Finding Work In CP (UK Market)

Very good post. With the next wave of Army redundancies due in the next 24 hrs. I would hope that people will steer away from this line of work, and utilise their grants wisely on proper qualifications/trades, rather that try to join an 'industry' that doesn't actually exist !
 
An excellent and successful post...informative and honest, good job Nomad.
There are plenty of people that will really appreciate your effort in giving an insight of the industry (including me)...
I'm doing my best to gain nice jobs that would broad my range experience/expertise, even if I don't work regularly.
 
I myself am a newbie to this sector. So I appreciate the honest opinion and have taken note of it all.
For myself, I think it would be wise to have a wide skill set. I love the idea of completing a CP course but along with the skills I already have I think that could be best supplemented with surveillance training and PI work.
With the amount of forces and police personnel being moved on, it won't pay to be too focused on one area of security in my view.

Nice post, thanks!
 
Thanks for this its really useful and reinforces that it seems to be a bit of a gamble shelling out a lot of money for the courses-but can still be worth the effort. Some good replies too although I'm starting to keep count of Jomacs phrase "Research is key" on the forum!
I'm on my course in a few weeks...
Cheers!
 
There's a few lads leaving my unit soon and I quote "this job is shit, I'm going into CP and I'll be on nearly £100k a year"...
I have a little chuckle to myself.

Some resettlement places are discouraging lads from CP.
 
Maybe a few years with the low rate for the $ then yes but no chance now unless you are doing high risk media jobs
which unless you are ex sf you have no chance of picking up.



jammyk87 said:
There's a few lads leaving my unit soon and I quote "this job is shit, I'm going into CP and I'll be on nearly £100k a year"...
I have a little chuckle to myself.

Some resettlement places are discouraging lads from CP.
Click to expand...
 
Cbev said:
Maybe a few years with the low rate for the $ then yes but no chance now unless you are doing high risk media jobs
which unless you are ex sf you have no chance of picking up.
Click to expand...

Chev
Sorry mate but I have to disagree on that one. I am on a media job right now and I am not ex SF
There are the jobs out there. You just need to look
Andy
 
ENJ1986 said:
Been in the private market 18 months myself(abit more before I got my badge) and its a funny industry.

It's so full of shit for around 75% of it, people literally have no idea how to hold themselves in front of clients and need to speak just as clearly and properly as the client themselves. I think presentation and communicational skills are so important, I can not stress.

And if we lived in a perfect world, it would be added to all CP courses. Sadly you can't over turn punctuation, pernounciation and body language in days.

First year:45k
This year: 50-55k depending what summer work I get.

And my CV is NOT impressive. I have a minimal Police Background with some head of security type roles but in total 5 years of experience.

I got these gigs, one through luck and one through pure hard work and impressing. That one lucky break has now sorted me enough that if I left which I plan to do, I would be welcome back on a 42k basic wage with flexibility for time off.

So the money is ok and lots of willy waving etc, now if I worked out what my hourly rate was for last year, it would of been **** all. If I had a family, I wouldn't of seen them hardly, sometimes 6 day weeks with 12 hour days minimum, first 6 months hitting nearly 300 hours.

You are looking after a family or person from when they first move to when they sleep, not including sorting out the logistics and prep before hand. If you want a CP role 9-5, good luck as it virtually doesn't exist.

I lost a relationship over it but I don't care, this job does have potential to earn well but for the family man with kids, it's no life.

The day I get a family is the day I go back in to the Police or something secure.

My friend is a sparky, earns 70k a year.
Mate works for 02 selling business packages, earns 100k.
Mate installs windows, 50k a year.
Mate is a motorcycle courier for virgin bikes, earns 32k a year.

All these people above me work on average 30-50 hour week, Monday to Friday, weekends off with happy families.
There jobs are more secure than mine, they have good social lives and are all more than happy.

This job or industry in comparison is gash, 6-8 months and I'm off on a new adventure.

Money means **** all if you're life is miserable earning it.

You want security, get in to IT Security, the opportunities are endless and it's only going to grow as technology advances.

EDIT:This is written at 4am, finishing 2 weeks of nights and I am zonked.
I could of laid it out better but typing for 10 minutes quickly, you get my point hopefully.
Click to expand...


My las read this and laughed at how I spelt "pronounciation" wrong.

Also use of "of" instead of "have".

She laughs now, you wait till she finds out I'm banging her sister ;-)
 
Excellent article and as an employer I hope all newbies take note. I hate CVs that are not written by the person, I hate it when I have to waffle through four pages to find skills. Skills on front page along with languages, name, height where in the world you are based, telephone number and email.

fbg
 
Many thank for the advise. I have 6 months left in the army and are busy with my resettlement. I'll take everything on board
 
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