Career Planning

Physical Security

This security discipline is most often used to describe roles that secure physical spaces, people and assets. There are a broad range of positions in this discipline ranging from entry level security guard to executive level director of security. Physical security handles protection of persons (body guard), access control, detecting and preventing loss of assets (loss protection), responding to security alarms (mobile response), special events and crowd management, armed transportation, bylaw, law and policy enforcement and more. Read the article so what exactly does a security guard do?

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Training Course:

Alberta Basic Security Training (ABST) > REGISTER

Defensive Tactics Handcuffing & Baton (PPCT) > REGISTER

Tactical Communications > REGISTER

Tactical First Aid > REGISTER

Micro-Professional Designation Training:

Situational Awareness Specialist (SAS) > REGISTER

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Professional Designation Training:

ASIS Associate Protection Professional (APP) > REGISTER

ASIS Physical Security Professional (PSP) > REGISTER

ASIS Certified Protection Professional (CPP) >REGISTER

IFPO Certified Protection Officer (CPO)

IFPO Certified in Security Supervision and Management (CSSM)

IAHSS Certified Healthcare Protection Administrator Basic/ Advanced/ Supervisor (CHPA)

LPF Loss Prevention Qualified (LPF)

LPF Loss Prevention Certified (LPQ)

Investigations

This security discipline describes the types of roles that carry out internal investigations such as insurance, financial and employment / human resources. They also undertake internal investigations into theft, loss, fraud and many other types of activity that businesses want to discourage and control. Investigative security roles are quite broad and offer diverse opportunities in business sectors such as retail, insurance, financial, legal and government.

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Register for Training:

Alberta Investigators Training (AIT) > REGISTER

Professional Designations:

ACFE Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)

ASIS Professional Certified Investigator (PCI)

Peace Officers

Peace officers add flexibility to the law enforcement community, performing varied roles that assist in maintaining peace in our communities. They perform a number of duties field involves enforcing provincial statutes as well as the bylaws of the municipality depending on the type of peace office they are.

There are two levels of Peace Officers in Alberta: Alberta Peace Officers and Community Peace Officers.

• Alberta peace officers (fish and wild life officers, sheriffs, highway enforcement, protection services for government officials, corrections, prisoner transport and court security, regulatory inspection and investigative officers)

• Community peace officers (hospitals, municipalities and counties, automated traffic enforcement, animal protection agencies, post secondary institutions, indigenous communities)

Application Requirements & Training:

Alberta peace officer minimum requirements

Police Officers

This field of law enforcement involves educating, preventing crime and enforcing laws and bylaws. It includes municipal agencies such as the Edmonton Police Service (EPS), Calgary Police Service (CPS), national agencies such as the RCMP, and private agencies such as the CN Police Service. They have many different units, teams and specialties such as: 

• Organized Crime (Gang suppression, Crime prevention, etc.)

• Family Protection (Child Protection, Human Trafficking, etc.)

• Operational Services (Canine, Flight Operations, Tactical, Forensic Identification, Operations & Intelligence, etc.)

• Personal & Property Crimes (Robbery, Assault, Homicide, Missing Persons, etc.)

• and more

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Application Requirements & Training:

EPS application minimum requirements

CPS application minimum requirements

RCMP application requirements

Incident Planning & Response

This security discipline describes roles that plan for the unexpected. Common titles include business continuity manager/director, incident response planner, etc. These types of roles develop and manage plans that will enable a business to continue operations despite some level of unexpected event occurring such as flooding, fire, system outages etc. Plans are often expected to guide a business to full recovery after such an event. There is very often a strong information technology component to these roles, and they are increasing in numbers of opportunities over recent years.

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Professional Designations:

DRI Associate Business Continuity Professional (ABCP)

DRI Certified Functional Continuity Professional (CFCP)

DRI Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP)

DRI Master Business Continuity Professional (MBCP)

Cyber Security

This security discipline describes roles that secure information technology systems and information. There are a broad range of positions in this discipline ranging from entry level IT security analyst to executive level chief information security officer. Cyber security offers a very large range of employment opportunities with the majority of industry sectors needing this type of security to support business.

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Register for Online Professional Designation Study Group:

ISC2 Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) > REGISTER

ISC2 Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)

ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) > REGISTER

SANS offers over 30 GIAC certifications - see their career map

IT Audit

This security discipline describes roles that carry out audit activities on information technology systems and processes to ensure that they meet standards and that risks are being identified and managed.  These types of roles are often hired on a consultant basis with full time roles usually being within large businesses.  Regulated industries such as finance, critical infrastructure and government present the most common opportunities for employment within this discipline.

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Register for Online Professional Designation Study Group:

ISACA Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) > REGISTER