The Ultimate Guide to Shooter Jobs
We put this information up front so you know exactly what you're getting into. Everyone wants to be a warrior until it's time to act like a warrior. This industry isn't for the weak, lazy or mentally challenged. TIP 1: Read the whole Guide if you really want to work in this industry.
MUST HAVES:
1.You must have at least 4 years military, any MOS, OR, 5 years law enforcement OR corrections within the last 5 years.
If you have any of these, you are eligible for employment. If you pair that up with a good resume, that doesn't look like half the McDonald’s resumes we see you will get hired pretty quickly. We highly recommend the cats over at Throat Punch Resumes at https://www.throatpunchresumes.com
TIP 2: A good resume and a solid background is what you need for entry-level security contracting. It is all that matters to get your foot in the door. The best resumes get picked for the interviews. The best interviews get hired. If you suck at either one then get coaching. The people getting hired did.
The more accomplishments WITH RESULTS you can display on your resume, the more jobs you will qualify for.
TIP 3: If you meet these criteria and spend more than 15 minutes working on your resume you can easily find work on the Shooter Jobs website.
TIP 4: If you do not meet the criteria posted above then Shooter Jobs
cannot help you.
No matter what you say or how many times you ask, WE DO NOT DECIDE who gets hired. The companies do not decide. The clients ultimately decide. These are the clients requirements. They will not bend the rules when they have 1000 other applicants who meet these requirements. Stop asking us. The answer is a resounding ‘NO’.
TIP 5: If you've been out for more than 5 years then applying will be a massive waste of your time and the client’s time. We don’t thrive on giving you false hope. It's simple math, if you did 4 years and have been out for 10. You've been out 2.5 times longer than you were in. Why would a client, whose life is on the line, want someone who has been out of action for over a decade protecting them?
Someone whose life is dependent on the people protecting them will want guys that are still frosty from recent experience. Not freezer burnt from being on the shelf for a decade. They want to go home to their families. Not feed egos.
TIP 6: There are exceptions to the rules see below in the FAQ section.
TIP 7: This is not an industry for people to "break into." This is an industry for trained professionals. Go join the military or be a cop if you want to break into the industry. Put in your time in like everyone else has. Companies will not train you without deployment experience.
TIP 8: Don’t waste your time getting security certifications on your own dime. Once the company picks you up, they will provide you the necessary training.
TIP 9: If you have any crimes on your record, Shooter Jobs can't help you. If you got popped for drugs or can't carry a gun, then no company will touch you. This site will not be of any use to you. Leave now. Don't bother asking about the ‘what ifs’. No one within the Shooter Jobs industries will hire you for this kind of work. You do not get rewarded for bad behavior. We live in a place called reality. Not the make-believe places some of you morons live in, where society rewards your mistakes. Mistakes in our world cost lives.
If you can't write a resume then hire someone to do it for you. You don't want to turn in a $15/hour resume when going for a 6-figure job.
As mentioned earlier we recommend Throat Punch Resumes found here: https://www.throatpunchresumes.com/
They have a lot of experience writing resumes for the security industry and have been contractors themselves. Tell them Shooter Jobs sent you. First check out their website to find out what you will need and how much it will cost.
We have recruited and teamed up with buddies to start other job sites.
TIP 10: MOS Jobs is now open and servicing all kinds of admin and mechanic jobs. If you are not looking to get into security then check them out.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. What about Non US Citizen?
Yes, check the website. We have jobs posted for all nationalities.
2. Where do I send my resume?
You apply through the job posting on the Shooter Jobs website. In the name of everything holy, don’t send us your resumes.
Each one is different. We work with about 200 companies who post job openings on the site. There is no general submission.
TIP on resumes. This is what it boils down to. The best resumes get picked for the interviews. The best interviews get picked up. A 20 year retired CAG or SEAL won't get hired if they turn in a greasy bar napkin for a resume. They will pick the cook who at least printed his and spelled the words correctly. It's all about your resume. Spend hours and hours working on it. If you don't think you can write a good one, then hire someone to do it. We have a resume writer on the site. It's not required. It's only for guys who aren't skilled like that. If you don't get call backs after two weeks of applying then change your resume. Baits not working, switch the lure. Remember, it's not what YOU think about how well written it is. It's about what the recruiters think and getting results.
3. Do I really have to pay?
If you wish to use our services, then, yes. We are all contractors, not programmers. We are constantly on the move and too busy to host things ourselves. We charge about 30 cents a day to cover the programming and hosting costs. Most people don't understand the cost and time involved of running this website. All our admins are current contractors. We practice what we preach. Our web geeks are full time programmers who do this cheaply for us as a favor to us and the military. They are as patriotic as it gets but still can't spend hours of their own time and not get paid for it. We do all kinds of things to keep the cost down and only charge what we need to cover cost.
