Many individuals trying to break into the Executive Protection field spend years training and networking but fail to recognize that one important (and inexpensive) tool is missing in their arsenal: a professional resume.
Resumes represent an individual’s ability to plan and organize and sell their skills. As they say in marketing; the packaging is key to selling a product. And YOU are the product. We have seen countless resumes that simply don’t pass muster and unfortunately, even if you have skills and/or experience, a poor resume sends a statement that your attention to detail is lacking.
Think about this from a potential employer’s viewpoint for a moment. If you can’t create a strategy to obtain a professional resume—the perception may be that you don’t value the importance of advance work. If you don’t take the time to check for spelling or grammatical errors—it sends a message that you may not be careful to double-check an itinerary or evacuation plan. If you don’t have a strong career objective, employers may feel you are unable to take decisive action. Sloppy margins, inconsistent formatting. . . you get the picture.
Your resume is your first point of contact with potential employers.
Bodyguard Careers can help you to put your best foot forward by working one-on-one with you to create a resume that will increase your chances of landing an interview. We will assess your training, experience and skills to help you prepare a strategy for your career path that starts with your resume and cover letter. We are confident our guidance will increase your chances for success. Learn more by clicking on the BGC CAREER TOOLS tab on our website.
“You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression”
Hi Rick,
I am planning to upgrade my comms.
Do you have any recommendations as to what radios are best suited/priced/availability in the EP industry?
I’m based in South Africa.
Fraturnal greetings
Hucky is on target with this; have someone proof-read your resume to make sure there are no errors. Use a type font like Arial 11 or 12 that is clean and easy to read. Use a clean white paper — stay away from colorful stationery and exotic fonts. When ads are run for security professionals, the response is often overwhelming and recruiters will look for key words to screen out the candidates that they don’t think will fit in. If applying for domestic government or most corporate security jobs, don’t waste your “advertising” space on how well you can shoot, or how many black belts you have. Instead focus on which skill sets you have that are relevant to the organization’s goals. If you are going for corporate EP, remember that you are applying to work for a business, and that you are there to facilitate the conduct of said business for key execs…they want to know that you aren’t going to embarrass them and that you will add value to the operation. If you are an “operator” just back from an austere environment, call attention to management skills that you’ve acquired, but understand that corporate America doesn’t want a Hum-V-convoy mindset. They will want you to blend in to their surroundings and be able to converse with the people that frequent the Boardroom.
Things to highlight would include foreign language skills, budget management, human resource training and development, special projects that you orchestrated, number of people you supervised, how your actions made your Protectee’s role successful etc etc.
Many organizations now use targeted selection or structured interviewing techniques designed to draw out certain dimensions or experiences that they are looking for. A sample question in this format would be something like, “Describe a time in your career that you had to overcome personal conflict in order to meet a goal”. The follow-up would then be, “Tell me about the experience…tell me what you saw your role as…tell me how you approached the task…tell me the results”.
Or, “Descibe a situation you were faced with where the goals of your organization were at odds with your personal ethics…how did you work through that?”
Also, unless you’ve had a long career with relevant accomplishments, published articles/books/research or your own reality TV show, keep your resume to below two pages. If, for example, you are 25 years old, have an honorable discharge and attended some college…that is a one-page resume. Keep it short, sweet and relevant. Like Elvis said, “Leave them wanting more!”