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Physical Security hiring kit

How to hire for Physical Security.

To hire for physical security well, My Trade Talent's Physical Security hiring kit takes all 3 roles we recruit in order: what each seat is and what it pays, the technical questions that test it, the 4 credentials to verify, and what can kill the offer between acceptance and the first day.

3 roles: Security Systems Installer / Technician, Low-Voltage Electrician (Security Specialty), Integration Engineer / Systems Integrator. Free, with nothing to fill in. If you would rather a recruiter ran the search, that is the Physical Security recruiting page.

Step 1 · Plan

What each physical security seat is, and what it pays.

Each band is labelled with where it comes from. A My Trade Talent band is mid-experience, built from our own engagement history, and moves with experience and region. A BLS band is the federal 10th to 90th percentile, national and unadjusted, used where we have not closed enough searches in the trade to publish our own.

Physical Security roles, pay bands and credentials
RolePay bandCredentials that move an offer
Security Systems Installer / TechnicianInstalls, terminates, programs and services electronic security systems: access control readers, controllers and door hardware interfaces, IP cameras and recorders, intrusion panels, and the network they all sit on. $38,800 to $81,150Federal figures: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national, SOC 49-2098. The range is the 10th to 90th percentile and the median is $60,070. It is not adjusted for experience or region, and it is not a My Trade Talent band. Low-Voltage License
Low-Voltage Electrician (Security Specialty)Runs and terminates the cabling infrastructure security systems depend on: pathways and conduit, structured cabling, device rough-in, power and PoE distribution, and terminations that meet both the manufacturer requirements and the electrical code sections that apply to limited-energy work. $42,640 to $108,510Federal figures: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national, SOC 47-2111. The range is the 10th to 90th percentile and the median is $63,190. It is not adjusted for experience or region, and it is not a My Trade Talent band. State License
Integration Engineer / Systems IntegratorDesigns and commissions security systems that have to work together and with the rest of the building: access control to video to intrusion to visitor management, directory and identity integration, server and storage sizing, network architecture, and the cutover plan for a system that cannot be down. $49,510 to $115,700Federal figures: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national, SOC 17-3023. The range is the 10th to 90th percentile and the median is $78,190. It is not adjusted for experience or region, and it is not a My Trade Talent band. None that reliably moves an offer

We publish no physical security median of our own yet, so this is the all-trades figure: My Trade Talent's median commercial trades hire took 21 days across 88 searches closed in 2026 year to date, counted as calendar days from our first contact with the candidate to the hire. The full distribution is in the Hiring Index.

Price the seat by experience and region in the salary calculator, and work out what leaving it open costs in the cost of vacancy calculator.

Step 3 · Interview

How to interview for each physical security role.

Everyone who applies will claim the experience. These are the questions that test it, the signals that separate a strong candidate from a plausible one, and the mistake each seat invites.

Security Systems Installer / Technician

BLS 10th to 90th percentile

Installs, terminates, programs and services electronic security systems: access control readers, controllers and door hardware interfaces, IP cameras and recorders, intrusion panels, and the network they all sit on. This is an installation and service seat, not a guard post.

Questions that find out

  1. A reader works but the door will not unlock. How do you isolate the fault?
  2. How do you handle egress and fire alarm release on an access-controlled door?
  3. Cameras drop off the recorder intermittently. Where do you start?

What a strong candidate shows

  • Names platforms configured - access control and video management by product - rather than listing manufacturers seen
  • Comfortable on the network side: addressing, VLANs, PoE budgets, switch configuration
  • Has integrated door hardware with fire alarm and life-safety egress requirements

The mistake this seat invites. Confusing this role with security guard staffing. It is a low-voltage technical trade with IT skills attached, and it is priced accordingly.

Build a scorecard for this role Total an offer Pay by metro

Low-Voltage Electrician (Security Specialty)

BLS 10th to 90th percentile

Runs and terminates the cabling infrastructure security systems depend on: pathways and conduit, structured cabling, device rough-in, power and PoE distribution, and terminations that meet both the manufacturer requirements and the electrical code sections that apply to limited-energy work.

Questions that find out

  1. What licence do you hold for low-voltage work in this state and what does it cover?
  2. How do you certify a structured cabling run and what do you do with a failed test?
  3. Where does your PoE budget run out on a switch and how do you plan for it?

What a strong candidate shows

  • Licensing stated accurately for the state, because low-voltage licensure varies and matters
  • Terminations and testing described with the standard used, not just "ran the cable"
  • Understands where limited-energy work still falls under the electrical code

The mistake this seat invites. Assuming a licensed electrician can drop straight in. The code sections, the testing standards and the licensure are a different specialty, and the reverse assumption is just as wrong.

Build a scorecard for this role Total an offer Pay by metro

Integration Engineer / Systems Integrator

BLS 10th to 90th percentile

Designs and commissions security systems that have to work together and with the rest of the building: access control to video to intrusion to visitor management, directory and identity integration, server and storage sizing, network architecture, and the cutover plan for a system that cannot be down.

Questions that find out

  1. How do you size recording storage for a two hundred camera system at thirty days?
  2. Walk me through integrating access control with an enterprise directory.
  3. How do you cut over a live access control system without leaving doors unsecured?

What a strong candidate shows

  • Thinks in systems and interfaces rather than devices
  • Has done an identity or directory integration and can describe what broke
  • Can size storage and bandwidth for a camera count and retention requirement

The mistake this seat invites. Hiring a field technician into a design seat. The integration role is architecture and commissioning, and the failure mode is a system that passes device-by-device and fails as a whole.

Build a scorecard for this role Total an offer Pay by metro

Every role in every trade is in the interview question bank.

