How To Make More Money As A Security Guard

The average security guard salary is about $14 an hour. You can make more money, but you have to do more than keep your uniform clean and make sure you’re well groomed.

Three things that can increase your value as a security professional are your background, your training, and your education.

Most guards, and many other professionals, will have to go through some type of background check. Make sure you live a lifestyle that allows you to pass one. Don’t use drugs or alcohol and then get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Don’t mix your substance use with firearm use. If you have a problem with substance use, get help. If you hang out with people who abuse drugs and alcohol, or who do not respect the rule of law, stop hanging out with them. Their behavior could put you in a situation that affects your clean record. These are practices to live by even after you’ve passed a background check, because you want to be able to keep passing to keep your certifications.

Training to earn additional certifications that give you additional opportunities to make money is a smart move. If you are an unarmed guard, train to serve as an armed guard, or to use a baton, or both. How about training to train other guards? You could also use your security-mindedness to move into the hot information technology (IT) field of cybersecurity.

If you want to move into law enforcement, especially at the federal level, you will benefit from higher education. Make sure you have, or get, a high school diploma or GED. After that, consider getting a college degree. Your area of study can vary, including accounting, criminal justice, or a foreign language.

I talk about many ways to raise your value—which raises your pay—as a security guard in my book Rent-A-Cop Reboot. Check it out today, because today’s decisions affect your tomorrows.

***

Check out our videos about the security profession on the Leumas Publishing YouTube Channel.