LO
Security guard — skills, knowledge and links
Where this job sits in the official classifications, what those classifications say it demands, and what it connects to. Every block names its source: our own judgements, the U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET, or the U.S. Department of Education.
How it connects#
O*NET also lists (no page here yet): First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers · Transit and Railroad Police · Transportation Security Screeners · Parking Enforcement Workers · Public Safety Telecommunicators · Retail Loss Prevention Specialists · Correctional Officers and Jailers · Crossing Guards and Flaggers
In the official classification#
Security Guards
Fit with this page: same job
Job Zone 1–2: very little to some preparation
See it on O*NET OnLine ↗What O*NET rates highest#
From O*NET 33-9032.00 (Security Guards). Ordered by O*NET's importance rating; the words are O*NET's own scale anchors.
Transferable skills
- CoordinationImportant
- Social PerceptivenessImportant
- Judgment and Decision MakingImportant
- PersuasionImportant
- Service OrientationImportant
- NegotiationImportant
- Complex Problem SolvingImportant
- Time ManagementImportant
Knowledge
- Public Safety and SecurityExtremely important
- Customer and Personal ServiceExtremely important
- English LanguageVery important
- Computers and ElectronicsVery important
- Administration and ManagementVery important
- Education and TrainingVery important
Work activities
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and EventsExtremely important
- Getting InformationExtremely important
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or SubordinatesExtremely important
- Documenting/Recording InformationVery important
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal RelationshipsVery important
- Performing for or Working Directly with the PublicVery important
Abilities
- Problem SensitivityVery important
- Far VisionVery important
- Oral ComprehensionVery important
- Oral ExpressionImportant
- Selective AttentionImportant
- Near VisionImportant
Essential skills
- Active ListeningVery important
- MonitoringImportant
- SpeakingImportant
- Critical ThinkingImportant
- Reading ComprehensionImportant
Our task judgements#
O*NET says what this job demands. It does not say what automation is doing to it — that is what this site's 4 task judgements are for: 2 backed by a verified event, 2 platform inference. VOLO judgement
Sources and rules#
- Four kinds of source, and each block says which: this site's own judgements, O*NET, the U.S. Department of Education's CIP–SOC crosswalk, or something computed mechanically from those. Nothing on this page is a rating we made up.
- O*NET's importance ratings are used only to order and shorten the lists. They are never combined with this site's impact index or evidence counts.
- The fit between our page and an O*NET occupation is our judgement and is stated per code: same job, broader, part of it, or only the closest there is.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026 release, U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration, CC BY 4.0. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The translations of O*NET descriptors on this page are ours, not O*NET's.