During the course of my executive recruitment work, I have had the opportunity to observe and review a large number of corporate security organizations globally.

During the course of the recruitment process, you will inevitably be asked to provide contact details for, on average, four to six references.

This installment of Career Intelligence evaluates how you can best utilize the rapidly expanding social media communities to aid you in your online presence and branding.

In previous columns I have discussed individual self-assessment of your personal style and soft skills that aid in development of a career plan and can help convey your message in a resume.

The answer to this question is most often “a lot.” When you limit the question to the security industry alone though, the answer can sometimes be “not much,” which is a reflection of the path a candidate takes to enter the profession.

Last month we summarized an approach to career planning that identified three key milestones and their related processes.

Understanding the secrets to building and advancing careers is a common topic of discussion and debate amongst the hundreds of security professionals we’ve had the good fortune to meet in our respective careers. 

As many of you have observed, a number of executive roles leading corporate security department are filled by senior-level federal government officials from the law enforcement, intelligence and military communities who are retiring and seeking a second career.