Land more job offers by optimizing your security officer resume

Working as a security officer comes with many responsibilities, both technically and interpersonally. When applying for jobs in this field, it is essential to optimize your resume to showcase your greatest strengths and relevant experience, as well as key skills and educational credentials.

In this guide, we will take you through 5 steps that will optimize your security officer resume and help you land more job offers. Keep reading to learn how to:

• Select the correct resume format for your experience level
• Write a resume summary that shows your strengths as a security officer
• Choose key security officer skills to highlight your diverse abilities
• Describe your work experience with specific and quantifiable details
• List your education as a security officer correctly

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1. Select the correct resume format for your experience level

Security companies and private clients often search for security officer professionals with a high level of experience. As such, you should select a resume format in which you can highlight your work history and relevant skills or accomplishments.

In this case, the best format for a security officer is the reverse-chronological format. This resume focuses almost entirely on work experience, making it the largest and most central section on the document.

However, for this format to be effective, an applicant needs at least 1 to 2 years of solid, recent experience within the security field. If you lack this level of experience, you should consider using one of the following alternative formats:

• The Functional Resume: The functional resume removes the focus from work experience and places it instead on education, certifications, skills, and unpaid experience. This format works well for students and recent graduates with limited formal work history.
• The Hybrid Resume: The hybrid resume combines elements from functional and reverse-chronological resumes, spreading the focus of the document out more evenly between all sections. This format is well-suited for applicants who are changing career paths with transferable skills and applicants working around large gaps in their employment history.

Choose your preferred template and make your resume shine.

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2. Write a resume summary that shows your strengths as a security officer

A resume summary is a brief introductory statement that can start off your resume with a bang when well-written.

In your resume summary, you should aim to include your most important and relevant experience, skills, and accomplishments. Think of your summary like a movie preview – the information it contains should entice and compel employers to read on and contact you.

To illustrate this concept, here is an example of a weak security officer resume summary, followed by a corrected example and explanation:

Why is this Incorrect?

This example is on the right track by listing the applicant’s specialization in managing security details at large music festivals. Rather than listing out the key responsibilities in this plain way, the applicant should focus more on their main accomplishments and their role as a lead security officer.

Why is this Correct?

In this corrected example, more of the focus is placed on the applicant’s role as a head security officer. They also offer a lot more contextual information regarding which music festivals they worked for and how they accomplished a significant reduction in emergency incidents.

3. Choose key security officer skills to highlight your diverse abilities

Your final resume will be packed to the brim with keywords and skills – but you shouldn’t use just any skills under the sun.

When writing your security officer resume, you should strive to include the most relevant skills to impress employers and show your areas of expertise. Additionally, you should always include both soft and hard skills to show you have a diverse range of abilities.

Soft skills refer to your interpersonal abilities, such as your ability to communicate or provide leadership. Hard skills, comparatively, refer to your technical abilities, such as those gained through training programs or educations.

With this in mind, let’s look at the following examples of hard and soft skills for security officers:

4. Describe your work experience with specific and quantifiable details

As you write your work experience section, it is critical to consider how impactful the details you include are in terms of showing off your strengths and abilities.

Each of your descriptive bullet points should detail a key responsibility or accomplishment you had in a previous position. When possible, you should strive to include any improvements or benefits you provided for your employer, such as reducing operational costs or increasing sales.

5. List your education as a security officer correctly

In general, the minimum formal education requirement to become a security officer is either a high school diploma or a GED. Of course, if you have a higher level of education, you should include this information as well.

However, each security company or client will differ in what certifications or licenses they expect their staff to have.

Additionally, certification and licensing requirements will vary from state to state. Thus, it is highly important to familiarize yourself with your state’s legal standards and ensure your resume matches up with these requirements.