Category: News

My Kingfisher SEC Story: How I Became a Security Officer

I originally started working with Kingfisher SEC through another security services company back in 2013, as a Security Officer providing event security for various events and festivals all around the UK.

I remember calling/emailing the previous security guarding company every week, just to catch a shift at one of the events/festivals, up to a point when the manager told me to start calling Kingfisher directly so I can book the jobs.

In October 2013, the manager from Kingfisher SEC contacted me with the proposition to work full time in retail. Accepting that job was the best decision ever made. For the next two years I’ve mostly worked as a retail security officer, as well as covered event and festival security during the summer.

Seeing that most of my colleagues were happy with me taking the lead, and the way I was looking after them, I’ve opted for the offered Supervisor position, which gave me new opportunities. I’ve then started to work as a Supervisor, creating a team which I enjoyed working with so much, that in the summer of 2016 we were going from festival to festival, one after the other. Out of the event season, I was also covering corporate jobs such as Concierge, Receptionist, Key holding Officer and Front of house Security in hotels.

At the end of 2017 I had the opportunity to work as an electrician apprentice, so I left Kingfisher SEC. Unfortunately, my wage as an apprentice was very low, so I searched for another job, and after a couple of days, I found a recruiting company which was hiring staff in the recruitment department.

How Festival Security brought me back to Kingfisher SEC

Working in recruitment was a new experience for me, it was a hard and challenging as I’ve never done this before, but I adapted. It was an easy schedule of 8h/day, 5days/week with one working weekend per month. After a year the pressure that I was put under was too much and the manager’s support was lacking, so I resigned.

At that point I reflected: in the company I just resigned from, we had no teamwork, everyone was for themselves, barely any help from the managers, area managers, even the office staff.

When I was working with Kingfisher SEC, they really cared for the staff, their opinions, teamwork was one of the first priorities, so it made me think about returning. Not to mention that the festivals were approaching, and I was missing all my colleagues/friends that I’ve made over the years through this company.

Luckily, they were happy to see me back and I have been with them again since 2019.

I really grew with Kingfisher SEC, as this was the company, I’ve worked with most of the time, having been with them for almost 8 years. I’ve managed to, in a couple of years, become a Security Supervisor and now have a team to provide event and festival security around the UK.

During this time, I’ve met new people who want to get into the security field, and I am very often asked for advice regarding licences, jobs, etc. Over the years I’ve managed to get a few licences and extra training such as SIA Door Supervisor, CCTV Operator, Fire Marshal, First Aider, ACT Awareness and Customer Service training. It’s good to have more qualifications in the security field, as you don’t know what jobs you might find. Also, most of these licences prepare you for any kind of situation.

Providing Security for Events

Working at festivals always brings new challenges, having to work with different companies and in the natural weather conditions. If a career in event and festival security sounds like your cup of tea, or rather, your plastic cup of warm cider, then I recommend it.

A huge range of career options are available in the world of festivals and events, from security officers, ticket sales roles, to more hands-on positions like the stage crew. To work in this area, you’ve got to be massively organised.

If you think Glastonbury gets organised by people who sit around twiddling their thumbs all day, listening to music, drinking freshly squeezed lemonade and wondering what to do next, then think again. These guys are proactive to the max.

You’ve got to be prepared to work long hours and in pressurised situations. It’s fun though, so it’s all good. You could work as a steward around the perimeter where you must keep an eye for possible trespassers or provide security on a perimeter as a patrol or help direct cars in the parking area.

Concierge and Fire Marshal

I have been working as a concierge in the past two years since October 2019. I assist guests to ensure an enjoyable visit by assisting them with bookings, meeting reservations and arranging taxi services if needed.

I also offer recommendations on things to do in the area, places to eat, and other suggestions as requested. Other responsibilities are to answer phones, respond to guest inquiries, communicate with maintenance and cleaning departments to ensure reliability and cleanliness of the site.

Part of my Concierge role is also Fire marshalling, for which I had to take a course. As a fire marshal I assist with the fire alarm tests, fire drills and Fire Prevention and Safe Evacuation. Knowing what to do in case of a fire, how to use the fire extinguishers and what decision to take in a split second is an advantage as this way you can safely protect the business and the staff can return to work as soon as possible.

Fire alarm tests are normally done once a week, in the early morning, so the business is not interrupted. These are quite straight forward; you must test the alarm by yourself or with another person. At my current position, the fire alarm is done by 2 people, myself and the maintenance person, and one of us has to call the Fire Safety Control Room to set the system on test mode,

My day to day is never the same, but every day I sign in with control room when I get on site, open/unlock the site and the car park, disable the intruder alarms, check my emails, and get the visitors/staff lists ready, greet the staff/visitors, handling site keys and assisting the engineers on site if needed.

At the end of the day, I set the Intruder Alarm, lock the site and the car park, and then sign off with the Control Room.

To find out how my team and I can help with your security needs, please contact Kingfisher SEC on 020 8899 6959 or contact us here.

 

Andrei, Kingfisher SEC