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Juggling 2 professions-The Part time Specialist

Many specialists never reach that true “Hiatus” period I describe.  That period is that moment of purgatory between details when you are not working and waiting for the next call.  They are specialists that doing protection on an “availability” status because they maintain full-time or part-time employment.  From a financial perspective this is very smart, but from an industry perspective it is a double edged sword.

Financially, they have their priorities in order and regardless of the phone call they are still providing for themselves and families.  Many police officers that are trained in executive protection fall into this category.  They maintain their public service duties and are available when time and leave permit.  Often times and depending on their seniority, they can manipulate their schedule to work the short details but are unable to commit to long term details unless the detail is in their local area and they can be rotated in on their days off to fill slots.

There are the other specialists that work other full-time jobs that have a great relationship with their employer to come and go or move about without issues.  I have 2 locals specialists that are devoted to helping children.  They are consistently working details for me, no matter is the detail is long or short in nature, yet any other time they have off they are doing paid work with children.  I featured one of them previously in this blog: Call-Sign Outkast.  He is able to jockey between executive protection and his comment to uplifting children.  Another one Call-sign Rockstar is one of the state of Maryland’s leading high school football coaches.  Despite their other commitments they are always in the top 5 calls I make when the “Go” flag pops up.

The flip side of the part-time specialist is that it is difficult to maintain a constant edge between 2 responsibilities for many of them.  Transitioning from a chalk board to a pig-tail is not for everyone.  The other potential issue is that there is little to no time after their full-time commitment to dedicate to maintaining relevancy in the industry.  That’s where maintaining yourself on a solid network plays a major part.  Throughout the day there are hundreds if not thousands of experts, leaders and specialists that collaborate every second via social media.  In doing so, it is easy for a company owner like me to see which specialists are chomping at the bit, waiting for the gate to drop so they can start running.  The part-time specialist who maintains another job can be at a disadvantage from this perspective.  He/she is a relative unknown to the larger EP society.  That being said it is more vital to them to maintain a solid network relationship

So what does this all mean?  To the struggling specialists that wants this to be their full-time profession you have a couple of options.  Getting a full-time job in or out of the overall security industry and fall into a part-time available status, or continue plugging away and expand your networks.  Warning: when you cross pollinate into competing networks you risk the chance of being casted out as a traitor by the specialists in your main network as well as the business owner that has been calling you.  Networks are many cliques and its member can be very loyal to the business owners within the networks.  There a few local company owners here that call some of my full-time specialists that carry a PPS license in VA to work, all along knowing where their allegiance resides.  They call because they are short on people and know the calibre of specialist they are calling.  I encourage them to do so.  In doing so the specialist always caveats the commitment that if BPI calls I may have to jump off.  For those local companies that are not licensed in Maryland but call my guys to work for them in Maryland, they can not.  The individual’s license to operate in Maryland belongs to BPI and not to the individual whose name is printed on it.

There is nothing wrong with the part-time specialist at all, however you must be plugged into a network where they know how and when you can work.  The other issue is if that golden goose egg [long term detail] comes you may not be considered for that lifetime opportunity that you were waiting for.  You should always intimate to you network that if a long-term detail comes you are either able or unable to commit fully or part-time.  As a company owner this is what I always need to know.

2 comments

  1. Rich Roth

    I think we have all faced this dilemma at the start of many careers. In LA there are a lot of musicians that also do EP work, in this economy it is even tougher. While waiting for clearances to go thru for the Secret Service, I worked Friday nights and weekends as a security guard, days as an Electronic Tech, many EP types are doing that. It is part of what I look for in an interview, how are they trying to get it done.

    Jump years later when I left the USSS, I hung up my shingle for doing business, I still had to pay the bills and worked any odd job I could get for the first 6 months, but it all works in the US, put in the time, stay at your goals.

    I am going for my walk and will listen to a college lecture series on brain functions, keep working, keep learning it all works out in the end.

    Rich

    1. Eric Konohia

      Rich my friend
      You are one of those unwritten mentors and gems that I keep close to the vest.
      Your last sentence exemplifies the “seizing of moments” even as you do your work. There it is, proof in the pudding from a industry expert

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