Example Career: Security Managers

Career Description

Direct an organization's security functions, including physical security and safety of employees, facilities, and assets.

What Job Titles Security Managers Might Have

• Corporate Security Manager
• Manager
• Security and Safety
• Security Director
• Security Manager

What Security Managers Do

• Create or implement security standards, policies, and procedures.
• Identify, investigate, or resolve security breaches.
• Respond to medical emergencies, bomb threats, fire alarms, or intrusion alarms, following emergency response procedures.
• Monitor and ensure a sound, ethical environment.
• Plan, direct, or coordinate security activities to safeguard company assets, employees, guests, or others on company property.
• Develop, implement, manage, or evaluate policies and methods to protect personnel against harassment, threats, or violence.
• Develop, conduct, support, or assist in governmental reviews, internal corporate evaluations, or assessments of the overall effectiveness of facility and personnel security processes.
• Train subordinate security professionals or other organization members in security rules and procedures.
• Assess risks to mitigate potential consequences of incidents and develop a plan to respond to incidents.
• Communicate security status, updates, and actual or potential problems, using established protocols.
• Direct or participate in emergency management and contingency planning.
• Conduct threat or vulnerability analyses to determine probable frequency, criticality, consequence, or severity of natural or man-made disasters or criminal activity on the organization's profitability or delivery of products or services.
• Supervise or provide leadership to subordinate security professionals, performing activities, such as hiring, background investigation, training, assigning work, evaluating performance, or disciplining.
• Develop budgets for security operations.
• Write or review security-related documents, such as incident reports, proposals, and tactical or strategic initiatives.
• Analyze and evaluate security operations to identify risks or opportunities for improvement through auditing, review, or assessment.
• Develop or manage integrated security controls to ensure confidentiality, accountability, recoverability, or audit ability of sensitive information, proprietary information, or information technology resources.
• Monitor security policies, programs or procedures to ensure compliance with internal security policies, licensing requirements, or applicable government security requirements, policies, and directives.
• Conduct physical examinations of property to ensure compliance with security policies and regulations.
• Collect and analyze security data to determine security needs, security program goals, or program accomplishments.
• Coordinate security operations or activities with public law enforcement, fire and other agencies.
• Review financial reports to ensure efficiency and quality of security operations.
• Purchase security-related supplies, equipment, or technology.
• Develop or manage investigation programs, including collection and preservation of video and notes of surveillance processes or investigative interviews.
• Develop, arrange for, perform, or assess executive protection activities to reduce security risks.
• Plan security for special and high-risk events.
• Support efforts to reduce substance abuse or other illegal activities in the workplace.
• Develop, recommend, or manage security procedures for operations or processes, such as security call centers, system acquisition, development, and maintenance, access control, program models, or reporting tools.
• Prepare reports or make presentations on internal investigations, losses, or violations of regulations, policies and procedures.

What Security Managers Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

What Security Managers Need to Learn

• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.