Security guard job description, by the post you are filling
A security guard job description has to name the post. An unarmed site guard, an armed guard, a loss prevention officer and a shift supervisor carry different licences and different pay. This template gives you the shared duties, the state training hours most postings leave out, and what to test before anyone stands a post.
5 security jobs people call security guard
| Posting | What the job actually is | The requirement that decides it | O*NET 2025 median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unarmed site guard | Patrols a fixed property, controls access, monitors alarms and cameras, writes the daily log. | A current state guard registration, plus the stamina for the shift pattern you actually run. | 38,020 dollars a year, 18.28 an hour |
| Armed security guard | The same post, carrying a firearm. Every use-of-force decision now has a permanent consequence. | A firearms authorisation on top of the registration, issued separately in both states checked below. | Same occupation, separate permit |
| Retail loss prevention officer | Works a sales floor, spots and documents theft, runs audits and investigations of internal activity. | Evidence discipline and written documentation, because the report is what survives. | 42,540 dollars a year |
| Front desk or concierge security | Signs in visitors, answers the phone out of hours, is the first face anyone entering the building meets. | Customer handling. 95 percent of O*NET respondents call dealing with the public extremely important. | 38,020 dollars a year |
| Security shift supervisor | Directs and coordinates the guards on a shift, covers posts, escalates and owns the incident paperwork. | Supervisory judgment. O*NET treats this as a separate occupation from the guards it directs. | 55,940 dollars a year |
What a security guard does
Security guard O*NET defines the occupation as guarding, patrolling or monitoring premises to prevent theft, violence or infractions of rules, and notes the guard may operate x-ray and metal detector equipment.
A security guard description and a security job description are not the same search. The second pulls in loss prevention, screening and supervision as well. Say which post you are filling in the first line and the rest of the posting writes itself.
Security guard duties and responsibilities
- Patrol the premises and check that doors, windows and gates are secure
- Monitor alarms and video surveillance systems through the shift
- Control building access and authorise entry and departure
- Answer alarms, investigate disturbances and call police or fire when needed
- Warn people of rule infractions and remove violators from the premises
- Write daily activity reports and incident reports on anything irregular
- Give basic first aid or obtain paramedic assistance in a medical emergency
- Operate screening or detection equipment where the post requires it
- Escort staff, visitors or valuables between locations as instructed
Security guard job description template
SECURITY GUARD at [company], [site, city, state] [Shift, e.g. 4 on 4 off, 6pm to 6am, rotating weekends] [Pay range, per hour] plus [shift differential, overtime, benefits] ABOUT THE POST You hold the [lobby, gatehouse, retail floor, roving patrol] post, reporting to the [shift supervisor]. The post is [unarmed, armed]. WHAT YOU WILL DO - Patrol [the perimeter / floors / lot] and secure all openings - Watch [number] camera feeds and answer alarms - Sign visitors and contractors in and out, and enforce access rules - Write a daily activity log and incident reports - Call [police / fire / EMS] and notify [role] on any escalation WHAT WE REQUIRE - A current [state] guard licence, or eligibility to obtain one before your first shift - At least 18 years old, with a high school diploma or equivalent - Able to pass a criminal background check - [Driver licence, if the post includes vehicle patrol] WHAT WE WILL TRAIN - Site post orders, escalation rules and report writing - Our alarm and camera systems - [State training hours, and who pays for them] WORKING CONDITIONS [Indoor, outdoor] post. On your feet roughly half the shift. Rotating night and weekend shifts. You must see and hear well enough to identify people at a distance, and stay alert through quiet stretches.
Before you post
EEOC guidance says a written job description prepared before advertising or interviewing will be considered as evidence of a job's essential functions. For a guard post, that is the standing, patrolling, vision and alertness lines. Write them literally.
What the licence actually requires
BLS states that most states require security guards to be licensed by the state in which they work. The baseline it describes is modest: be at least 18, pass a background check, complete training. For armed guards, BLS says most states require rigorous hiring and screening, including background, criminal record and fingerprint checks.
BLS adds that many states recommend about 8 hours of pre-assignment training, 8 to 16 hours on the job and 8 hours annually. That is a recommendation it reports, not a rule. In the two states below, checked against the regulators themselves, the binding numbers run higher.