Other sites are charging $30 to steal our job posts and copy/paste them for their members. We are the ones who actually go out and hound up the jobs. Get exclusive deals where our site is the only place some jobs gets posted. New jobs posted 7 days a week. We had jobs posted on Christmas day before. No other site works as hard as we do to get our brothers employed. I doubt the other sites pay anything close to what we do to Wounded Warrior with the left over cash we make. Other job sites don't stage Westboro blockades at military funerals. 30 cents a day for a six figure job list that's updated daily is a pretty fair trade. We would love to do banner ads which would keep the cost down but then guys operating down range on Haji net can't log in. It would take 2 hours to load the page. If anyone can get us government supplements then we could do this for free. Until then, 30 cents a day is pretty fair.
4. How do I know your job site works?
Check our Facebook page with over a quarter million followers. Go through our past post by others for a ton of success stories. We have been around since 2010 and have helped thousands of veterans find employment. If we were a scam you would see a ton of complaints and no fans.
TIP 11: Be wary of any of companies that offer to post your resume for you and match you up with recruiters. Recruiters get hundreds of applications per WEEK. They do not need to go out looking for someone. Unless you have a really rare skill set like Underwater K9 Sniper who speaks ancient Mayan and is needed for this one time only. Recruiters will not troll through thousands of resumes looking for guys when they already have a dozens of resumes sitting on their desk. Be that resume on their desk and apply. Don't post a resume on a site that will never ever be seen by a recruiter. They don't have the time to use them. They need bodies, they need them now, be a guy who has already proven that he will commit to this job if it's offered.
The jobs are real. If you have the background and good looking resume you will get hired. We put all those jobs in one place.
TIP 12: You can search the internet for a several hours and find half of them on your own posted on the company websites. We get a lot of exclusive jobs that you just can't find anywhere else. But what it comes down to how much is 3-4 hours of your time worth to you? $2.50 an hour? And you would need to do this every day. So it would break down to your time is worth 10 cents an hour over the course of a month.
4. “OPSEC be damned! I'm going to post my whole resume and clearance on your public page! What job should I apply for?”
First, don't post your bio or clearance level on a public Facebook page. If the right person sees it, then you lose your clearance. If the wrong person sees it, then you lose your family. Think before you post.
Second, we have no idea what job you should apply for; we don't read tealeaves. Start with the ones you are qualified for. Then, narrow it down to the ones that interest you.
TIP 13: Do not apply for a job you are not qualified for. Recruiters will mark your email as spam. When you apply for a job that you are qualified for your application will go to the spam box. They won't ever see your name for that job.
5. Does reserve or guard time count?
Yes, if you have been deployed. You had better expect to start at the bottom. It's not hard to work your way up. You don't need to stay there. You will have to put in time with a company to show them what you're capable of. Getting promoted and getting a 25% increase in pay the first year isn't unheard of or even that uncommon. Be the best guy on the team. Work harder than everyone else on the team. Get put in charge of the team as soon as there is an opening.
6. I got out 6-8 years ago but I've been working as a contractor, instructor, cop, or armed executive protection agent for a major company. Does that count for anything?
Yes, as long as you've been in the field it can count. It will also depend on what job you actually go for. If you've been working as an instructor then good sense would say apply to the instructor positions. If you have been working as a cop. Apply for the police trainer positions. Don't ask us what to apply for. We have no clue what job will interest you. YOU CAN CERTAINLY ASK THE RESUME EXPERTS AT THROAT PUNCH RESUMES AND THEY DO PROVIDE CAREER COACHING. We post job openings; we don't pick out life paths. Our staff sucks at reading Tarot cards.
TIP 14: If you have been doing any other kind of work like planting flowers or a bank teller for the last 8 years then we are sorry about your midlife crisis but this isn't the place for it.
If you do not meet these exceptions then please feel free to leave a comment about how it's BS. You did just fine back in Nam/Desert Storm and could whip any of these young bucks, We love getting a good laugh, letting others laugh at you, then clicking "ban user" on your name. Go take your nap grandpa, and leave the war to the ones who can keep up.
7. I only did 3 years and 9 months but deployed twice. Man it really sucks I can't apply.
If you have been deployed and are a verifiable badass, then the companies won't care about the 90 days of BS you didn't sit through. But, at 3 years X months with deployments on record and an outstanding resume, you can still get hired. If you only did two years then yeah you're screwed. Don't bother asking.
8. If you are physically disabled and require a device or assistance to roll/walk, these companies will not hire you. These are high-threat security jobs with strict PT requirements. If you are in a wheelchair or have a walker, this isn't the career path you want. If you can't run, climb ropes, climb walls, go through an obstacle course. You cannot be hired. No amount of bitching will matter.
9. I ETS in the year 2019. Can I start applying now?
There is no point in applying or trying to court companies until you have 3-4 months left.
