We're now in a new era. An era where "anything goes". The attack on the HSBC Bank premises in Istanbul late last year shows that terrorism is a real threat to major organisations who have operations in the UK. In a similar vein, technological developments have opened up new opportunities for crime.
All of which has contributed to a paradigm shift within the security sector and, in turn, has necessitated the desire for a more sophisticated type of security executive. That said, a good many organisations have been slow to ramp up their corporate security, and have singularly failed to hire the right quality of security management personnel. There now needs to be an enduring security investment to counter these threats.
A recent study of no less than 5,000 UK companies (conducted by the House of Commons Defence Committee) found that only 45% of those firms surveyed had business continuity plans in place. It follows that organisations must re-think the ways in which they hire security managers, and what skills they should be looking for in such individuals.
The core skills set for managers
To be a good security manager, the five main clusters of skills required are an intellectual capacity, personal motivation, an ability to get on with all kinds of people, emotional intelligence and security industry knowledge.
Security managers must be able to motivate and lead rather than drive, and be capable of developing methods to combat the new security threats (ie cyber attacks on data, CBRN and forms of sabotage).
On the commercial side, security managers must be focused on customer relationship management, take overall responsibility for profit and loss and margins (where applicable), identify business opportunities and develop them (if working in the contract sector), show highly developed interpersonal skills, demonstrate that they have knowledge and experience of business processes and make it obvious that they possess integrity.
When it comes to the recruitment process, security managers who are already in post should be thinking ahead to succession planning. Bear in mind that the way in which you manage recruitment for all staff is the first thing that potential employees see. Often, companies underestimate the importance of creating a favourable impression for candidates at this juncture.
How many of you have had a bad experience or two when trying to find a new job? Remember that the majority of candidates who enter your recruitment cycle aren't hired. You still need to deal with them in a professional manner at all times.
Essentially, good security managers have to be able to devise a viable business continuity plan, produce and implement crisis management and contingency plans and maintain an in-depth knowledge of industry news and legislation
The recruitment consultant with which you choose to partner is also key. Does it reflect your organisation in a professional manner? You need to engender a slick recruitment process to ensure that candidates progress smoothly from one stage to the next. Companies have often failed to hire the best candidates simply because those individuals have withdrawn due to dissatisfaction with the recruitment process itself. Remember that.
Top candidates will of course be in demand, so you need to recognise that you may have to go the extra mile to secure a hire. Some companies grumble about having to pay a little extra while failing to recognise that a security executive could be managing multi-million pound contracts and be in charge of both contingency and business continuity policies. That's a massive responsibility.
Vetting and recruitment procedures
Vetting slows down the recruitment process. Corporate concerns are spending as much as 40% longer to check the credentials of prospective staff these days, forcing candidates to wait for lengthy periods before hearing whether or not they've secured the job. You may lose out.
What's the company's policy for verifying the identity and background of potential staff? Is that policy adequate today when there's so much identity fraud and theft occurring? Should you consider outsourcing your vetting to reputable specialists?
Do you use psychometric testing to spot possible personality/stress flaws in your candidates? Will your candidate be able to handle the stress frequently found in today's uncertain and, at times, very dangerous world? And are you aware of current technologies of screening on ethical dimensions? These are some of the central questions that must be posed and answered.
Staff retention: the big challenge
One of the greatest challenges in today's security environment is recruiting and then retaining talented security professionals. Some companies don't appear to have spotted the fact that there's an ever-increasing demand for these top executives.
In most circumstances it's preferable to retain existing staff rather than having to keep replacing them all the time. Indeed, it has been suggested that "a single percentage point reduction in turnover of staff can save larger companies £1 million on the bottom line" (CIPD Recruitment, 2004). It goes without saying that major efforts towards retention will deliver a sustainable edge in business performance.
Staff retention might be considerably improved by offering structured career development, secondments to other departments that will broaden an employee's skills and knowledge base and, strangely enough, opportunities for their promotion outside of the security arena.
Source
SMT
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