Security employment requirements - advice

osirisrt

Hi folks,

Currently unemployed, and have been looking for work in my field (pc/technical) for the last 3 months since i moved back to the place im currently living. More recently ive been trying out applying for jobs in other fields as ive had no luck yet in my own , and within a larger area of where i live, but still not getting anywhere. (i regularly view all the jobsites - jobcentre, local council, nhs, monster etc etc and look locally also, newspapers etc)

Iv now decided to look in more employment areas further still, and was curious about security work, as there seems a fair amount of jobs available. I understand most security jobs require an sia licence, and that pay in some cases can be average, with long working hours, but as things are, im more willing than ever to try out anything new that will help me gain employment.

My question is, one of the usual requirements i read about in security positions, is for a 5 year checkable work history. Is this asked from a 'what have you done' perspective? or is it more, from their own checks on yourself, as you would be going into a security position?

Reason i ask, is that i can easily give my last 5 years work history, but its quite a mix of things. worked in one area, then did college for best part of a year, then was unemployed, then did college again, then self employed, then the big decision to move home/area to try helping improve employment (my self employment came to an end after a year or so).

Any advice or such would be appreciated.

thanks in advance.

nightsky224

Hi, I work for a security company (we install CCTV so a bit different)

We have to vet our employees to BS 7858. It includes a 5year work history chek) We get our employees to fill out a form detailing where they worked and contact details. We then contact the employer to confirm dates. The bit thats a pain is if you have been out of work for more than a 30 day period. You have to say why and produce details (if traveling then tickets etc, benefit details if claiming etc, its a nightmare really!!)

Hope this helps

osirisrt

hi, thanks for the response.

so would you say its more for security reasons than say, another employer who wants to know what youv done/where youv worked?

I mean, would it go against you if your last 5 years was a mix of stuff (as i said in my above post, ive been unemployed, self employed, done training,etc.), what if youd been unemployed for 5 years ? or does it not matter what youv done, its just for purposes of security ? (as you say, you have to vet employees to the bs7858) ?

just want to know wether if anything would go against me if i trained for sia licence etc then my 5 yr history went against me when applying for anything.

thanks again for the reply.

nightsky224

osirisrt wrote: »

hi, thanks for the response.

so would you say its more for security reasons than say, another employer who wants to know what youv done/where youv worked?

I mean, would it go against you if your last 5 years was a mix of stuff (as i said in my above post, ive been unemployed, self employed, done training,etc.), what if youd been unemployed for 5 years ? or does it not matter what youv done, its just for purposes of security ? (as you say, you have to vet employees to the bs7858) ?

just want to know wether if anything would go against me if i trained for sia licence etc then my 5 yr history went against me when applying for anything.

thanks again for the reply.

The purpose of the 5 year screening is to check you are who you say you are and you haven't spend the last 5 years doing something you shouldn't. For vetting it does not matter if you have done numerous different things.

osirisrt

ok thanks, thats the main thing i wanted to understand. thanks again for the response.

osirisrt

while im thinking about it.. does anyone know of what funding maybe available to gain this qualification/licence? ive enquired at the jobcentre, and sadly the sia is something they stopped doing a while back apparently. any thoughts appreciated.

hook

you can go on the sia website and they should have a list of places that will do the course. i remember a while ago i saw adverts for the sia licence for between £80-£100 but then your licence will cost about £250 plus the time it takes to get the whole thing done could be forever. mine took me a year to get it sorted others i have know to takes 3 to 6 months. i have held a licence sia and local council for years now and now im unemployed and cant even get anything now. you know if you want a frontline licence you can work as a steward whilst your licence is being prosessed