How To Become A Bodyguard - Everything You Need To Know About Becoming A Bodyguard
Being a bodyguard can be a very rewarding, exciting and well paid career. Before pursuing a career as a bodyguard, you should have a clear understanding of what the job entails, what kind of personality a bodyguard needs to be successful, what training you need and what that training involves, and finally how to network and find a job. Read on to learn everything you need to know.
How To Become A Bodyguard - What The Work Involves Most people have a mistaken view on what being a bodyguard will be like, based on what they have seen in movies and on television. The truth is far removed from this, and it is highly unlikely you will become a bodyguard for a Hollywood celebrity. Lengths of contracts can be anything from one day to several weeks, sometimes longer. Your main goal will be protecting clients from violence, kidnapping, or any threat or situation which could be harmful to them. You achieve this by being alert, prior planning and research to identify and prevent and possible threat or disruption, and scouting premises and areas prior to your client going there. |
How To Become A Bodyguard - The Entry Requirements
If you want to become a bodyguard, then you will need to have the correct personality and mindset. Contrary to popular belief, aggression is most definitely not a desirable trait as your main goal is conflict avoidance to protect your client. You will always need to be thinking about possible threats and dangerous situations – it is your job to avoid them in the first place rather than extract your client from them. The successful bodyguard will need to have an inbuilt instinct to help others. You will need to be confident, observant, a good team worker, have quick reactions, and decision making skills, and of course be calm under pressure.
Requirements: You will need to be over 18, In good physical condition, Obtain level 3 SIA approved qualification in close protection and an SIA licence, have first aid certification, and pass background checks.
When people ask me how to become a bodyguard, one of their main motivations is money. If you are just starting out as a bodyguard, you need to have realistic expectations regarding pay. With little experience, you are unlikely to secure any roles other than basic home protection and patrol as a member of a wider team. For this you will be looking at pay of roughly £10 per hour. However with experience, you can easily start to command MUCH more than this, and many bodyguards on private contract secure rates of hundreds of pounds per day. A colleague of mine has just returned from Dubai where he was on £500 per day, and there are other higher paid positions out there. Definitely a good reason to research how to become a bodyguard! To be considered for bodyguarding work, you will need to have the relevant training and qualifications. For any work you will need an SIA licence. Most contracts, and therefore the training for them, are either classed as high risk or low risk. They both require different kinds of training. High risk work will be located in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, South America, Russia – areas that are either warzones, or have a high rate of lawlessness. Most bodyguards doing high risk work are ex military as their skills and character are so closely matched to the job requirements. If you are ex military you will find it much easier to obtain high risk work than somebody who is not. |
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Low risk work is usually residential security, driving, or close protection for business people travelling around the world, but don’t be fooled by the title, you can still end up in some medium risk areas. As you will usually be escorting business people, you will need to be unobtrusive, smart, and able to blend into the background as you may be attending high brow events and conferences where the focus most definitely should not be on you. You do not need military experience for this work.
How To Become A Bodyguard - Training Courses And Providers
What And Who To Choose?
When seeking out how to become a bodyguard, you are presented with a multitude of different courses and training providers. Many course providers will guarantee employment once the course is completed, but don’t be fooled by this promise. Only choose a training provider who is SIA accredited, as you will need an SIA licence once your training is complete. Once you have a list of potential training courses, do your research on them before parting with your money. Ask other bodyguards, research online, and make phone calls. You want recommendations from sources you trust. If one person has had a good experience with a training company, they will want to spread the word
Some other things to bear in mind when choosing a course are what type of work you want to do when qualified – some companies specialise for example in high risk, or corporate close protection. Try to choose one that has a lot of practical exercises rather than just theory based learning. Don’t always go with the cheapest option – it takes time to learn these skills, and it will benefit you greatly in the future if you select the right course now. Think of your training as an investment, and investment that will provide a handsome return if chosen correctly. Just think of the potential earnings you could receive when you become a successful bodyguard. For more information on bodyguard training courses, including what the courses entail, visit ourhow to become a bodyguard training coursepage.
Once your training is completed and you have received your certificate and your SIA licence, you are officially a qualified bodyguard!
To Find Employment As A Bodyguard, You Now Need To Get Networking
Now that you have officially become a bodyguard, you will be looking for work as a self employed individual. If you have done any prior research on how to become a bodyguard before visiting this site, you will probably have realised that bodyguard job vacancies are not often advertised on the web or in the press. Most companies employing bodyguards will have a wealth of contacts to choose from and pools of speculative resumes to look through. This is why networking is so important. It is important to network with every team you work with, as they may bring you with them on future assignments they read. You also join online forums, send out your resume to all the different companies. Don’t be put off by having little to no experience, you will progress over time as you gain more contacts in the industry.
If you have just qualified from the training school, you will need to focus on getting your resume spot on. Keep it to one page, no more than two pages. Normal “good resume” rules apply. Keep it honest, professional, to the point, and relevant. As you gain experience, add this to your resume, listing your responsibilities and duties, don’t exaggerate though, as you will be found out.
If You are still interested in becoming a bodyguard, then its time to take the next step. Decide what training you want, and choose a course. Check out ourHow to become a bodyguard trainingpage for free and impartial information on all the different training courses and providers out there.