Thinking about careers in security? Wondering what the possibilities may be for someone who doesn’t necessarily want to work a patrol route or carry a gun? You’re in luck. There are a lot of supporting roles that are just as important as those that require you to wear a uniform and keep an eye out for potential criminals.
One such role is HR Administrator. At Creative Security, our HR Administrator is Brandy Flores. She’s at the heart of our operation because she’s directly involved in all of our hiring—and our people are what makes our business great.
We recently sat down and spoke with Brandy to get her perspective on what she does, why she chose Creative Security, and what “alternative” careers in security are really like.
A Typical Day for Our HR Administrator? No Such Thing!
If you’re really interested in careers in security, you’re probably wondering what a typical day looks like for Brandy. The truth is, there’s no typical day. HR is just as dynamic at Creative Security as it is at any other business because it deals with people—and people’s needs are constantly changing.
Brandy estimates she spends about 25 percent of her time dealing with routine HR duties. This includes:
- Ensuring that Creative Security is complying with increasingly stringent local, state, and federal employment laws.
- Helping our managers with the practicalities of interviewing, hiring, rewarding, and terminating employees.
- Administering our benefits programs.
- Running payroll.
Brandy also spends about 25 percent of her time on what she calls “proactive” work, in which she’s a key player in shaping our employment protocols and strategy. She’ll help us figure out the true cost of increasing paid time off, setting up 401(k), and giving raises or bonuses. With her strategic input, our executives can decide what are the most effective and cost-efficient ways of increasing employee retention and strengthening our workforce.
In the remaining half of her work time, Brandy deals with issues as they arise. Sometimes there’s a staffing emergency. Other times she has to respond immediately to various requests for information. These are the aspects of the job that are hard to predict—and they’re the ones that keep Brandy’s day exciting.
Brandy’s Unconventional Path to Creative Security
Brandy’s path to our HR department wasn’t what you might typically think of when you think about careers in security. For most of her life, she wanted to be a police officer. She participated in Police Activities League programs that put her on the fast track to the police academy. But her eyesight ultimately made it impossible for her to achieve her dream.
Brandy then went to college, attending Evergreen Valley College, the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Fresno State University to earn her degree in public relations with a minor in journalism. It was after college that she landed her first position as an administrative assistant with a private security company. When the company’s HR left, Brandy assumed the position despite her lack of specific training. For the next four years, she learned on the job working with and eventually training new HR’s to fill that role.
The experience qualified and encouraged Brandy to land an HR representative position with a different security company. Within 3 months, Brandy had taken over the HR Manager duties when that employee left the company. As you can imagine, it was Brandy’s can-do attitude and self-starter mentality that convinced us to hire her when our HR Administrator position opened up.
Finding “Alternative” Careers in Security
If you’re interested in careers in security but want to explore the alternatives to being a guard, what can you learn from Brandy’s story? For one thing, experience is often more valuable than formal training. For another, it’s still possible to start off at the bottom and work your way up in a company.
We’ll close with a few words of advice from Brandy herself:
“If you’re really interested in something, learn about it, ask people, go above and beyond your duties, and show them your interest. Hard work, consistency, and knowledge will always make you stand out from others and you will get on people’s radar.”
Creative Security is always offering careers in security to quality people like Brandy. Learn more.
