Observing and patrolling are the two main responsibilities of a security officer. They watch and patrol the area around them for potential security risks and to keep the property safe.

Being a security guard can be rewarding. They are the first line of security in protecting property or people. Security professionals are trained to handle tough situations and can do their job most effectively. However, as a security guard, there are some soft skills that you should have. Here are a few soft skills you need to be a security officer.

Honesty

As a security officer, your job is to protect an area from untrustworthy and dishonest people. And to do this, you will have to be dependable and honest yourself. The company will trust you in certain areas, and you cannot break their trust.

You also need to be a dependable person to be a good security officer. You should show up to work on time and thoroughly perform your assignments. If you lack dependability, you could become the source of a security breach.

Communication

As a security officer, you will interact with many people. That’s why you need to have good communication skills. You should be able to communicate with everyone, including the general public, your coworkers, as well as potential threats. Being able to communicate clearly can be a deciding factor when handling a sticky situation.

Security officers mostly work as a team; thus, communication is a vital skill for them. They should be able to effectively communicate between them for any backup.

If you come across suspicious individuals, you must be able to communicate with them. This may simply mean asking the person to leave or you taking action.

Security guards could also be called as a witness in a court case as they can become the eyewitness of a crime when working. That is why they need to be able to communicate with a judge and jury and narrate to them the events they heard or saw, as well as the action they took.

Problem-solving

Security guards face many problems. So, they must have the skills to solve them. These problems aren’t always going to have the textbook solution you were taught in training. Your own ideas and skills will have to do the trick here.

And to be a good problem solver, you need to be vigilant and give attention to the details. You can’t be forgetful. For example, forgetting to lock the door could cause a security breach. Your body language can’t be vague, and you should be able to understand people’s voice tone and body language to stop the incident before it occurs.

Teamwork

Solving security problems is not easy, and you might not always have the answer. Security guards often work as a team, which allows you to collaborate with other professionals to solve a problem. But to do that, you need to cultivate the relationship between you and your team and learn how to build unity.

Being a good communicator is an essential ability for teamwork. And to collaborate with your team, you also need patience, an open-minded attitude, and good people skills, among other things.

Calm Thinking

As a security guard, things can go wrong very quickly in your line of work. So, you need to have the skills to handle the problem before it escalates. Circumstance may appear where you will have to find a course of action in a matter of seconds. You need to remember your training and react.

In the meantime, remain rational and calm. Oftentimes, it is possible to defuse a situation with a calm mind before it becomes threatening. If you can keep yourself calm, you will be able to think more clearly and find the best solution to the problem at hand.

As a security guard, you will face various kinds of situations in your career. There will come circumstances when you will have to be tough and times when you will need to show softness. So, make sure you have these soft skills if you are looking to step into the world of security.