Staffing Plan for a Corporate

Staffing Plan for a Corporate Security Enterprise

Contemporary corporate security requires a varied staff with specific expertise in several different areas, all of which are crucial to the successful protection of modern business organizations (Ortmeier, 2008). Whereas in previous eras of corporate security the field was largely dominated by ex-police and ex-military personnel, the modern corporate security environment encompasses high-level management and sophisticated information technology responsibilities as well (Ortmeier, 2008). Moreover, it is insufficient to organize the various component functions of modern corporate security in isolation from one another. Instead, successful contemporary corporate security also emphasizes the ability of security management to incorporate each different aspect of security into a fully integrated concern with appropriate communications and coordination among and between every department (Dalton, 2003; Sheffi, 2005).

Identifying the Necessary Personnel

The modern corporate security environment requires different professional personnel to fulfill all of the necessary responsibilities to ensure enterprise-wide security (Dalton, 2003; Ortmeier, 2008). Traditional perimeter and multi-level on-site access security require personnel with traditional law enforcement or military police experience, or individuals with previous training and professional experience consistent with those responsibilities. Modern business organizations and other enterprises also require information security personnel capable of safeguarding the information system hardware, software, data, and proprietary information stored in computer databases throughout the organization. Ideally, those functions are assigned to dedicated IT professionals working in close coordination with IT security specialists dedicated to the security aspect of IT systems (Dalton, 2003; Ortmeier, 2008).

Precisely because of the crucial importance in today's corporate security environment of coordination between general IT management and IT security management, one of the most important determinants of the quality of the overall security of the firm is the quality of the management team that determines exactly which security-related roles and responsibilities of the organization will be fulfilled by which departments and in what manner those respective departments will collaborate their efforts and maintain appropriate communications (Sheffi, 2005). Therefore, the following categories of personnel would be the focus of recruitment efforts: (1) Physical Security Specialists, (2) Access Control Security Specialists, (3) IT Specialists, (4) IT Security Specialists, and (5) Information Investigation Specialists.

Recruitment Strategy

Physical Security Specialists

Candidates for physical security responsibilities should have advanced training and professional experience in conducting perimeter and on-site physical security operations. While previous law enforcement or military police experience may be valuable, recruitment initiatives and hiring criteria should avoid requiring law enforcement or military experience and should make clear that no level of such experience necessarily qualifies any specific candidate for employment in this capacity. Certain personality types that may succeed in law enforcement and military policing may not necessarily be consistent with the needs of civilian corporate security (Ortmeier, 2008). Therefore, while police and military organizations provide fertile recruitment areas, job announcements must make explicitly clear than no level of previous professional experience in either field necessarily qualifies any applicant for the position. Naturally, candidates for management of this department must be carefully selected to avoid individuals with any biases in that regard in either direction (Dalton, 2003).

Access Control Security Specialists

Candidates for access control security responsibilities may also benefit from previous police or military experience but recruitment initiatives should be broad enough so as not to exclude potentially qualified candidates with extensive experience in other fields that provide training in the operation of high-tech access control equipment (

). In that regard, recruitment initiatives should include senior airport security screeners and individuals working in varied organizations where access control via high-tech systems is a primary responsibility. In all cases, recruitment initiatives must make explicitly clear than hiring decisions are made through a comprehensive review of all elements of application materials and never based on specific previous experience or expertise.

IT Specialists and IT Security Specialists