Page 24 - the SyI Quarterly 8

Our Membership

Establishing my career as a

young professional

By Dominic Chandler ASyI

Having very kindly been asked to contribute to the Institute Quarterly magazine, I thought to myself,
“Yes, of course I can, but what to write about?”. So, I decided to share my career journey within the
security industry thus far as a young professional.

My journey into the world of work started early, I was in the last cohort of secondary school leavers
who were not required to stay in formal education post-16. Since leaving school I did a host of ‘menial’
jobs; warehouse work, and cleaning for my mother’s workplace – not a bad little job, but I thought to
myself ‘Surely there has to be more than this?’

I had never even considered the security industry as a career option before, but after a fair bit of
research, I thought to myself ‘why not?’. So, I saved up the money and completed both my Door
Supervisor and CCTV Qualifications – a fantastic investment, if I do say so myself.

In October 2013, I turned 19. Then a month after I obtained my SIA license, I found myself fortunate
enough to be offered my first security job as a Door Supervisor working in and around Coventry and
Leamington Spa starting in November.

It was a great job, working Friday and Saturday nights, but I still needed to obtain a full-time security
position. Many applications later, as a lot of companies required ‘experience’, in April 2014 I was lucky
enough to be offered a Security Officer position in a new-build combined Head-Office / Warehouse
facility at a business park within 25 minutes of home. My then Supervisor, who has now turned into
my best friend showed me the ropes: patrols, DOB recording etc. As she later told me when she found
out she would have a ‘youngster’ to look after “It’s his first security role, please look after him.”

A few weeks went past after starting my role and I started looking at professional bodies/organisations
within the security industry as well as qualifications. I wasn’t academically gifted at school but thought
I may as well try and gain something. This was where the Security Institute and Perpetuity Training
came in. I signed up to do the SyI Certificate in Security Management (Level 3) which also entitled me
to free Student Membership to the Institute. With help from Perpetuity’s team, I ended up achieving a
‘B’ for the SyI Certification and an overall ‘Pass’. It goes without saying, that I was very pleased.