This article originally appeared in the August 2024 issue of Security Business magazine. Don’t forget to mention Security Business magazine on LinkedIn and @SecBusinessMag on Twitter if you share it.
As I sat in a packed audience at the anticipated “State of the Industry” panel at PSA-TEC back in May, the topic turned to attracting talent to the security industry, as it often does during these types of panels.
Just about everyone on the panel had a take on it. Still, comments from Security Industry Association CEO Don Erickson and Sage Integration COO John Nemerofsky hit home for me when they talked about starting young – even as young as high schoolers – when it comes to attracting a new wave of talent.
It just clicked in my head…Hey, I know someone who just might fit the bill.
So, after the panel, I sat down with John and mentioned that I know a 16-year-old looking for career-minded direction, who is interested in electronics and eager to learn new things – heck, maybe even get his hands dirty.
I was almost shocked by how quickly he replied: “What’s he doing this summer?”
Thus began my oldest son’s foray into the security industry.
It was just a four-week internship, but from all accounts when I asked him, it seemed like an enriching experience. Thankfully, he wasn’t out pulling wire on construction sites; he was learning how to assign IP addresses to cameras and program panels and door readers. The strategy was clearly to show him that security isn’t as “hands dirty” as perceived. Instead, it is a chance to work with software and hardware and electronics in a meaningful way.
Nemerofsky, in fact, is helping to lead a movement to change the perception of jobs in the security industry – to build excitement as the industry moves towards installing “smart systems” that utilize cool tech like AI.
As my son spent a good portion of his summer shadowing a team of experts in security technology, he learned – about our industry and about himself. He learned that he was up for a new challenge. He learned he can be valuable to a team and a process. He had a chance to do some charitable work for Mission 500. He vacuumed floors – OK it wasn’t all technology glitz and glamour!
Let’s face it, the interests of a teenage high schooler can pivot on a dime, but he seems eager to continue his journey next year – perhaps moving beyond the back office and into the field, installing and programming systems on-site.
That’s his story, and John’s strategy (for which I am very thankful), but everyone reading this can do the same thing. Most of you run – or help to manage – a security business. You have the power to create a similar circumstance in your organization.
You may not personally know a high schooler or someone working their way through college, but I would wager that someone in your organization knows someone who just might fit the bill.
