“I’ve been in facilities management about 10 years now. I started as a relief officer, just picking up shifts on static sites, then did a bit of control room cover when they needed it 

Security sort of happened by accident really. I was working in a rock bar when I was about 19 or 20. Whenever the regular door staff didn’t show up, we’d end up standing on the door ourselves. The landlady had worked security most of her life and she took a shine to how I handled people and situations. I’d say that was my first real experience of security work and I enjoyed it straight away. I’ve done a bit of everything – bar work, retail, warehouse, all sorts, but security was the thing that stuck with me.  

I liked the variety, I liked dealing with people, and I like that no two situations were ever the same. Eventually I got my licence, applied for a few jobs and ended up here. The team noticed I was better suited to the control room side of things. 

Within six months I was managing it.  

Honestly, most of my role is just solving problems as they come in. I look after the guys in the Southwest and Wessex area really. I deal with the rosters, staff issues, client requests, payroll checks, bit of everything. I spend a lot of time  speaking to staff, helping sort shifts out, moving things around when there’s issues. Sometimes I help support the other account managers around the country if they need something while they’re out on the road. Really, I just make sure the operation keeps ticking along properly.  

A lot of people outside the industry don’t realise what a control room actually does. They think it’s someone watching CCTV screens all night, but it’s much more than that. You’re dealing with alarms, incidents, staffing, access control, sites all over the country, all at the same time.  

But there are no normal days here.  

You start with a plan, but something will always change it. Someone calls in sick, a client has an issue, something happens on site, and suddenly you’re in a different direction entirely. 

This job keeps me busy. I like being busy and I like having problems to solve. I think I’d really struggle in a job where every day was exactly the same because my brain just doesn’t work like that. Even something like rostering is basically a game of chess. If one person moves, you’ve got to move someone else, then backfill another site and work out how everything still fits together. Then you’ve got IT issues, CCTV problems, client requests, staffing issues, there’s always something different going on and I enjoy that side of it. 

We had a job recently where a site needed urgent 24/7 static cover within a few hours. I had to move people around across multiple sites, backfill shifts and make sure everyone still had the right cover in place. By the end of it everyone had what they needed, the client was happy and all the officers knew exactly what they were doing. 

That’s the sort of thing where you sit there afterwards and think, “Yeah, that worked. Problem solved.” That’s the bit I enjoy most. 

The hardest part  of what I do is keeping everyone happy. Staff want shifts, clients want cover, people call in sick, things change constantly. You’re always balancing different pressures. The rostering side takes more time than people realise as well. One small change can ripple across everything else. 

I’m not really an emotional person in the traditional sense. I’m more logic driven and I don’t really panic. My brain automatically goes to, “Right, how do we solve this?”. That definitely helps. This job has improved my patience and observation skills for sure. You need good awareness, and you need to listen to people properly and understand the situation before you can solve it. 

Just keeping it under control – That’s really what the job is most of the time.”