Hiring in the security industry has experienced a downward trend for the past ten years, according to Jerry Brennan, who writes his article in SecurityInfoWatch.com. Brennan notes unique challenges for anyone seeking a career in the security industry. I must admit that this surprised me a little since with all the craziness out in the world you would think the security industry would be experiencing a robust hiring period. But no, and since Brennan has been around in that sector for quite some time, I take his appraisal seriously.
Brennan writes in his article…”There is a three-pronged situation that has slowed hiring in the United States. The recession is the most visible and obvious first factor. Because corporate security programs are frequently built as non-revenue-enhancing service functions, they fall within the category of business units that are generally hit first when budgets and staffs are reduced or frozen. The second prong in the slowdown is retirements. When the economic crisis began in November 2008 and continued throughout 2009, we saw that security professionals who had been contemplating retirement decided to hold off. They looked at their retirement accounts and stock options and realized it wasn’t a good financial decision at the time. The third factor was that the normal volume of individuals who, for their own career advancement, would have sought out advancement through moves to other companies, decided instead to stay put because of market uncertainty. As a result, openings from newly created roles, turnover and internal promotions didn’t become available.”
Brennan writes about offshoring and stationing security heads outside the country where they hire local candidates. Brennan proposes that for those wanting to work in the security industry that they should expand their roles within a company. They should offer an employer a wider range of skill sets that will prove added value and heightened perspective.
He writes…”Security executives should become involved in a wide range of initiatives across the organization that may not seem to have a direct impact on security. This will provide an opportunity for others to observe your skills as a business executive and develop working relationships while working on organization improvement and/or revenue enhancement projects. I have told many clients and candidates alike that one of the measures of success for a security executive is to be asked their opinion on business issues that are outside the scope of the function they lead.”
I found Brennan’s article most interesting and suggest others interesting in the security field should read it as well as Brennan’s book, Security Careers.
