Selection and training of bodyguards in our company
Kiev is not only the capital of Ukraine, but also its financial and political center. The city in which most of the financially successful people live, people who have power or hold fairly high positions in parliament and government structures. And it is not a secret that such people have enemies: from ordinary hooligans to representatives of organized criminal groups. In such cases, most of these people need help and … the service of bodyguards.
Difficulties of choice
Earlier, before the advent of the Internet and professional private security companies, personal security guards were usually recommended to the customer by friends or business colleagues. If you were a VIP of a state scale, then the state provided you with bodyguards. (By the way, then most of the chiefs of their own security, as well as employees of personal protection units, were recruited from departmental security structures, offering a large salary and better conditions). And, if your closest assistant, who later usually became the head of the security service of your company, selected people to protect you or your family, the first thing he paid attention was the trust in the people he recruits and, in most cases, personal acquaintance with them, such as: they served together, a distant or close relative, etc. And this is already good, since a personal recommendation confirms loyalty and certain skills and how much you can trust this person.
But there is also a downside to the medal: it is often humanly difficult to demand from a person you know well to complete all assigned tasks, it is inconvenient to fire him for some shortcomings in his work. The question of the preparation of this person, payment for his work, remains open, since kinship or almost kinship ties negate the creation of a full-fledged system of security services.
If a person decided that he needs personal protection, then he has reasons for this, and quite compelling ones. These are both personal threats and business issues, or simply because of his status, he or his family may simply be victims of illegal actions, ranging from blackmail to kidnapping with a ransom demand or providing them with some services, about which we do not know. But, spending up to thousands of dollars a year on his security, he knows why he is doing this, and wants in return to have a high guarantee of his safety.
Tips from Topguard
If you applied to a professional security agency of the Topguard class, you will be offered the following options:
- turnkey recruitment of personnel;
- provision of security services with security company personnel;
- confirmation (or denial) of the professionalism of those people whom you have chosen for this job, including their capacity and competence.
How personnel are robbed at Topguard. These well-reasoned tips will really help you make the right choice.
The first stage is checking the candidate's resume according to the items that are spelled out there; checking his physical fitness. As a rule, all candidates have previously been involved in some kind of sport, which is very much welcomed by the customer. For this, the candidate is invited to the Topgarda sports base, where there are three halls: for boxing, MMA and a hall for special power diagnostics. Literally, in one training session, the state of his health today and the confirmation of the level of his declared skills become obvious.
The second stage is an interview with a military psychologist who is well acquainted with security topics, such as ensuring personal security.
This usually takes 3-4 hours. And, as a rule, at this stage it is clear how competent the candidate is in his profession; to what extent the knowledge and skills declared by him correspond to what the psychologist sees.
The third stage is psychological tests. If the candidate somehow passes the first stage and the interview, then he will be tested. These are three psychological tests. They are designed for the specific position for which the person is hired. Tests are conducted online in a place convenient for the candidate. Their duration varies from 2 to 4 hours, while the candidate can take breaks. It is worth considering the factor that these tests, with an accuracy of 95%, will tell the truth about certain abilities of a person and what to expect from him in a particular position.
The fourth stage is the practical confirmation of those skills for which he will subsequently be paid money, confirmation of his declared abilities. The candidate is invited to the range, where he passes stress tests in shooting training; the ability to provide first aid to yourself and others; skills in working with fire extinguishing equipment; the ability to organize evacuation in a smoky room, etc. All this is recorded on video. And after passing all the stages, a decision is made.
The client receives a verdict on the job seeker:
- The conclusion of the psychologist-security officer and the video of the interview itself.
- Analysis of psychological tests.
- Results of practical exercises: training ground, medicine, functional, at the same time, also with video recording.
The client can personally see the level of training of the person to whom he is going to pay money and hire.
Based on the practice of the Topguard company, the majority of customers, after receiving the results of the check, refuse the services of a candidate for the place. But they refuse already on the basis of arguments, and not on a whim. For little money, the client (customer) receives a clear vision of the competence of yesterday's candidate and is glad that, for example, he refused the services of a person who does not meet his requirements in time.
There are situations when a candidate for a position lacks certain skills and abilities, while in general his candidacy suits the customer. Then the client is offered a special training program that will help the candidate to acquire and refine certain skills in order to achieve the required competence. The cost of such training will cost the client 8-10 percent of the total security costs per month.
Is there an alternative?
Let's analyze the moment when a person has chosen for his protection employees, for example, the state security structure "Titan". First, it will be expensive. The high cost of services will be explained by the presence of registered rifled weapons and official permission for it. They can solve problems with the support of state structures. That is, the client will be told: “Don't worry, everything will be fine. The state is with us." Well, it happens.
There are guys in various security government agencies who love their work to the point of fanaticism and spend their whole lives developing their skills. But, as a rule, only some of them, such as shooting or hand-to-hand combat, bring them to automatism. The development of others is not paid as much attention as required. In addition, coherence is needed if a group is working, for example, a driver and a bodyguard. And the lack of competence of one can have a rather negative impact on the work of the entire group.
Returning to the situation already described, in such cases such protection is taken on the advice or recommendation of colleagues and friends with whom the person will not break off relations. But he will not receive proper protection, since she was not selected in accordance with his requirements, and often does not have the opportunity to efficiently and smoothly cope with a particular task! By the way, in terms of coherence, the Topguard company can help, which conducts special trainings once a month to work it out.
Another, and quite numerous, category of clients - people who have been using the services of the same people for a long time: drivers, security guards, drivers with the function of security guards, etc. Many years ago, they, being at the “dawn” of their growth, hired them and continue to work with them. They are trusted, and they justify this trust. But times are changing, and over the past 10 years, the functional duties of the guards have undergone great changes. Today, when there is a war going on in the country, the guards should be tougher and more qualified.
Probably, 10 years ago they were great guys, but their social status has changed today: someone got married, someone already has a third child in the family, etc. And if there is no place for controlling the protection system to control its development and constant training, then, most likely, at the proper level of this preparation will not. For different reasons. For example, a person decided to save money and instead of two security shifts, he left one that works 5-6 days a week. That is, in such cases, one should not hope that the guards will regularly maintain their form and level of training.
Afterword
If you decide to hire a security guard or create a security service in the company, do not forget to do the following:
- take into account test information about candidates and recommendations on recruitment received from Topguard or similar security structures of the same rank;
- if the staff is already recruited, then develop a system for its training on a long-term basis;
- once every six months, monitor the growth of the training and skills of your security or close protection service by passing tests at Topguard or a similar structure.
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