Hello

Just signed in to this forum and wanted to say hello to all of you.
Found this place while searching internet for some information about CP work and trainings.
From my own experience it's always best to research forums with people's private and honest opinions than rely on corporations and training providers webpages which usually are 100% marketing bulls**t.
Recently started seriously thinking about getting sia Close Protection licence, being encouraged by friends I work and train with, therefore I was looking for those CP courses, but I still have my doubts.
Biggest one is I'm no ex army or police, and any "relevant" background I have is based on my various security work experience in UK and sports/martial arts experience.
So being 33 [soon 34] I don't want to put myself on another overloaded market
I have few other skills that could give an advantage if I'd specialize in corporate CP but I dont think they justify splashing [at least!] £2500 for a training
Anyway I read carefully your opinions and I think I'm getting bigger picture now
Thx
M.

Hi Marian and welcome to this little corner of the "interweb"

It seems you have already figured out regarding training companies and their blurb. Not all is what it seems and going by forums is a smart idea and was what I did to find more honest views. The official website and marketing information is as you said above. I should know as I wrote a two page article for Royal Close Protection this year in Pathfinder and it really didn't match what it ended up being despite the promises and assurances from the Director (Sorry guys I really did not intend to mislead anyone and what I wrote I sincerely believed was possible with that company, I know I will burn in hell for that!)

I take it that you are female from your log in name, if so then your market is quite different from males entering the industry. Female CPO's are comaprativly rare but are on the increase, consequently there are quite a few job openings for you, I can think of one company in Dubai that actively recruits only female staff and there are other ones appearing all the time. Also pay will be somewhat higher than a male counterpart of similar background and experience. The fact you are not ex military should not be a barrier especially as you are looking more into corporate work and also have some security background.

You will find on other threads quite a bit on information regarding training companies and the rather dynamic nature of their training quality. Get fresh information from anyone that is not only after the same line of work but of similar background and get their feedback. After all I have seen first hand a company that in one course performs well and the next course because of a change of trainers or disputes amongst management a shift either up or down in quality. This can also be contributed by the students on that course as personality clashes can make a difference too which is why a good trainer is so important.

I do say to quite a few people that don't forget about Surveillance work, Medic (if thinking of high risk work) and Ops as traditionally these areas were not the most popular avenues buy people wanting to get into the industry but are actually more interesting from my own personal perspective. What I will say is the sia list of approved trainers is in no way a benchmark for that company delivering the training you want. I they have an open day then check them out and see if they have an open door policy regarding more informal discussions. I have been reading the posts regarding Greyman and from what they have said so far seem to be at least thinking in the right way regarding training concepts.

One last thing is don't fall for the "we will get you work once you pass" although it can and does happen, mostly the promises and the reality do not have parity but I think you have already works that out too.

Good luck and hope you find what you are looking for.

Nomad

Hello again, thx for you answer Nomad, I was just reading your posts in other thread and to be honest I was just about to PM you about some advice.
But before I will do it I will explain some funny mistake, you see I'm Polish [yes yes I know what some of you think of us flooding your country ] and in Poland we have name Maria for female, and Marian for male So I'm 6'1" 15.5stone male with a love for submission wrestling and brazilian jiu jitsu, and actually I was thinking about Dubai but as an ADCC hometown LOL
And this is my nick by the way as my first name is quite hard to pronunce or spell lol
I'm targeting UK, Europe, or USA market thinking of corporate or showbusiness I have no illusions about middle east paramilitary CP work and I'm not even gonna try
I think I have few advantages like my education and economical/managerial job experience back from Poland that would help me melt quite well itno blue collar market, especially with growning eastern european investments and enterprises requireing traveling there etc etc
I don't wanna bore everyone to death with my sneaky plan, can PM you some details if you want so you can bring me back to earth lol

Marian if you need a good CP company for training please let me know you can ring me if you want or email me.


Regards

Mo

Mo,

On comission me thinks lol

Hey Marian,

Hope you gonna find what you lookin' for...


If something PM,
stay safe,
V

P.S. my Polacy musimy sobie pomagac, wiec jak cos to pisz..

Hi Vespe

I was staying quiet for a while as I was focusing on getting needed funds for my training,
had few other options at first but now I decided I will go with Longmoor guys,
there is nothing more than compliments here about those guys so I will try them,
I'd like to get best possible, and most complete training, and those 4 weeks seems really solid thing, covering most of subjects.
I thought about June set at first, but as it is slightly more expensive than I was planning to spend at first, I will have to opt for August set probably and save some more LOL.

PS. Pozdrawiam i dziekuje

Marian

Hey again,

I got it - I know, its not chip story.. I saw that you was about getting sia license, if thats your choice - sound, but I bet that you are thinking about deploy to some hostile environment (m8 u are Polish If yes, I would consider one very nice option which include SIA and Psd part- course with Morrigan, which they running with Rst (you can find user name: 'Brummster' from RST or 'Morrigan' from Morrigan Solution). That is 28 days course which include 5 days (level 3 C&G) and rest of the course you will do in Serbia (PSD/HECPO part). Anyways, talk with the guys about details, but I know that price is 'good'.

Be safe,
V

Marian PM me mate if you can, I have the same background (nationality, submission wrestling,security mainly doors) + i'm gonna do the same course.

take care
grappler

Marion, welcome and Good luck with your search... Carl