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- Thread starter swatrfc
- Start date
I guess it depends on what area of CP you want to work, or to better your CV for.
Driving and Medical are obvious ones and apply to pretty much every area, although there are a few options and subtleties within each. As well as the usual advanced driving (suggest you get your RoSPA as a starter) you might need Armoured SUV experience, or off-road, or towing a horsebox lol
Don't forget to consider your theatre of operations, if you live in a little village and drive a Ford Focus, you'll struggle stepping in to a role driving the boss around London in his massive Bentley. There are tailored courses out there or just do some unofficial but logical stuff - spend time driving around London, learn routes between popular locations at different times of the day (City Airport to Canary Wharf to Covent Garden to Kensington, learn where popular hotels, shops and 'gentleman's clubs' are etc), hire something big and expensive for a few days and get used to it.
Suggest you do skid pan and take a trip to Sweden and learn to drive fast and safe in snow and ice.
Medical - do the obvious stuff then look at Pediatric, most of the guys I work with have families and children and a medical emergency is far more likely than a kidnapping, so knowing you can save their choking 5 year old holds more weight with your average CEO than holding a black belt in underwater knife fighting.
Look at the lifestyles of those you want to protect - I know people who have gotten Personal Trainer certifications, can ride a horse etc. I've got my Powerboat and Scuba qualifications because the boss likes to play in the water and I can't protect him from dry land watching through some binoculars.
What about a language?
How fit are you? If you get a Principal who wants to run Hyde Park each morning before breakfast, can you?
There's loads of courses 'targeted' at CP but don't get drawn in - take a step back and think about the actual day-to-day role and what's useful for that rather than getting a cert in something that sounds good but has almost zero practical use.
I work with CEOs, HNW individuals and successful businessmen and women - they're savvy, smart, great at what they do. I'm mostly on my own or with one or two others and not part of a big team, so the more I can do myself the better I look to the boss. They're not impressed by a cert in counter-terrorist operations or being able to kill someone with only my thumb, they want someone who blends in with their business and personal lifestyle, looks the part, isn't going to embarrass them at an event, can provide a range of 'value-added' support beyond the ability to stop the guy running at him with a knife.
Driving and Medical are obvious ones and apply to pretty much every area, although there are a few options and subtleties within each. As well as the usual advanced driving (suggest you get your RoSPA as a starter) you might need Armoured SUV experience, or off-road, or towing a horsebox lol
Don't forget to consider your theatre of operations, if you live in a little village and drive a Ford Focus, you'll struggle stepping in to a role driving the boss around London in his massive Bentley. There are tailored courses out there or just do some unofficial but logical stuff - spend time driving around London, learn routes between popular locations at different times of the day (City Airport to Canary Wharf to Covent Garden to Kensington, learn where popular hotels, shops and 'gentleman's clubs' are etc), hire something big and expensive for a few days and get used to it.
Suggest you do skid pan and take a trip to Sweden and learn to drive fast and safe in snow and ice.
Medical - do the obvious stuff then look at Pediatric, most of the guys I work with have families and children and a medical emergency is far more likely than a kidnapping, so knowing you can save their choking 5 year old holds more weight with your average CEO than holding a black belt in underwater knife fighting.
Look at the lifestyles of those you want to protect - I know people who have gotten Personal Trainer certifications, can ride a horse etc. I've got my Powerboat and Scuba qualifications because the boss likes to play in the water and I can't protect him from dry land watching through some binoculars.
What about a language?
How fit are you? If you get a Principal who wants to run Hyde Park each morning before breakfast, can you?
There's loads of courses 'targeted' at CP but don't get drawn in - take a step back and think about the actual day-to-day role and what's useful for that rather than getting a cert in something that sounds good but has almost zero practical use.
I work with CEOs, HNW individuals and successful businessmen and women - they're savvy, smart, great at what they do. I'm mostly on my own or with one or two others and not part of a big team, so the more I can do myself the better I look to the boss. They're not impressed by a cert in counter-terrorist operations or being able to kill someone with only my thumb, they want someone who blends in with their business and personal lifestyle, looks the part, isn't going to embarrass them at an event, can provide a range of 'value-added' support beyond the ability to stop the guy running at him with a knife.
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