Guardsmark reviews about "training"

Management. I was lied to from the first day of the stupidly long application process. I was told there was one opening when in actuality I am the first hired in a wave of new guards to replace the current crew. The current contract ends and the new one begins March 1. I am the first armed guard to be hired but there are no others hired as of yet. If a fully armed crew is not hired in the next 2 weeks we will lose the contract. Our HR manager has been taking his time finding new people because he thought the new contract started in June. Why would the person who is in charge of the hiring process not have the correct information? Uniforms. The current unarmed security guard uniforms are outdated. The suit and tie security look does not look professional. The uniforms are cheaply made and the pants are itchy. Yes they are free but you have to have the pants altered and you might not get your size. My 1 pair of pants fit but only 1 of 3 shirts is my size. Also, if steel toe boots are required at your client site that comes out of your pocket. Uniform appearance is lacking. I'm former active duty Navy and current Army reserve. I iron my cheap uniform and polish my boots but I appear to be the only one. The uniform regulations are barely enforced and facial hair regulations are not enforced. Even if the uniforms are cheap and outdated the appearance is still important but no body cares except me. No one wears the tie and I don't even think anyone was issued the blazer. Paperwork. Guardsmark wants everything hand written. Nothing can be printed out or e-mailed. The company wastes way too much paper. I'm not a tree hugging hippy but this company makes me feel bad for the trees. Every guard must fill out their daily report by hand every day. Monthly training must be done by hand every month. It's all read and answer the questions. I don't think there is any actual training. With your paycheck comes the newsletter and a day to day planner/calender with more training. Your envelope will be heavy with useless crap and your paycheck. Every week you must hand write out your time sheet in a somewhat confusing way even though your supervisor, who already has all that information including changes, has to fill out a weekly time sheet for everyone. All requests for an updated system get shot down and apparently if you press to hard you get fired. Benefits. They have some benefits, but, they are expensive. If you have a higher paying position you might be alright but the lower paid employees usually go with their own medical and dental plans. If you have a family it's even more expensive. I think you can get free life insurance but you have to have been employed for a specified amount of time and work 40 hours a week. 39 hours or less and you lose the life insurance.

Training is minimal, Lack of communication with the Supervisor, Pay sucks, The company doesn't follow their own guidelines but expects others to. Corp. sugar coats everything. I was a Supervisor for 6 months then was demoted to a Lead for absolutely no reason. I was told i didn't receive the proper training, go figure. My replacement is supposed to mentor and train me so i can move back up but that isn't happening. I've spoken with managers all that does is go through one ear and out the other. My advice to those people that are considering to work for this company is find a place that actually appreciates their employees.

Communication is fuzzy between guards and supervisor. Training can be incomplete and procedures can be left out.

Very long hiring process and lots of paper work. ( Background check, drug test, polygraph test, 40 pages application, 500 psychological questions test) Low pay(usually $10-11/hr) Old and already worn by other officers uniforms Monthly training( it's not a real training, they will ask you to read some materials and copy the answers on the sheet every month. totally waste of paper) No room to advance Very old school and cheap company ( They still run the business like we would live in 70's or 80's)

The pay, the monthly training is tedious.

Management is essentially nonexistent. Security guards can do just about anything (crash security car into a plane, his an employees car in parking lot, fall asleep on the job) and still not get fired Not enough guards so vacation is a struggle. Supervisor gets paid way too much for doing less then the guards Client takes advantage of guard and uses them to do thing that their employees should be doing. Guards are NOT properly trained. Forget about regular pay raises, even after YEARS of employment Green training sheets are a joke, you are literally forced to lie about being trained. Have to do paper DARs(could the be anymore archaic) Ira Lipman is a greedy joke. Is it really necessary for him to send an insincere holiday card with his rich family to guards and rub it in their face that he is rolling in the dough because he pays his guards crap?!

Security is about repetition and consistency in doing your assigned tasks. If you look for ways to keep it fresh and ask for additional training when offered it will improve your outlook. Benefits are minimal. Company culture favors the mature minded individual ('Do The Right Thing' is a company motto) who takes ownership for their tasks will be the happiest.