Sia license is it worth paying for

theladyknows

My son has recently been made redundant and is struggling to find a job. He has been in the Territorial Army for years and has plenty of guard room experience with them and would like to go into the security industry. The vast majority of jobs want him to have a sia license.
Question - Is it worth paying the money to get him Sia trained?
Which cause would give him the best job opportunities? (He isn't built for door work)
Which company is cheapest and best?
We live in west yorkshire.
Thanks

nexuss

theladyknows wrote: »

The vast majority of jobs want him to have a sia license.

He has to have the SIA licence by law to work with all jobs within the security industry but some companies will pay for the course for him.One downside is it can be badly paid and long hours as at the moment many immigrants seem to fill these roles and will not object to working 60 hours a week at £5.73 per hour.

hartcjhart

If he is registered at the local jobcentre they may pay for the training worth asking,
yes most security jobs are poorly paid but better 60hrs at 5.75 (345) a week than dole money

as an aside once he is trained then he should apply to an agency that supplies ' clean condition' security to the power generation industry as they pay a hell of a lot more

Savvy_Sue

theladyknows wrote: »

(He isn't built for door work)

I'm not sure what this means! Door staff come in all shapes, sizes and genders! I know someone who used to run an agency for door staff, the whole point was to defuse conflict without getting physical about it!

hartcjhart

agree totally nowadays it is more the phsycology of de-fusing than kicking the carp out of them:eek:

there are even doorstaff of the 'fairer'sex;)

Ammie

hartcjhart wrote: »

as an aside once he is trained then he should apply to an agency that supplies ' clean condition' security to the power generation industry as they pay a hell of a lot more

Can you please explain what this means in more details. My OH has just passed his door supervisors training course and waiting to collect his cert so he can apply for his SIA licence.
He was thinking of doing security work full time and door work part time.

-BA-

Don't necessarily look for the cheapest course, look for the best and then look to see if anyone might be in a position to fund. Being SIA accredited should mean that the course should meet a certain standard and visiting http://www.the-sia.org.uk/home may be of use to research it further and possibly check for approved training providers.

With regards to funding your son could visit http://www.civvystreet.org/ if he is no longer serving in the TA. The Royal British Legion have a bursary and awards scheme that could support with training costs. Please note there are qualifying criteria such as no longer serving in the forces and being in receipt of a means tested benefit.

As mentioned before, there is no size when it comes to door work. The industry is working hard to change its image and the focus has shifted to customer service and interpersonal skills to prevent a situation deteriorating rather that the heavy handed approach.

nexuss

Security firms now work at the guardhouses on some army and royal marine bases so maybe useful with his TA experience.

justpaper

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I'm not sure what this means! Door staff come in all shapes, sizes and genders! I know someone who used to run an agency for door staff, the whole point was to defuse conflict without getting physical about it!

I'm pretty sure the OP mean working on doors of clubs and can 100% understand the term "he is'nt build for door work" because these pricks that go clubbing get !!!!ed and have a fight will jump the weakest looking door man, and thats just logic, you do get some heros that want to fight the biggest looking door man but thats once in a while, And all the door men/ women I see in birmingham city clubbing hot spots are wearing stab proof vests, not my cup of tea if i had a sia card,

to the OP if you son is working Hotel doors where hes inside the building different thing,

and im sure theirs ways to get funding for this SIA card if hes siging on he sould look into it as theirs 2 fees to pay, 1 for the course then a 2nd one for the card

robbies_gal

my husband works in london in security at an investment bank-curenlty is on 13 pounds an hour so depending wher you are it can be worth it

jobsearcher48

Ask at the jobcentre as this is one of the industries (security ) that they are promoting free courses for.Just completed one of these myself a few months ago. They paid for my course and my licence.If you have a door supervisor licence you can work in retail,manned guarding or door supervisor work.You do not need an sia licence if you work in-house for a shop,for example but most work is contract and that is not great pay.Door supervisors tend to work as a team,retail work can be more dangerous,manned guarding may be better paid.
He could look at cash in transit jobs.(this may be a different course though-check)

Only go with an sia approved company for training.The course will not train you to do the job I am afraid,it is just the very bare basics plus the criminal record check.The course will teach you the conflict management but again,very basic,not how to do all the restraints that you may need when working in door security.

As Savvy Sue said,it is a lot more about managing conflict rather than creating it-BUT-it does depend on where you work and who you work with. pm me if you want any more info.