02/06/2026
Please note this is not an advertisement for a course, so don't ask for information on this!
Close Protection: Beyond the Certificate
One thing that cannot be argued is that close protection work is largely made up of soft skills and long periods no activity and boredom. Very rarely do we have to apply hard skills.
Some people even argue that if you ever have to apply hard skills, you have failed at your job. There is a lot to unpack in that statement, but perhaps that's a discussion for another day.
Training in South Africa has changed dramatically over the years. In many ways I'm fortunate to have entered the industry before unit standards and accreditation became the norm.
Back then, most companies had their own in-house training programmes. To get onto a company's database and stand a chance of receiving work, you generally had to complete their training. Was there a commercial aspect to it? Absolutely. But many of those programmes placed significant emphasis on practical hard skills and operational capability.
Today, when people ask me how to enter the industry, my answer is usually straightforward:
Find an accredited course, obtain the required qualification and get your paperwork in order.
That is the reality of the modern industry.
My second piece of advice is equally important:
Buy books. Study. Learn. Attend quality training courses. Seek out instructors who can develop real-world capability rather than simply help you pass an assessment.
If I had to assemble a team tomorrow and had two options:
1. A group of people who have just completed the minimum accredited training requirements.
2. A group of people who have invested time in quality training, competitive shooting, force-on-force work, medical skills, problem solving and continuous development.
I would choose the second group every time.
Not because accreditation has no value, but because competence and accreditation are not necessarily the same thing.
Soft skills can be taught relatively easily. Applying them effectively with clients requires intelligence, maturity and emotional intelligence.
Hard skills are different.
They require repetition, pressure testing, continuous learning and a commitment to improvement long after the certificate has been framed and hung on the wall.
I am not against accredited training.
What concerns me is when accreditation becomes the finish line rather than the starting point.
To develop truly capable protection professionals, there needs to be room for both accredited training and quality non-accredited development. The two should complement each other.
Unfortunately, accreditation has increasingly become an academic tick-box exercise, while genuine competence still has to be earned through study, training and experience.
Certificates may open the door.
Competence keeps you in the room.
