How to write a security guard CV that gets you called: layout, template and the mistakes to avoid
Grade, registration, sites, shifts: the four facts a site manager looks for in ten seconds, and how to put them where they will be seen.
TenEight Team · 26 September 2026
A security guard CV has a simpler job than most CVs and fails at it more often. The person reading it (a site manager, an HR clerk, an operations manager with forty applications and one post) is looking for four facts in the first ten seconds: your PSIRA grade, whether your registration is current, what sites you have worked, and whether you can do the shifts. Everything else comes after.
What employers look for first
Employers in this industry are not reading for style. They are checking whether you are legally placeable on the post they have open. So the top of the page must answer:
Your PSIRA grade and registration number, with the expiry date
Your specialist certificates: firearm competency, first aid, control room, CIT, close protection
Where you have worked: the type of site, the employer, the dates, the grade you worked at
The shifts and areas you can work
A CV that buries the grade on page two under "Qualifications" has already lost. Put it in the first three lines.
The layout of a security guard CV
Header. Your full name as on your ID, cellphone number, email, and the suburb and city you live in. Employers place officers near home. The suburb matters.
Registration line. Immediately under the header: PSIRA Grade C · Reg. no. 1234567 · valid to 03/2028 · Firearm competency (handgun) · First aid Level 1. One line, every legal fact an employer needs.
Profile. Two or three sentences: your grade, years of experience, the kinds of sites you know, and what you are looking for. "Grade C security officer with five years' experience in access control at residential estates and retail sites in the East Rand. Reliable on rotating day and night shifts. Looking for a permanent post with a company that supports progression to Grade B."
Experience. Most recent first. For each employer: company name, dates, your grade at the time, the site type, and two or three lines on what you actually did: access control, patrols, occurrence book, CCTV, supervising juniors, incidents handled. Numbers help: "controlled access for a 400-unit estate", "supervised a team of four Grade D officers".
Training and certificates. Every grade with the provider and year, every specialist course, your driver's licence and code, matric if you have it. Keep the certificates ready as copies. The CV lists them, the interview checks them.
Availability. Shifts you can work, notice period, whether you have transport for night shifts, and areas you can reach.
References. Two, both previous supervisors, with working phone numbers and their permission.
One page is ideal. Two is the maximum. Nobody reads a five-page security CV, and a long one suggests you do not know what matters.
A template you can copy
THABO MOKOENA
Tembisa, Ekurhuleni · 07x xxx xxxx · [email protected]
PSIRA Grade C · Reg. no. 1234567 · valid to 03/2028 · First aid Level 1 · Code B driver's licence
Grade C security officer with five years' experience in access control and patrols at residential estates and retail sites on the East Rand. Reliable on rotating 12-hour day and night shifts. Seeking a permanent post with progression to Grade B.
Experience
Security Officer (Grade C), ABC Security, Jan 2023 – present. Access control and patrols at a 400-unit residential estate in Kempton Park. Occurrence book, visitor management system, radio liaison with control room. Supervised two Grade D officers on night shift. Handled a break-in attempt in 2025: reported, secured, statement to SAPS.
Security Officer (Grade D), XYZ Guarding, Mar 2021 – Dec 2022. Retail site in Boksburg. Access control, CCTV monitoring on rotation, incident reports.
Training: Grades E, D, C (Ubuntu Training, 2021–2023) · First aid Level 1 (2024) · Matric (2019)
Availability: Rotating days and nights · own transport · 2 weeks' notice
References: S. Dlamini, Site Supervisor, ABC Security, 07x xxx xxxx · M. Naidoo, Ops Manager, XYZ Guarding, 07x xxx xxxx
Mistakes that get a security guard CV binned
No grade or registration number at the top. The reader assumes you are unregistered.
An expired registration listed as if current. It is checked on the register within minutes.
Gaps with no explanation. A line saying "2020: contract ended, unemployed" is better than a silent hole.
Claiming a grade you passed but that is not recorded on your PSIRA record. Have it recorded first.
A generic profile: "hardworking team player" tells a site manager nothing. Site type, grade and shifts do.
Photos, decorative fonts and colours. Plain text, printed clearly, is what works in this industry.
References that do not answer or do not remember you. Call them first.
Keep it current, and keep it online
Update the CV the day anything changes: a new grade, a renewed registration, a new certificate, a new employer. A CV that says Grade D when you passed Grade C last month is invisible to the posts you just qualified for.
Then put the same facts where employers search. On TenEight your profile carries your grade, registration number and expiry, certificates and shift preferences as structured fields, and the CV builder turns them into a clean, printable CV. Employers advertising on the platform see those fields on every application, so you browse security jobs and apply with everything already attached. Create a free profile and your CV is never out of date again.
Quick answers
What should a security guard CV include?
Your PSIRA grade, registration number and expiry at the top, then specialist certificates, experience by site type and grade (most recent first), training, availability, and two supervisor references.
How long should a security guard CV be?
One page is ideal, two at most.
Do I need matric on a security guard CV?
List it if you have it. Most guarding posts do not require it. Control room and supervisory posts increasingly ask for it.