Two states, two sets of training hours
| Requirement | California | New York |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum age | 18 | 18 |
| Background check | Criminal history check through the California DOJ and the FBI. | Proof of fingerprint completion with the registration application. |
| Training before the post | Power to Arrest training must be completed before the guard registration is issued. | 8 Hour Pre-Assignment Training, described as a general introductory course. |
| Training after hire | 32 hours in security officer skills within the first 6 months, 16 of them within 30 days of employment. | 16 Hour On-The-Job Training, to be completed within 90 days of employment. |
| Annual training | 8 hours of continuing training every year. | 8 Hour Annual In-Service Training each calendar year. |
| Armed work | The Bureau issues an exposed firearms permit separately from the guard registration. A baton needs a Bureau-approved baton course. | 47 Hour Firearms Training plus a valid NYS pistol permit, and 8 hours annual firearms training. |
Put the training hours on your calendar, not theirs
- Decide armed or unarmed before you advertise Armed work adds a separate authorisation with its own training on top of the guard registration. Changing your mind after an offer restarts the clock. New York requires a valid pistol permit before a candidate can even enrol in the firearms course.
- Ask about the licence, not about experience In a licensing state, holding a current registration tells you more than 3 years on a resume. Ask for the number and the expiry date in the application.
- Decide who pays for pre-assignment training Some states require training before a registration is issued at all. If you will fund it, say so in the posting. It is the cheapest differentiator you have.
- Book the post-hire hours on the hire date California sets 16 hours within 30 days of employment. New York sets 16 hours within 90 days. Nobody remembers this in week 3 unless it is already booked.
- Diary the annual refresher Both states verified here require 8 hours every year, and armed work in New York adds 8 more. A lapsed guard is an uncovered post.
The licence is a hard gate, the rest is a preference
Filters split into what is true of the person and what is true of their current employer.
For this role that split matters. Holding a state registration is a fact about the person. Working at a contract guard firm is a fact about their employer, and the two answer different questions. On The Cognitive, one plain-English line becomes structured filters across ~900M profiles, and each requirement is set as Must have, Prioritise or Preferred.
What a resume will not tell you
BLS gives high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry education, and O*NET records 79 percent of incumbents saying that is what the job requires. Add a licence that everyone applying either holds or does not, and most applications for this role look identical on paper.
O*NET's own profile says what the job is really made of. Problem Sensitivity and Far Vision lead its ability list. Its Work Context records constant contact with others at 90 percent and very high responsibility for the health and safety of others at 95 percent. None of that is on a resume, so how to hire a security guard is mostly a question about how you screen.
6 things to test before you put someone on a post
Tell me about someone who would not leave when you asked them to. What did you say first?
Talking before touching, a specific opening line, awareness of where the exits were, and a calm account of how long it took.
What would you have done if that line had not worked?
Describe the closest you have come to putting hands on someone, and why you did or did not.
A clear threshold the candidate can name, knowledge of their post orders and the law, and no relish in the telling.
Who did you tell afterwards, and what went in the report?
Walk me through the quietest 4 hours you have ever worked. What did you actually do?
A deliberate routine for staying alert, patrol variation, and honesty about when attention slipped rather than a claim it never does.
What is the longest you have gone without seeing another person?
Tell me about something small that looked wrong and turned out to matter.
A specific detail out of place, what made it stand out against the normal pattern of the site, and what the candidate did next.
How long had you worked that post before you spotted it?
You break up an argument in the lobby at 2am. Talk me through your incident report out loud.
Times, names, what was seen versus what was assumed, and plain factual language a third party could read cold months later.
Which part of that is your opinion rather than what you saw?
Tell me about a shift that went badly because of something you did or missed.
A real answer rather than a disguised success, who they told and how fast, and a concrete habit that changed afterwards.
What would your supervisor say about it now?
Background checks: the steps employers skip
- Tell the applicant in writing, in a stand-alone document, before you order it
- Get their written permission, which can sit in the same document
- Certify to the reporting company that you complied and will not misuse the report
- Before acting on it, send a copy of the report to the applicant
- Send A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act with it
- After acting on it, give an adverse action notice naming the reporting company
- Tell them they can dispute the accuracy or completeness of the information
On criminal records
EEOC guidance weighs three factors: the nature and gravity of the offence, the time that has passed, and the nature of the job sought. An arrest alone does not establish that conduct occurred. State licensing law also applies, so check your regulator and your counsel.
A licence proves someone sat in a classroom. It does not tell you what they will say to an angry stranger at 2am.
