Bodyguard Careers

Bodyguard Careers is an informational site with the purpose of providing bodyguards with all the information and tools necessary to succeed in the executive protection industry.

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How to apply for bodyguard work (and how not to).

Featured Articles, Featured Bloggers, Jerry Heying

By Jerry Heying

You’re new to executive protection and bodyguarding or you’ve been working in it for a while and you’re out of work, how do you find work? That’s a question asked by so many in this field. There is no magical answer but I can give you some sound advice.

As the owner of a security company who employs protection professionals, and as an Instructor at the Executive Protection Institute (EPI), I am often asked to help people find assignments or full time employment.

Resumes

Let’s start with your resume. Your resume consists of paper with a bunch of words on it, sometimes lies. It’s estimated that over 50% of resumes contain lies, or misrepresentations. So first point; be truthful. Integrity is so vital to our industry that it starts with your resume.

Don’t overstate your experience or qualifications. You’re entry level? That’s ok. It’s the honest truth. One page is best, two maximum.

You can prepare a CV which stands for curriculum vitae, which is latin for; “course of life” (also resume). Hey, isn’t that the same thing? Generally, a resume is a brief and concise one or two page summary of your skills, experience, and education. A CV is more detailed and longer.

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Physical Fitness in the Protective Security Industry

Featured Articles, John Morgan

By John Morgan

Those of us in the Executive Protection industry spend a lot of time, energy and money training – and rightfully so. We live and work in a world where we can’t afford to be wrong. Therefore, repetition and training is vital to our long-term success. However, one area seems to be consistently overlooked or neglected and that is our physical fitness.

Be honest with yourself; if given the choice between trigger time at the range and busting your butt in the gym, which one are you going to choose? In no way am I suggesting that range time is unimportant. However, I want us to take a step back and put things in the proper perspective as we make decisions regarding our training regimens.

Any detail that you are on is probably going to consist of long days, spent mostly on your feet, getting in and out of vehicles, potentially walking long distances while carrying a fair amount of weight on your belt and/or back and, of course, a heightened sense of awareness which naturally increases your stress level and heart rate.

And that’s a normal, uneventful, detail.  Now consider a “worse-case-scenario” where you have to spring into action, run those long distances you were originally planning on walking, man-handling your protectee into a vehicle, and even potentially engaging in close-quarter combat with an assailant.

As professionals, we have to be prepared to handle both of these scenarios…and both require a certain level of physical fitness.

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A Good Resume

Bruce Alexander, Featured Articles

By Bruce Alexander

As a business owner, I read a significant amount of cover letters and resumes. I really don’t mind because I find it interesting to read about what people have done (more accurately, claim they have done). Regrettably I’ve noticed a propensity in certain professions that draw heavily from military, former military, law enforcement, security, firefighters etc…to write resumes that are simply non-responsive to the requirements.

This is really unfortunate because I believe that otherwise capable individuals are missing great opportunities merely because they can’t write a decent resume that has a better than average chance of being read. If most of these resume writers could make a few simple tweaks to their resume, I think their prospects might be significantly increased.

So here are some tips that I have learned overtime from reviewing thousands of resumes to help you write the good executive protection resume:

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What Is A Piece Of Paper Worth?

Executive Protection Articles, Matthew Stiehm

By Matt Stiehm Ed.D

In life what is a piece of paper worth?  Well a piece of paper is worth as much as it can provide for you at any given time.  For example a small piece of green paper, with a dead president on it can buy or provide a lot of things.  However this is nominal compared to other pieces of paper.

Another example of a good piece of paper to have is the “right” certifications from the “right” training companies or programs.  These documents (pieces of paper) demonstrate a certain level of technical and professional competencies.  With the “right” piece of paper you can take your career to larger plateaus.

But what about a formal degree: whether the degree is a two year, four year, masters or doctorate degree.  What is the return on investment from getting these degrees and most importantly how they can help in your career?

•    Two year degree- This is a general degree which in most cases will provide you with some basic skills.  The skills generally deal with “readin, ritin and rithmetic”.  These skills will provide a solid foundation for going forward in higher education.  There is nothing wrong with ending at this level.  As professional experience is sometimes more important than what letter grade you got in math.

•    Four year degree- This degree will provide more liberal education, or technical education (depending on degree granting institution).  The liberal education will provide and hone your skills of writing, researching and understanding human behaviors.  If the degrees come from the technical side, you will able to better understand the nuts and bolts of the industry.

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Improving Your Bodyguard Business

Doc Rogers, Executive Protection Articles

By Doc Rogers

The first step to improving your bodyguard business starts with reviewing your goals. All successful businesspeople have goals in place and work hard in achieving the goals set each day. Start evaluating your bodyguard business today; what do you want your bodyguard business to look like in one year, five years or more down the road?

If you are an up and coming bodyguard your goal may be to lead at team of tier one bodyguard personnel on overseas assignments or if you are a seasoned professional you may want to start managing teams of tier one bodyguards around the world and function as a channel of communication between your clients and your detail leaders in the field. Consider the goals you want to accomplish and know what it will take to get there.

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Great Bodyguards are Made – Not Born

Doc Rogers, Featured Articles

By Doc Rogers

As professional bodyguards we must meet certain medical, physical fitness, firearms training and BG qualifications requirements. However, we may have forgotten some of the standards and mental attitudes that got us into the industry in the first place, and will keep us there. Let’s take a review of this vital recipe; so it will remain fresh in our minds for BG career longevity.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities – We must continually keep updated on specific BG knowledge, skills and abilities required for BG assignments. Your BG training should be aim at achieving well defined levels of competency, reviewed and updated annually with refresher training. A few of the basics include:

•    Knowledge of and ability to perform routine and emergency BG duties.
•    BG leadership standards.
•    Motorcade methods, setups and alignment.
•    Operation of BG communication equipment.
•    Knowledge of and the ability to apply standard operation procedures set by the detail leader or the client.
•    Techniques of unarmed self-defense.
•    Access control systems, procedures, and operations, etc.
•    First aid and medical emergency training.
•    Knowledge in applying good customer service.

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