Bodyguard (Close Protection Officer) CV Examples & Writing Guide

This is a close protection officer with ten years on details, moving from event and site work into a corporate programme. The name and the employers are invented, and every client is described by category rather than by name. Copy that habit; it is the single clearest signal of professionalism in this field.

This is the fastest way to lose a close protection job, and it happens constantly. Applicants name the celebrity, the executive or the family they worked for, thinking it proves their level. To a security director, it proves the opposite.

• Licensing. Close protection is licensable work in the UK and the licence is national: the SIA Close Protection licence. Give the sector and the expiry date. Private close protection officers in the UK work unarmed, so firearms belong on the CV only as overseas or military experience.
• The level of work. Standing a static post, running crowd interface at an event, and running advance on an international corporate trip are three different jobs. Say which ones you have done and how often.
• Advance work. This is the line that separates a protection agent from a guard. Route surveys, venue surveys, medical routing, safe rooms, local liaison. Give a number of movements or trips.
• Medical and driving. Trauma care and protective driving are the two skills a director hopes never to use and always wants present. FREC 3 or a higher first response qualification, TECC, ambulance or military medic experience and a named protective driving course all count.
• How you write. An incident report can end up as evidence. A CV with sloppy spelling suggests reports a solicitor will hate.

Good protection work is invisible, which makes it hard to write about. The fix is to count the things that did happen: movements, advances, trips, posts, hours, reports, and the outcomes you can honestly claim.

• Protective operations: advance work, route and venue surveys, protective formations, embus and debus, convoy positioning, arrival and departure procedure, safe room planning
• Risk work: threat assessment, vulnerability assessment, surveillance detection, travel risk assessment, country and route research, liaison with the police
• Driving: protective and evasive driving, convoy discipline, defensive driving, a full UK driving licence with a clean record, and a private hire driver licence if the work needs one
• Medical: FREC 3 or First Aid at Work, TECC, CPR and AED, any ambulance or paramedic background, familiarity with the principal's medical needs and allergies
• Use of force: the physical intervention skills from your SIA training, the law on reasonable force, de-escalation, restraint and control as trained; firearms only as overseas or military experience, since UK private protection is unarmed
• Technology: CCTV and access control, alarm response, GPS tracking, secure communications, mobile device hygiene, basic counter-surveillance sweeps
• Soft skills that actually matter here: discretion, low profile presence, tolerance for long static hours, the ability to say no to a principal politely, and clear written reporting
• Extras worth listing: languages, international driving experience, private aviation and yacht familiarity, working with children and school runs, medical and dietary protocol for a family

Close protection is regulated nationally in the UK. The Security Industry Authority (SIA) licenses it as its own front-line sector, separate from security guarding and door supervision, and it is a criminal offence to do licensable close protection work without the licence.

• SIA Close Protection licence. To apply you need the Level 3 close protection qualification, which comes with a first aid requirement, plus the SIA identity and criminal record checks. The licence is normally valid for three years. Write the sector and expiry date, and keep the licence number off the CV.
• Armed status. Private close protection officers in the UK work unarmed. If you have carried a firearm overseas or in the armed forces or police, say where and in what role, and keep it clearly separate from your UK work.
• Former police and armed forces. Protection duties in the police or the military are strong experience, but they do not replace the SIA licence for private work, so many leavers take the close protection course before they leave. If that applies to you, say so in one line, because it changes what a client can deploy you on.
• Close protection training. Private courses vary hugely in quality. List the provider, the length and the year, and mention the content that matters: advance work, protective driving, medical, conflict management.
• Professional certification. ASIS International runs the Certified Protection Professional and Physical Security Professional credentials, which corporate security directors recognise.
• Medical. FREC 3, TECC, and CPR and AED training are expected. Paramedic registration with the HCPC or ambulance service experience puts you well ahead on a small detail.

1. 1Get your SIA Close Protection licence first. Most listings will not read a CV from someone who cannot legally work yet.
2. 2Take a static security post or event security job. Time on post, written reports and a clean record are the currency that gets you onto a detail.
3. 3Add medical training. A first response course such as FREC 3 and a TECC course immediately make you more useful than an unqualified applicant.
4. 4Do a protective driving course. It is the second most valuable line on a new officer's CV after licensing.
5. 5Translate military or police experience into protection language: personal security detail, convoy operations, route clearance, dignitary protection, crowd control, close quarters medical response.
6. 6Keep your appearance and social media in line. Security directors check, and a public feed showing weapons, clients or locations disqualifies people every week.

• One page for under ten years, two beyond that. Conservative layout, no photo, no date of birth, no graphics. This industry reads a flashy CV as a red flag.
• Put a Licences and Qualifications block directly under the personal statement. It is the first thing checked.
• Corporate security departments use applicant tracking systems. Mirror their words: executive protection, close protection, SIA, advance, threat assessment, protective intelligence, residential security, convoy, surveillance detection, incident report.
• Describe employers by type when you worked through a firm on a confidential contract, for example "FTSE 100 logistics company (via a close protection contractor)". That is accurate and it keeps the NDA intact.
• Keep a separate, private reference list. In this trade, one call from a director you have worked for outweighs the whole document.
• Proofread twice. Report writing is a real part of the job and your CV is the writing sample.

“If a CV names the principal, it goes in the bin. That is the whole test, and about one in five fails it. What I want to see instead is advance work with numbers, current licensing, and a medical card. Anyone can stand next to somebody. The person who walked the route first is the one who gets hired.”