Test the judgment before the first shift
A scorecard with each criterion out of 5 and an overall out of 100, weighted from the role's criteria.
A live two-way AI interview asks follow-up questions based on each answer, so a thin de-escalation story gets probed instead of scored. The rubric is fixed per role while the questions adapt. Afterwards there is a recording, a transcript with speaker and timestamps, and a scorecard.
Write it, check it, or screen for it
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Putting security guard job duties on a resume
Do
- Name the post type and the site: retail floor, gatehouse, hospital lobby, roving patrol
- Give the shift pattern you held, because employers screen on availability first
- Quantify the scope: doors covered, camera feeds watched, visitors signed in nightly
- Put your licence number and its expiry date near the top, not in a footer
Do not
- Pasting a posting back verbatim and calling its duty list your own experience
- Claiming apprehensions or arrests you did not personally make
- Listing the word security with no post type attached to it
- Hiding a gap in your registration and hoping the background check misses it
Frequently asked questions
What does a security guard do?
O*NET defines the occupation as guarding, patrolling or monitoring premises to prevent theft, violence or infractions of rules. In practice that means patrolling and securing doors, windows and gates, monitoring alarms and cameras, controlling who enters and leaves, answering alarms and disturbances, writing daily activity and incident reports, and calling police, fire or paramedics when something escalates.
What is a security guard job profile?
It is another way of asking for the job description. A complete one covers the responsibilities, the qualifications and skills, the working hours, the education requirement and the experience requirement, which is the content Google's own JobPosting guidance says a description must include. For a guard post, add the licence line and the physical and alertness conditions of the post itself.
Do security guards need a licence?
In most cases yes. BLS states that most states require security guards to be licensed by the state in which they work, with a baseline of being at least 18, passing a background check and completing training. For armed guards it says most states require rigorous hiring and screening, including background, criminal record and fingerprint checks. The hours and the sequence vary by state, so check your own regulator before you post.
How many training hours does a security guard need?
It depends entirely on the state. BLS reports that many states recommend about 8 hours of pre-assignment training, 8 to 16 hours on the job and 8 hours annually, which is guidance rather than a rule. California requires Power to Arrest training before registration, then 32 hours within 6 months with 16 inside 30 days, plus 8 hours yearly. New York requires 8 hours pre-assignment, 16 hours on the job within 90 days, and 8 hours annually.
How much does a security guard earn?
O*NET puts the 2025 national median for security guards at 18.28 dollars an hour, or 38,020 dollars a year. Retail loss prevention specialists sit at 42,540 dollars a year and first-line supervisors of security workers at 55,940. These are national benchmarks rather than recommendations, and local rates differ, so check your own market before setting a range.
What qualifications does a security guard need?
BLS gives high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education, and O*NET records 79 percent of incumbents reporting that requirement. Add the state licence or registration, a minimum age of 18 and a criminal background check. O*NET places the occupation in Job Zone 1 to 2, with training ranging from a few days to one year on the job, so most of the rest is trainable.
What is the difference between a security guard and a security officer?
Usually nothing but employer convention. O*NET lists Security Officer, Armed Security Officer, Campus Security Officer and Loss Prevention Officer among the alternate titles for the same occupation, 33-9032.00. What actually changes the job is the post and the paperwork. In both states checked on this page an armed post needs a firearms authorisation issued separately from the guard registration, and retail loss prevention is a different occupation altogether.
How do you screen security guard candidates?
Verify the licence first, because in a licensing state it is a hard gate rather than a preference. Then test the things a resume cannot show: de-escalation, use-of-force judgment, sustained attention on a quiet shift, noticing discrepancies, report accuracy and honesty. Ask for one real incident per area and probe the decision, not the story. The 6 cards above are a starting bank.
How do I turn a security guard resume job description into resume bullets?
Do not copy the posting. Take each duty line and write what you actually did on your post, with the scale attached: how many doors, how many camera feeds, how many visitors a night. A job description for security guard resume use is a prompt, not a draft. Lead each line with the action, name the site type, and keep your registration number and expiry date near the top where a screener sees them.
Can I reject a security guard applicant with a criminal record?
This is guidance, not legal advice, and you should take your own. EEOC guidance weighs three factors: the nature and gravity of the offence, the time that has passed since it or the sentence, and the nature of the job sought. It says an arrest alone does not establish that conduct occurred and points away from blanket exclusions. State licensing law also governs who may hold a registration.
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