Editorial

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EDITORIAL

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Late June saw the Next Generation event take place at Luton Hoo on the day before the PSI Golf Day. The range of seminar topics on the agenda put together by Skills for Security raised some interesting observations

There were a number of fascinating talking points raised in the Next Generation Skills Talks agenda recently (see later in this edition) none more so than the ones put forward by the apprentices in attendance when quizzed by George Zitko of Zitko Group.

The main thrust of the interactive presentation was to get the young installers working together in teams to discuss various aspects of their job and why they do what they do. Most appeared to have come into the security sector by recommendation of word of mouth, ie they already knew someone who worked in the industry. This would tell you that, in the main, those people who do not know anyone who is already in the security sector, don’t consider it as a potential career. As George pointed out, the industry isn’t always seen as being as technologically sexy as some other vocations, but anyone working with modern electronic systems know this is not the case. We are often at the cutting edge of tech; take AI and cloud adoption for example.

Another line of questioning concerned what the installers liked the most about their jobs with customer satisfaction, variety, job security and money being the common answers. From their employers the apprentices put forward training, support and good pay as being the most appreciated benefits they receive.

For those at the event it looks like the security industry is set to offer a great career path as the readers of this magazine have already enjoyed, however the lack of general awareness regarding the value of the sector as an employer is worrying. We know there is a shortfall in the number of installers coming into the sector and this is not helped by the lack of presence for the role in the job market for anyone looking for a career that offers so much.

Well done to all of the golfers who won prizes at The PSI Golf Day this year. We had 80 golfers from the security industry competing for the main trophy but it was Andy Coles (left) of Hikvision who won with a score of 44pts beating his nearest rival by one point. No doubt he’ll be glad to talk you through his round...!

Andy Clutton

EDITOR