Most states and municipalities require that security guards be trained and certified with the proper licensing authority before being able to stand at a post, especially if they carry a firearm. These agencies set the standards for the subjects covered, minimum number of hours, and testing for successful training completion.
The first step for candidates is to earn their license. They accomplish this by taking a state-approved training program for unarmed security guards. Applicants submit their certificate of completion, and upon passing a background check and meeting a few basic requirements, are awarded a Guard Card and become eligible for assignment. (See our article, Start Your Career as a Security Guard, for a list of prerequisites). So, training for guards is a must.
It's a simple process, but the question for many small- to mid-size manned contract security firms is whether or not to offer training, and how to go about it if you decide to do so.
Do You Need to Offer Your Own Security Guard Training Program?
Some firms skip the process altogether and only hire experienced officers who show up with Guard Card in hand.
Others take on the task of building their own training program or merging off-the-shelf courseware with content specific to their company culture. Nothing wrong with that, except a critical amount of time and resources will be spent re-inventing the wheel.
You’ll need to hire subject matter experts (SMEs) to research the required topics and learning points to build content and create testing standards that meet minimum state requirements. (Spoiler: there are roughly 40 primary training topics from basic roles and responsibilities of a security officer to incident reporting to de-escalation and conflict resolution that must be included in every program).
You’ll need to buy authoring software and hire instructional designers to transform that content into courseware, build PowerPoint presentations, produce videos, design and print instructor manuals and student handbooks. Then you’ll need to submit everything to your state’s licensing authority for a formal review to ensure the training qualifies as a state-approved course for new hires to earn a Guard Card (and tweak it if it doesn’t).
Now let’s consider who, where, and when of live instructor-led training.
Are you, the business owner, going to do new hire training, taking valuable time away from growing the company, or will you hire a training manager or a freelance instructor?
Do you have the space to hold multi-day training classes in your office, or will you have to rent a conference room at a nearby hotel and provide transportation, meals, and perhaps lodging for new hires traveling long distances?
How often will you schedule internal training classes? Waiting until you hire a minimum number of students to justify the cost of holding a class could mean weeks of lost billable hours, and applicants might find something else in the interim. If turnover is an issue, you may be holding classes often, eating into your productivity and profitability.
Defencify Offers a Better Way
For small- to mid-size security firms without the resources to build their own training platform, Defencify offers a better way: access to a complete library of pre-existing online, self-paced security officer training modules all built to state licensing authority standards.
Available in ten states and growing all the time, we’ve already done the work for you. Defencify courses are designed in partnership with each state authority and are built using modern eLearning standards and incorporate interactivity and engaging scenarios to communicate learning points. Candidates can take or repeat any course at the time, place, and on the device of their choosing.
Convenient and affordable, contract security guard firms pay a monthly subscription fee of $300 to unlock the Defencify platform and its entire catalog of on-demand, state-certified training courses for all employees. Firms pay a small fee per seat, usually just $12, for each active user. You also get access to our cloud-based permanent records management system to handle compliance tracking for audit preparation at no additional cost (you’ll thank us later).
Defencify eliminates the burden of building original content and courseware and is guaranteed to meet the state-specific licensing requirements for new hires to earn a Guard Card in Defencify-approved states.
Focus on Growing Your Business
With Defencify, business owners can focus on growing the business, not training. Eliminate the waiting and expenses of holding live instructor-led classes. Hire someone today and start their training today. There are no materials to supply, instructors to pay, or rooms to rent.
Defencify eases turnover concerns and attracts a wider range and better class of candidate through online training rather than limiting recruiting efforts to applicants in your local market.
Some firms want to offer security guard training under their own brand, others require customized content to reflect company culture. No problems there. Security guard firms can access the Defencify portal directly or integrate the platform into their own learning management system (LMS). We’ll change the colors and logos to reflect your brand, customize content, and even create original courseware such as new hire orientation, for example.
With Defencify, you’ll streamline training, reduce expenses, and get guards into the field faster. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
Accelerate your business growth with Defencify, the security industry’s leading online self-paced training platform. Visit us at www.defencifytraining.com to learn more.
