or an ex RMP with Longmore and a couple of FCO tours behind him?

I do believe in giving people a chance but it has to tempered with my responsibilities, which I take seriously, as Im sure do many people who find themselves in similar positions.

dogbomb · 03-01-2008, 01:28 PM

i agree with that hippy but i wouldnt expect to be put in a job like that on my first job,ofcourse you have to go with the right people for the right job,somtimes i think i never thought it through enough before i paid for my course,but thats why i went for the ronin course because i didnt have any experiance and the medical assistant part offered me a better chance , but even companys in the uk seem to want people who have recent military experiance which is ok for psd work in iraq but i would have thought that in the uk they would go for more low profile trained cpos

hippy · 03-01-2008, 01:43 PM

I wholly agree with your point Dog. I do not believe that 6 years service with the 1st foot and mouth qualifies you to be a protection officer.. I would always want mil experience for PSD style work, as well as a relevant course, however the govt uses police officers (civil & Mil) in the protection role for a reason. And if I can Im going to get ex met protection or ex RMP/RAFP/RM Police CPU.. If I am entrusting someones wellbeing to a third party I have to ensure that 3rd party is capable and experienced.

However, when I worked the celeb circuit I did come across a number of guys who new their stuff who had started on the event scene... They had learned their people skills and conflict management in that arena and with a little tweaking made decent protection officers....

Raptor · 02:54 PM

So event security and starting at the base level is the way to go. I imagined that would be the case and my god if i were in a managers role i would also take the rmp...

Its interesting that so many people have decided to go do the close protection course not realising that actually the industry is incredibly tough and very hard to find work if you havent got the experience. To be honest im very glad i have found this site, it really does give you the info you need.

So start at the bottom and work up, possibly not getting the cp course right away? Or get the qualification and work damn hard to get noticed... The second is maybe where i need to head. I live in Cambridge so its not too far from London.

JR199 · 03-01-2008, 05:01 PM

Raptor,

if you have not booked and paid for a CP course, don't do it yet. Get a Door Supes licence and badge and look at event work etc that way. Unless this is something you really really want to do, any CP course is a waste of money if you think you are expecting it to give you a stable, regular living.

If you want to do the course for your own development, then look at some of the other threads on this site for an idea of half decent companies with reputations to lose if they don't do right by you, the paying client.