Working as an Executive Protection Specialist

Working as an Executive Protection Specialist will lead you to be placed in various locations and assignments as well as being exposed to various clients.  Some clients will treat you with the utmost respect and dignity and will listen to your direction and insight, while others will talk down to you and treat you as an object they own and control. The unfortunate reality is that many clients fall into the later category.  With this said, remember that regardless of this unfortunate treatment you have to rise above the situation and always act in a professional manner.  If your feelings become hurt easily then this is not the job for you!

Recently, one of my associates contacted me and wanted to share with me a situation that he had recently dealt with while on the road.  My associate had been hired to protect an entertainer that is an up and coming rap artist.  After a recent show the rapper, his posse, and countless guests were partying in a small private space at a nightclub.  While the party was in full force, the local fire marshal came to the club and met with my friend.  The fire marshal explained to my friend that if anyone else came into the private space that he would start to issue citations and “shut the place down.”

Types of Executive Protection Clients

My friend advised the fire marshal that he would comply and not allow anyone else to enter the room.  Keeping true to his word, my associate was diligent in his task and ensured that no additional guests entered the party.  About 45 minutes after meeting with the fire marshal, my associate was summoned to go speak with the “rapper.” When he arrived, the “rapper” began using loud and obscene language which was then followed by the threat to fire my associate for not letting “his people” into the party.

The moral of this story (which goes hand in hand with this post on particular clients) is to always ensure that you are comfortable working for those you are protecting, be confident that this is “the right fit” for you  when it comes to Executive Protection operations.  Many individuals entering into this field believe that they have to take the first job that is offered to them; however, this is the wrong attitude to have. Working a protection detail, in many cases, is similar to marriage. In short, in a marriage both parties must learn to respect one another and must understand the others’ needs and concerns.

If one member of the relationship fails to follows these guidelines, that marriage is doomed to fail. The same holds true when working with a client.  I have known numerous cases where an executive protection specialist has “pissed” off the client for what ever reason and was terminated from employment. The executive protection specialist then faces what is labeled “blackballed” by the client who will pass on partly true and false information about the executive protection specialist , thus causing him or her a hard time in finding employment within the industry.

Think about this for a minute…before you are going to be hired by that musical pop-star or owner of a fortune 500 company to provide EP services for them, these individuals, their record labels or private investigators are in many cases going to put you thru the ringers by conducting a background check, financial check, and then will speak to references that include former co-workers, family, and friends.

So my question to you is this, why would you not look into the background of these individuals prior to accepting employment with them? Be leery and always check on who and what the individual(s) you are going to protect are about. Practice your due diligence, find out what others can tell you about a specific client, and join some of the executive protection based forums offered out there. Remember in the end, the final choice is yours and yours alone, but an educated individual who takes the time to learn about the client he or she is working for will have a much better chance to increase their longevity within the EP game.

Remember: As an executive protection specialist you are not only protecting a client but you are also protecting yourself.  As a mentor to those entering this field I applaud you to heed to what I have shared with you in this post. I want you to be successful in this career if this is the path that you wish to follow. As someone who has had the opportunity to travel these roads alone and in many cases has had to find things out the hard way I want you to know both the positive and the negative sides of this business and how cut throat clients can sometimes be.

This article was written by Nathan Seabrook