Pros
- Laid back work, no matter what site you are guarding. I just watch movies on my laptop most days and make rounds every 1-2 hours. Have had a few incidents in my day, though. - Most supervisors are willing to work with you on scheduling. Need some time off? Text or call your supervisor, tell them the dates, then call dispatch to have it formally put in place. 99 times out of 100, you'll get the time off you want. - Decent training. Could be better, could be worse. - Easy to get hired on. There is a guard division, tech division and armored car division, currently. - Paid weekly. - Legally, you are covered. If you are unfortunate enough to be involved with a shooting while on duty, IPSC will back you up with their lawyers, which are decent enough. (assuming you had probable cause of course) - Small amounts of room for advancement, though I wouldn't recommend moving up the latter. - Health and life insurance is offered, though you have to pay for it. You get a discount for being with the company, of course. - Good stepping stone company.
Cons
- High turnover rate. Very few guards stay with IPSC for more than a year. - Crap pay. Most of the sites pay 8$/hour, which is crap considering what is expected of you should something happen. - Lots of driving and IPSC does NOT pay for fuel. They will send you EVERYWHERE, unless you are one of the lucky few to have a permanent 'home'. - Depending on what site you get stationed at, you may be miserable. I have to deal with a pompous silver spoon baby, since he is the contract owner. When he says jump, you say how high, unless you want to loose your job. - Shaky employment. The managers have threatened my job on multiple occasions because I wasn't able to make my gun course due to family related events going on at the time. Keep in mind, I work an unarmed site at the present moment. I got threatened with my job because I couldn't make the gun course that week. Had to take my grandmother to the hospital. - It's easy to get on a managers badside and if that happens, you might as well quit because they will make your life hell. They'll either give you way to many hours to realistically work or barely give you enough hours to keep gas in your car. - Lots of crap sites. ISPC seems to enjoy picking up a lot of contracts at crap hole in the wall casinos that have stupid strict rules on the guards. You can't even get up and go to the bathroom for 30 seconds without someone freaking out. - Very long shifts, upwards of 20 hours for 1 shift, depending on if your relieving guard showed up on time. - Be prepared to shut your phone off during the busy season when you go to sleep. You'll constantly be getting interrupted with phone calls because your supervisors don't have another guard to cover a site that is nearly 3 hours away. - If you are unlucky and don't have a 'home', you never know what your paycheck will look like. - Frequent schedule changes. You're subject to work a morning, have 8 hours off, then work a night shift, have a day off, then get to repeat it again. It is very difficult to get on a set schedule that doesn't change. - Kind of crappy uniforms, especially with the recent change. They are itchy and don't breath. In Louisiana, that's a very bad thing. - Crappy guns that are prone to jamming, even with them being as clean as I keep mine. - Forced to use FMJ rounds. FMJs are dangerous should the situation pop up where you have to use your gun. Have any other type of bullet in your firearm while getting a site inspection, you'll be prone to being terminated. - Supervisors get paid a mere 400$ per week and are on salary. - Supervisors definitely play the favorites game; doesn't matter who it is. - You do NOT get PTO (vacation time)