Reference check questions for security officers

Much of a security officer’s shift is quiet, and that is what makes the job hard. The work is staying alert on an overnight post, walking every patrol, logging what happened and then handling the rare tense minute well. An interview cannot show you any of that, and a license check tells you only that the state cleared the candidate to work.

The people who know are the supervisors who made unannounced site visits, read the candidate’s reports the next morning and took the client’s calls. Ask them for specific incidents and specific reports. An officer who writes "subject was removed from the property" and one who records who, when, what was said and who was called are doing different jobs.

Who to ask

• A site supervisor or account manager who wrote the post orders and read the candidate’s reports.
• A field or patrol supervisor who made unannounced checks and reviewed tour or patrol records.
• A client contact at the site, such as a property or facility manager, who saw the officer every day.
• For a lead or supervisor role, an officer the candidate trained or scheduled.

Questions to ask, by competency

Choose the competencies that matter most for the position and two or three questions from each. Ask every reference the same set, and when an answer is a rating, ask for the example behind it.

Alertness and post orders

The test of an officer is the quiet hours. Post orders exist because the client needs them followed every shift, not most shifts.

1. On a quiet overnight post, how did you know the candidate was alert and walking their rounds? Did your checks ever find otherwise?
2. How closely did the candidate follow the post orders, for example on visitor sign-in, deliveries or who may enter after hours?
3. Did the candidate ever leave a post before their relief arrived? What happened?

Incident reports

An incident report may be read months later by police, insurers or a lawyer. If it is vague, late or wrong, the client pays for it.

1. How clear, factual and complete were the candidate’s incident reports? Did you send any back for rewriting?
2. Tell me about an incident the candidate wrote up. What did the report say, and did it hold up when the police or the client read it?
3. Were the candidate’s daily activity logs filled in as the shift went, or written up at the end?

De-escalation and judgment

Officers meet trespassers, intoxicated people, angry tenants and shoplifting suspects. You want one who talks most of those situations down and knows the limits of their authority.

1. Tell me about a time the candidate dealt with an angry or intoxicated person. What did they say, and how did it end?
2. Has the candidate ever detained someone, used force or called the police on duty? Did they stay within the site’s policy and their authority?
3. How did the candidate respond to an alarm, an evacuation or a medical emergency on site?
4. On a one-to-five scale, where would you place the candidate’s judgment under pressure among the officers you have supervised, and what is that based on? (rating)

Integrity and conduct

Officers hold keys, access cards and alarm codes, and they see who comes and goes. Clients have to trust both their honesty and their discretion.

1. Did the candidate hold keys, access cards or alarm codes for the site? Was there ever a concern about how they used them?
2. How did the candidate treat tenants, employees and visitors, including the ones who were rude to them?
3. What did the candidate do with what they learned on post, such as who visited whom and when?

Close the reference

End every reference the same way: ask whether they would hire or work with the candidate again and why, what support would help the candidate do their best work, and whether there is anything else you should know. The general question bank explains why the first of these matters most.

Checks a reference does not replace

• The state license or registration. Requirements vary by state. In California, for example, the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services registers a security guard only after a criminal history check through the state Department of Justice and the FBI and after training in the power to arrest. Guards must carry their registration card on duty.
• Weapon permits for an armed post, where the state requires them, with the agency that issued each one.
• Certificates the post requires, such as first aid or CPR, with the organization that issued them.

Warning signs to follow up

• A supervisor who mentions sleeping on post, a skipped patrol or a log filled in after the fact, even in passing.
• Reports described as needing heavy rewriting, or written long after the shift ended.
• A reference who praises the candidate for being "aggressive" or quick to go hands-on.
• A client who asked for the candidate to be removed from a site, with no clear account of why.
• References only from coworkers on the same post, and nobody who inspected or supervised the candidate’s work.

One warning sign is a reason to ask another question, not a verdict. Reference check red flags covers how to check a concern fairly.

Questions to leave out

Ask only about the work. Before an offer, the EEOC’s guidance says an employer may not ask a third party, such as a former employer, any question it could not ask the candidate directly. Leave out health, medical leave, age, family plans and other protected characteristics. What to leave out has the full list.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm the requirements that apply to your organization, and in your state, with your counsel or HR policy office.