3-Step Interview Guide for Physical Security
A practical 3-step framework - technical fit, motivational fit, culture fit - for interviewing security systems installer, technician, and integrator candidates, with role-specific questions for all 10 positions we recruit for.
What's inside
- Platform-specific technical questions - camera/NVR/VMS brands, access-control software, alarm panel manufacturers
- Networking-literacy questions that separate a wiring generalist from a true systems integrator
- A red-flags checklist and a 4-dimension scorecard for comparing candidates apples-to-apples
- Role-specific interview questions for all 10 positions we recruit for
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Download 3-Step Interview Guide for Physical SecurityWho you are actually interviewing.
The questions in the guide come out of our own screens. The facts below are public, and they are the reason the questions are shaped the way they are.
How old the trade really is.
Security and fire alarm systems installers run to a median age of 39.1 against 42.1 for the American workforce as a whole - 3 years younger. The layer they get promoted into, first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers and repairers, sits at 47.6. That gap is the thing that is actually scarce: not bodies, but the years it takes to make a foreman. The installation trade, not security guards — a separate and much larger occupation.
How wide "market rate" really is.
One in ten security and fire alarm systems installers earns under $38,800 a year and one in ten earns over $81,150, around a median of $60,070. The top of that band is 2.1 times the bottom, for the same federal job title. An interview is what tells you which end of it the person in front of you belongs at - and a bad one is how employers end up paying the top of the band for the bottom of it.
The credential question, state by state.
We have confirmed a state-level licensing requirement touching physical security in 39 states, each one from an official agency source. Three of them, as examples: AL — Companies and individuals that sell, install, maintain or repair alarm systems, CCTV or electronic access control must be licensed, and individual licensees must work through a licensed company. Applicants undergo state and federal fingerprint-based background checks.; AR — Alarm system companies and their employees are licensed and regulated by the Arkansas State Police. Employees, company officers and managers must be fingerprinted and pass background checks.; AZ — Alarm businesses and each of their controlling persons must be certified by the board before operating, and individual alarm agents need their own certification.. Rules change; every entry on our state pages carries the agency and the source it came from, last checked 2026-09-22.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Table 11b (2025 annual averages); Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
