In the Las Vegas Market, I would have to say that hiring and retaining qualified security officers is the
biggest challenge now. The most pressing challenge I have observed is the pool of qualified candidates
has decreased in comparison to what it was before the pandemic, despite the variety of professional choices now available to people. Employee attraction and retention needs to be prioritized.
When I enrolled at Ferris State University in the late 1980s to pursue a bachelor’s degree in criminal
justice, my adventure into the world of security began – I just didn’t know it yet. Bil-Mar Foods, a
company that prepares turkey, recruited me as a security officer. After having a positive experience with
security, I decided to widen my educational goals. I eventually graduated with a degree in Criminal
Justice with a Security Administration concentration and spent the following ten years working in law
enforcement.
After gaining valuable experience in law enforcement, I decided to leave and join the private security
profession. A friend needed some supervisory assistance on various accounts he was managing for his
boutique security firm. After that experience, I had the opportunity to become a Security Director in the
shopping center industry with IPC International and after several years of successful work, I was
promoted to a Regional Manager position.
As the retail industry was going through economic turmoil and contracting, a former Assistant Security
Director who had worked with me at the Forum Shops at Caesars was now an Area Director for a new
company and offered me a job as a security officer working in various high-end retail stores on Las Vegas
Boulevard.
My career experiences have taught me:
Through my membership in ASIS and engagement and strong ties to the Las Vegas ASIS Chapter, I was
offered an opportunity to serve as a security officer at Switch and quickly moved into the Swing Shift
Security Supervisor role.
It was around this time that I was asked to get involved with the training through the Security Officer
Academy. Soon after, I was promoted to the Security Training Manager role and soon after that, the
Security Training Director role.
I learned about ASIS when I was in college and I became a member in February of 2008. I immediately
discovered the advantages of being a member and my only disappointment was that I didn’t join
sooner. The resources developed by ASIS and its members have been incredibly useful to me over the
course of my career. That said, I believe being part of a large, diverse global group of security
professionals that you could reach out to at any time, was a priceless benefit.
I was heavily involved with the local chapter while in Florida. I decided to study for the Certified
Protection Professional (CPP) exam and obtained those credentials in July 2008. Upon moving back to
Las Vegas in 2010, I joined the local chapter and was elected to the Treasurer in 2011. I served as
Treasurer for five years.
I then served as Las Vegas Vice Chairman for one year and Chairman for two years after that. I have since applied and was accepted to serve on the Professional Development Council. I am still a part of that community and several others with ASIS. I was also part of the CPP review panel for 2019-2021.
Being a member of ASIS and in the Las Vegas Chapter has helped me in numerous ways throughout my multi-decade career – whether it was help with questions and projects I was working on, their year-round educational offerings, help with my personal career journey and most importantly meeting incredibly talented security professionals from across the globe.
You can connect with Matthew on LinkedIn here.
To read the previous piece about ASIS International – Jamaica, click here.