Example Career: Security Management Specialists

Career Description

Conduct security assessments for organizations, and design security systems and processes. May specialize in areas such as physical security, personnel security, and information security. May work in fields such as health care, banking, gaming, security engineering, or manufacturing.

What Job Titles Security Management Specialists Might Have

• Consultant
• Director
• Security Risk Management
• Operations Staff Specialist
• Security
• Physical Security Engineer
• Physical Security Specialist
• Principal Engineer
• Security Engineering and Applied Science
• Section Chief
• Physical Security Specialist
• Security Analyst
• Security Consultant
• Security Specialist

What Security Management Specialists Do

• Engineer, install, maintain, or repair security systems, programmable logic controls, or other security-related electronic systems.
• Recommend improvements in security systems or procedures.
• Perform risk analyses so that appropriate countermeasures can be developed.
• Conduct security audits to identify potential vulnerabilities related to physical security, staff safety, or asset protection.
• Provide system design and integration recommendations.
• Design security policies, programs, or practices to ensure adequate security relating to asset protection, alarm response, access card use, and other security needs.
• Assess the nature and level of threats so that the scope of the problem can be determined.
• Design, implement, or establish requirements for security systems, video surveillance, motion detection, or closed-circuit television systems to ensure proper installation and operation.
• Respond to emergency situations on an on-call basis.
• Determine the value loss impact and criticality of assets.
• Prepare, maintain, or update security procedures, security system drawings, or related documentation.
• Develop or review specifications for design or construction of security systems.
• Outline system security criteria for pre-bid meetings with clients and companies to ensure comprehensiveness and appropriateness for implementation.
• Develop conceptual designs of security systems.
• Monitor the work of contractors in the design, construction, and startup phases of security systems.
• Train personnel in security procedures or use of security equipment.
• Review design drawings or technical documents for completeness, correctness, or appropriateness.
• Inspect security design features, installations, or programs to ensure compliance with applicable standards or regulations.
• Test security measures for final acceptance and implement or provide procedures for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the measures.
• Budget and schedule security design work.
• Inspect fire, intruder detection, or other security systems.
• Prepare documentation for case reports or court proceedings.
• Interview witnesses or suspects to identify persons responsible for security breaches or to establish losses, pursue prosecutions, or obtain restitution.

What Security Management Specialists 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.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• 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.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• 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).
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
• Flexibility of Closure - The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
• Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
• Visualization - The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.

What Security Management Specialists Should Be Interested In

• Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
• Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
• Conventional - Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

What Security Management Specialists 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.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• 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.
• Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• 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.
• Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• 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.
• Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
• Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• 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.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.