Step 4 · Offer

What can kill a physical security offer before day one.

The things that end an accepted offer between the yes and the start date, specific to this trade and each sourced.

  • The licence belongs to the employment relationship

    Texas requires an individual to be licensed and affiliated with a licensed company; California defines the alarm agent as someone employed by an alarm company operator. A candidate cannot arrive pre-licensed and independent, and resigning can suspend their ability to work at all, which makes them cautious about a start date.

    Source: www.dps.texas.gov/section/private-security/types-individual-licenses

  • Fingerprint clearance lands after the offer

    California requires DOJ and FBI criminal history checks by Live Scan for alarm company employee registration. Virginia requires fingerprints on or before the date of hire, with a 90-day provisional window. The familiar sequence is offer accepted, technician starts provisionally, prints return, placement collapses.

    Source: www.bsis.ca.gov/consumers/faqs/alarmco_emp.shtml

  • Two regulators claim the same work

    A candidate can hold a valid security registration and still be unable to do the job because the electrical authority also claims the scope. Washington places intrusion alarms and fire protection signalling inside its limited energy electrician specialty, which takes 4,000 hours to qualify for. Screen for both where the state has both.

    Source: app.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=296-46B-920

  • There is no longer a NICET video credential, so those requisitions cannot be filled

    NICET discontinued Video Security Systems testing on 31 December 2023. A CCTV or access control candidate has no NICET path to point at, and a requisition demanding NICET video certification will return nobody. Write those against ESA or manufacturer certifications instead.

    Source: www.nicet.org/certification-programs/

Add up the whole offer, not just the base, in the offer calculator.

Step 5 · Onboard

Credentials to verify before the first day.

Each names the body that issues it and links to the issuer's own page or a .gov page. Researched 2026-09-23; re-read the source before relying on an entry.

  • NICET certification in Fire Alarm Systems

    National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET)

    The credential most likely to be a hard licensing prerequisite for integrators who also do fire, and the one that most changes pay. Delaware specifies NICET Level II in Fire Alarm Systems for its fire alarm licence classes; Michigan accepts Level II for its Fire Alarm Specialty Technician licence.

    Source: www.nicet.org/certification-programs/

  • Certified Alarm Technician (CAT) Level 1, and the ESA certification ladder above it

    Electronic Security Association, National Training School

    The industry’s standard entry technician certification, accepted in a number of jurisdictions as the low-voltage training needed to obtain an alarm licence. Michigan names ESA’s Certified Fire Alarm Technician Level II alongside NICET Level II as an accepted certification.

    Source: courses.esaweb.org/product-category/esa-certifications/

  • Physical Security Professional (PSP)

    ASIS International

    A board certification on the design and management side rather than an installation licence, covering physical security assessment, system design and implementation. Aimed at people with three to five years of relevant experience. A differentiator for designers and consultants, not a legal gate for field techs.

    Source: www.asisonline.org/certification/physical-security-professional/

  • State private security individual registration

    The state regulator, for example Texas DPS Private Security, Virginia DCJS, California BSIS

    In regulated states this is what legally permits an individual to install or service alarm and electronic access control equipment. Working without it is unlicensed practice. Names and training hours differ by state; Virginia, for instance, requires 14 hours of entry-level training and four hours annually thereafter.

    Source: www.dcjs.virginia.gov/faq/electronic-security-technician

State licensing for 39 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin) is in the credential check, each with the agency and its source. Open the credential check for Physical Security.

Step 6 · Retain

Where each role goes next.

Candidates ask about the next step in the first conversation, and an employer who can answer it keeps the people who had other options. Say it on day one, too.

  • Security Systems Installer / Technician

    Technicians move to lead technician, then to systems integrator or project manager on the integration side.

  • Low-Voltage Electrician (Security Specialty)

    Low-voltage electricians move to lead, foreman, or across into systems technician and integration work.

  • Integration Engineer / Systems Integrator

    Integration engineers move to solutions architect, engineering manager, or to the manufacturer side.

Take it with you

The Physical Security guides.

The full interview guide, salary guide and whitepaper for the trade. Each download asks for your email; nothing on this page does.

Questions

Hiring for physical security: questions.

What interview questions should I ask when hiring for physical security?

My Trade Talent's Physical Security hiring kit carries three technical questions for each of its 3 roles. For the Security Systems Installer / Technician, the first is: "A reader works but the door will not unlock. How do you isolate the fault?" The full set, with the signals that separate a strong answer, is on this page and in the interview question bank.

What credentials should I verify when hiring in physical security?

The Physical Security kit lists 4, each with its issuing body and a primary source: NICET certification in Fire Alarm Systems, Certified Alarm Technician (CAT) Level 1, and the ESA certification ladder above it, Physical Security Professional (PSP) and State private security individual registration.

What can kill a physical security job offer before the start date?

The Physical Security kit names 4, each sourced: The licence belongs to the employment relationship, Fingerprint clearance lands after the offer, Two regulators claim the same work and There is no longer a NICET video credential, so those requisitions cannot be filled.

What do physical security roles pay?

Security Systems Installer / Technician: $38,800 to $81,150 (BLS 10th to 90th percentile); Low-Voltage Electrician (Security Specialty): $42,640 to $108,510 (BLS 10th to 90th percentile); Integration Engineer / Systems Integrator: $49,510 to $115,700 (BLS 10th to 90th percentile). My Trade Talent bands are mid-experience and move with experience and region; BLS figures are national and unadjusted.

How long does it take to hire in physical security?

We publish no physical security median of our own yet, so this is the all-trades figure: My Trade Talent's median commercial trades hire took 21 days across 88 searches closed in 2026 year to date, counted as calendar days from our first contact with the candidate to the hire.

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