Posted: 10/5/2011 11:59:33 PM EDT
| Do you need to be offered a job first, before you can qualify to get your guard card? |
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If you're referring to security guard card from DPS, I believe you have to be offered a job first, then they fill out the employer section of the form and send it in.... |
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I think you do have to be offered a job first.
Stay far, far away from any company that "hires" you then charges you for your guard card class. I was lucky that a company hired me, gave me the class for free, but when I went to pick up my card two weeks later from them and get a schedule, they only had two part time spots open on the other side of town. I had the guard card in my hand and said "Thanks, but no thanks". Took my card and left. With that card I was immediately hired for another company. Companies want someone to start ASAP because of the turn over but they cant always provide the training and the wait of at least two weeks for new hires to get licensed. Im in a rut now where my company lost its firearms instructor and now cant do any annual training for any armed guards. I have to find somewhere else to get refresher training to keep my license. (Another security company) |
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I got mine from a company, 8 hour course in phx. Cost me 60$ i think
You do not need to be offered a job. Go on craigslist, there are courses all the time. Once you have your card, you can find a job in security pretty damn quick. Security firms are more likely to hire you if you already have your card. Within a week of applying, i was offered 3 different places, all without interviews. Only advice i can give is do research on the company you're working for, security firms can be stingy bastards. |
| I teach armed guards here in AZ, but need to have a company to sign off on it before it can be approved. I do training work with a company that will sign off on my applications, if you're interested. Many companies will sign off on guard cards if you take their training and pay a small fee, like llamanator mentioned above, even if you don't go to work for them. |
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Quoted: I got mine from a company, 8 hour course in phx. Cost me 60$ i think You do not need to be offered a job. Go on craigslist, there are courses all the time. Once you have your card, you can find a job in security pretty damn quick. Security firms are more likely to hire you if you already have your card. Within a week of applying, i was offered 3 different places, all without interviews. Only advice i can give is do research on the company you're working for, security firms can be stingy bastards. I also got mine before being offered a job. I just found a guy on craigslist and took the course. We pretty much sat around and watched videos and then he told us about how much of a badass he was, he was a REMF marine. It is a waste of time but a necessary evil. edit: I also got offered a job in my training course one of the ladies taking the class was a hiring scout for Security88. |
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The armed portion of the card has to be sponsored by a company. When you receive the armed card in the mail, it will have that companies name on it. I don't think you need a sponsor for the unarmed guard card.
As for who is good to work for, that's a hard call. There are many Government Security Contractor jobs available in Arizona. Many Government facilities contract their security services out. The value of this to you is, they pay the SCA (Service Contract Act) wage scales. So whatever a Government employee would be getting paid, you would be as well. The rate varies dependent on what county you live in. Also, if the company doesn't offer health and welfare, you will be given a rate of about 3.59 an hour if I recall as a benefit reimbursement. I know of unarmed guys making about 15 an hour with the reimbursement. Armed guys pulling 24. Needless to say, they have low turn over rates. Usually new hires start in part time positions and move up into better time slots. Most of these guys are doing essentially nothing compared to corporate security. Working a court house might get hairy once in a while. Working at a DOE Substation or a place like the desalinization plant in Yuma would be pretty easy/boring. Weather or not the job sucks will entirely depend on who is actually running the project. Some people can schedule, others can't. Most just worry about themselves and friends –– The rest just get shoveled in wherever they'll fit. |