10. The PTSD Question
This is a touchy subject with every answer being different. Do you need regular visits or yeah you've seen some shit? There is a difference. Don't respond with your personal info. Think about your answer and just see how it stacks up to what I'm saying. Companies will ask for your medical history during hiring. What do your doctor visits show. Regular PTSD treatments? Drugs given to combat PTSD? Is this guy obviously fucked up and shouldn't have a loaded weapon? Or did like 2-8 years ago shit got real but that was then and this is now. Not a thing about it since. Everyone who went to war came home with some form of PTSD. I don't care what anyone says about they didn't. Everyone's levels vary. Some use it for a crutch. Some got over it and nothing ever happened in their life to bring it up. No one ever knew but them. Some are still highly affected by it. A client doesn't want a bitch, that never saw shit, protecting them. They also don't want a nut job with a hot firearm in a stressful environment protecting them.
11. What does XYZ job pay?
You find out when they offer you the job. It's usually confidential because they don't want to get outbid on upcoming contracts. If XYZ company post a job for $100k for an upcoming contract. The competing company, ABC, will just pay their guys $95k and win the contract award. It's in your best interest to keep salaries higher.
12. Will I have to pass a PT test? What will that involve.
Yes you will and it's usually on the first day. You fail and you go home that day. No exceptions, you NEED to show up ready to go. Every job, contract, company and client have their own standards of what they want. 50 push ups, 50 sit ups, bench your own body weight 5 times and a 1.5 mile run are a safe bet for employment. If you're worried then better get in the gym. You don't need to be a bodybuilder or UFC fighter to pass the test. Only need to show the company if shit hits the fan you're not going to be a weak link in the chain. Being it better shape will help keep you alive in this work.
13. I heard you need to be a former SEAL, Green Beret, or CAG to qualify. Is that true?
Please throat punch the shitbag who told you this lie. There are over 100,000 contractor positions around the world. There ARE NOT 100k former SOF operators to fill those positions. You do NOT need to be former Spec Ops to be a contractor. Only about 5% of the jobs require it.
14. DWI/DUI's Here's the deal. It depends how long ago it was and conviction vs. diversion. Also depends on the company that you're applying to. Without a clearance you will be restricted on what you can do. Those jobs don't pay that well. Yes you can still find them on the site. Without a clearance or public trust you'll probably max out at around $65k. We don't lie or give false truths. If you can't get one and you're ok with that much then you can find work on the site. If that's not worth it to you then applying will be a waste of time and money.
15. I was a Delta SEAL, I can do the job. Find me on Facebook if you're interested.
This is about as unprofessional as it gets. Are you a high school cheerleader playing hard to get? No recruiter will take the time out of their lives to track you down on Facebook and hand you a six figure job. No recruiter will read that message and say to themselves "Hey this guy shows zero motivation, is obviously full of himself and wants me to chase him like a sorority girl. This is the exact guy our company needs to represent us with clients." If you want a job you need to apply for one. No one will hire you off a Facebook comment. You especially won't get hired from acting like a jackass and telling them to come find you. Recruiters will remember you as being "That guy" and you will kill any future chances of employment in this industry.
16. What about females? I did six years and deployed twice. I'm in way better shape than half these fat asses I see on your Facebook. Can I apply?
We get jobs specially asking for females. There are more female contractors than you might think. They are needed for female only areas in the Middle East. Males can not search females or be in restricted areas. If you can walk the walk then yes it's possible to get hired on. You'll have to pass the same training as the men do. You'll need to do the same PT test and pass with the same shooting qualifications. Nothing changes as far as requirements.
17. MASSIVE TIP If you're looking for work. Do NOT have a Confederate flag profile picture unless your heritage is more important than your income.
You'll be working with different races and in charge of protecting people who aren't southern whites. No employer will take a chance on hiring a potential racist. No employer will want the headache of it.
Companies will look at your social media before contacting you. It's not hard to throw a name or email into Facebook/Twitter and see what kind of person you are. If you look like a dumbass on Facebook, you won't get a call back for any jobs you apply for. Once again, no employer is going to take a chance on hiring a POTENTIAL racist. We aren't saying you're racist if you support the flag. We are saying how you will be perceived to potential employers AND IN THIS WORLD PERCEPTION IS REALITY.
18. I've been out for too long or haven't deployed. Is there anything I can do? I'm willing to put in work to do this. It's my dream job.
Yes, go into law enforcement for a few years. Once you get some street time on your resume, combined with your military experience. You can qualify for jobs we get posted. We have been around since 2010, we aren't going anywhere.
This was your first step in a very long vetting process. You will be working with people who use "Fuck" as a comma, smoke, chew, drink alcohol and talk about every vile, disgusting thing you can ever think of. Trying to make the new guy puke at chow is a regular game around the business. If you read this and got offended, you probably won't do well down range in a war zone where bad language and cheap insults are the everyday norm.
If you read this and got a laugh, welcome to the community!