A month or so ago I began looking at my finances along with alternative training options. Honestly, I’m becoming a bit discouraged looking at my savings account and the calendar when I estimate that I have another year or more to wait for the opportunity to attend the CASS training course. I still have a strong desire to attend that course and it’s focus is on International, high-risk contracts which is where I initially wish to specialize. I want to work in Latin and South America.
However, I learned something years ago that apparently still holds true: You will NOT prepare unless you are invested in that preparation. When I was studying for the A+ certification, I didn’t get serious about it until I has actually scheduled to take the test. Once I’d done that I buckled down. Before I‘d made that financial commitment, I wasn’t truly focused on it.
How does this relate to my own career plans? I’ve decided to apply for a one-week course through a company named ICON. They offer a reasonably priced, entry-level course and I hope to be accepted and attend in January of 2011. While their emphasis is celebrity and VIP protection... training is training and I believe that the exposure may alleviate some of the issues I have with my motivation. Their reputation seems to be fairly solid. I’ll be submitting my application to ICON today.
The course is a mixture of theory and practical application and while I know enough not to expect employment from this type of training alone, it’s a strong platform for additional courses. If I’m successful in this course, I may enroll in their advanced course later in 2011 in order to further strengthen my background (and pad my resume`). Taking both of these so close together may be a bit of a financial burden however. I’ve also looked into the courses offered by Sexton but I have yet to contact them and their web site is not up to date. Their Personal Protection Specialist course runs approximately 6 days. I’d like to get more details on this and their more advanced PPS course. I’m not sure about taking multiple entry-level curses. The schools may differ in their focus, but the foundation skills should overlap and I would assume they would be similar.
I can see an advantage in taking various training courses with a mixture of celebrity\V.I.P., corporate and high-risk (para-military) focuses. While I may have a preference, when entering the industry, its likely that I’ll be looking to take whatever viable contracts present themselves. It will behoove me to have training exposure to each aspect of the industry rather than specializing early on. Having exposure to a variety of markets increases the opportunities.
Taking these courses will delay my attendance of the CASS course by approximately three to six months. This means that I’ll likely be attending in Orlando in early 2012 as opposed to late in 2011. Practically speaking this may be a “smarter” approach. While I do not doubt I would do well with the CASS training, it’s a HUGE step and I was looking at essentially relocating immediately following the training. That would equate to even more expense.
Following the alternate path allows me to “get my feet wet”, get the basics down and then build upon that. It will also give me exposure to this type of training without blasting on a 29-day juggernaut course. Finally... and this is the primary reason I’m electing to take this path: I can begin training NOW rather than 18-months from now. One other contributing factor is that I can remain employed and yet still attend the training.
Financially, I can actually manage both of these courses much easier than I can the CASS course (assuming I’m still employed at my currentjob after 01/01/2011). The two of them together cost about what the CASS course does when I include airfare, food and lodging. However, the expenditures are spread out over several months. The trick may be scheduling so much time off so close together. Then again, it’s normal to get two weeks of vacation annually. I’ll simply be taking my vacation periods separated by about 1 month.
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