Career in Access Control Administration?

[Ecote 0]

Hi All,

 

I've been doing a little job market research on the abundance of careers in access control and I would appreciate any insight you guys may have through your own career ventures or from what you see from your standpoint.

 

A little background: I am 21 years old with a 2 year AAS degree in management, and 2 years Loss Prevention and Access control supervision experience

 

My Goal: to be an Access Control Administrator at a larger building(working at a desk primarily with minor tech work), like a hospital, school, warehousing facility, airport, etc.

 

What I would like to hear input from you guys about:

-Is there a job market for upper level Security administration in access control and video surveillance? How often do larger companies/facilities make accommodations and importance for a designated position like this?

-What is my competition? that is, besides a sub-500 employee company that has 8 supervised doors and an part-time supervised system that is under the wing of a department like Facilities or HR. (you get the idea)

-What gets me in the door to get into Access control Administration/Security Adminstration. At my age/education level, what Certs would you suggest to increase my prospects?

-any other suggestions you guys may have about pursuing a career in this field.

 

Thank you for your time and consideration. I have gone so far as to cold-email larger companies in the area to try to get an idea as to what their "security management" is like, but with no avail.

 

regards,

-Ecote

[ssmith10pn 0]

I work on a lot of large facilities.

Hospitals with 300+ readers and 400+ cameras are managed by their Police Department or Security Department. Their "Locksmith" handles building the access levels and groups, HR handles Employee adds and suspensions, and the police department handles administration.

 

We have a university that has 1000+ readers and their staff all work out of the Lock shop.

 

Video is separate and handled by campus police.

Edited November 18, 2012 by Guest

[Ecote 0]

I've been in "Entry Security" mode for most of my young adult life, making 10 bucks an hour. I'm not dogging a paying job that allows me to learn as much as I want about access control, but its not ideal.

 

In my current position that pays slightly more, I'm fortunate enough to print badges, assign credentials, and perform entry level door work for 15 readers and 2000 employees. I would like to handle larger scale with more management opportunities. Surely there has to be a way to make a jump from this still considered entry position to some security management-access control exclusive or not. Do I continue to cold call larger companies and see what they are looking for? Do I go after specific coursework?

 

I appreciate the info on what you see Ssmith, that is really interesting it would take such a large application for a company to designate a specific role. I would be head over heels to land a career at a University managing Access control.

[ssmith10pn 0]

I edited my post while you were typing.

I'll do some more thinking on it.

[ssmith10pn 0]

Sounds like you have a good bit of hands on experience.

 

The trend I see is most guys go to work for a integrator. Not a trunk slammer but a large company. Once they get the exposure and the experience they are hired away by one of the Integrators customers.

 

Seen it happen in our company multiple times.

[Ecote 0]

Sounds like you have a good bit of hands on experience.

 

The trend I see is most guys go to work for a integrator. Not a trunk slammer but a large company. Once they get the exposure and the experience they are hired away by one of the Integrators customers.

 

Seen it happen in our company multiple times.

 

So those folks are off to bigger and better places with systems administration? Running twisted pair on a boom lift 30 some odd feet up can get old pretty quick and I bet a lot of installation-only type folks are eager to make the jump into a desk job managing security.

 

Then there is the Government application like you mentioned earlier. The department of homeland security has buildings every where; not a bad thing for someone interested in this career path eh?

There has to be a niche out there somewhere!! please let there be a niche!, is what I'm basically saying.

[ssmith10pn 0]

Running twisted pair on a boom lift 30 some odd feet up can get old pretty quick

 

Ha! That's the glorified part!

 

Try drilling a frame for a mag lock and the red hot chips falling on you and down your shirt.

Pulling cable through the congested ceilings of a hospital is up there too.

Or how about mounting cameras on a Stadium with a 125' Boom lift maxed out?

[Ecote 0]

On a side note, does anyone have anything to say about the ASIS Certifications? Looks like there are 3 main certs they offer with a whole slew of classes and conferences offered once you pay a membership due of around 170 dollars. Pretty expensive stuff, the first certification is called a PSP, and its around 400 to take the test along with 400 dollars worth of training material...ouch.

 

Would a Cert from an organization like ASIS be widely recognized and increase my chances of being considered?

 

-Ed

[fa chris 0]

From what I've seen, for small businesses HR or the office manager will handle the access control stuff. This is a minor task, takes 5 minutes every time they get a new employee which is rare.

 

For hospitals/office buildings/campuses with a few hundred or more readers the security department typically handles it, usually the manager or one of his direct subordinates (not the actual security guards). Generally if the administrator is whoever is managing the security guards.

 

The few instances where I've seen dedicated access control administration are for large corporations where the entire nation is controlled out of one office, and for pharma's with a lot of money or companies which require a lot of high security, and those guys are also responsible for the entire access control and CCTV system, maintaining, upgrades, dealing with the integrator, consultants, etc. These guys, as ssmith pointed out, usually are hired away from integrator's who installed the original system. We've lost a lot of people this way...

[Ecote 0]

Sorry to bump an old thread but I thought I would provide an update.

 

I have done additional job shadowing with the police department as they have their own access control system. The PD here in my area has a Engineer from their IT department handling the entire gig. Of course they would sit access control on his already full plate, there isn't a lot of money to be had in the smaller PDs in the area.

 

There are a lot of installers on this Board, answer me this if you could: where are you guys seeing most of the install work taking place at, and in what volume? It has recently dawned on me a lot of the food service/distributors in my area are secured to the nines due to strict food regulations.

 

 

As I have already mentioned, I am pretty young and am continuing to try to achieve better prospects with additional schooling. I have started the FEMA ISP courses listed on their website to make myself a better candidate for a security manager position or something in access control administration.

 

Thanks,

Ecote