Pros
- Extremely easy to get hired with Securitas. They will literally hire anybody. - Contractor shifts are great: business will contract you to watch construction work based on estimates. Often the contractors will finish early and you get to go home, still getting paid for your entire shift. - Great job for loners, introverts and individuals lacking social skills. - Zero supervision, so you are free to do whatever you like during your shift, including reading, watching TV, staying home and not actually showing up to your shift. - Great job, if you can't find any other work, and can't make it as a stripper or escort (The local strip club is across the street from their offices: try there first).
Cons
- Securitas pays "below minimum wage" (their words at my interview): I'm not sure if that's even legal. - Securitas regularly "forgets" to pay their employees, or underpays them by forgetting to send hours to payroll. Their response to complaints regarding payment is to ignore them and stop calling you for work. - You will need to pay for your own guard license, which is only valid while working for Securitas. This will need to be renewed each year at your expense. - The manager of the office changes every two weeks as employees are fired or quit, so you will never know who your boss is. - Securitas works on an availability basis, so they will call you when they need you. As long as you keep taking shifts, they will continue to call you. The first time they call you and you are not available to work, they will no longer call you and you will not be working. This is made clear during the interview process. - Securitas will often call you out of the blue in a panic asking if you can work "as soon as possible". - Securitas will often give you the wrong address for your work location, sending you to the other side of the city from where you are contracted. - Securitas has a phone punch-in system, which you need to report in every hour to ensure your safety. The phone system never works and the number has been disconnected. - Zero supervision, meaning you could be gunned down and no one would ever find your body. - Training is irrelevant. Training consists of learning how to keep logs and make reports: however, 90% of Securitas workplaces do not have logbooks. - You will never see another Securitas employee, nor have any reason to visit the Securitas office. - Your uniform is recycled, meaning that hundreds of people have stuffed themselves into your threadbare windbreaker and clip-on tie. - Securitas sometimes forgets that they employ humans: this means that there is a good possibility you could find yourself dropped in the middle of the woods in 30 degree Celsius weather, with no food (can't take food with you because it will spoil in the heat), no water and no bathroom facilities. You will also be expected to do hourly patrols of an 8km trail in full uniform (jacket and tie). Your only respite will be setting in your car, running it with the air conditioning on, spending your own gas. (Yes, this happened to me). Need I go on?
