Healthcare Security

Hey guys, I have searched this topic and read what was said, but I need some personal information. I am finishing up a degree in Business, have stellar grades, and have been trying high and low to obtain a position in Healthcare Security. The local hospitals near me are Caritas Holy Family, Lowell General, Lawrence General, and Saints Medical Center. I have basically crossed Saints off because from what it looks like, they want someone with an academy behind them. Lawrence General has a nice facility and they want their officers IAHSS certified. I figured I would take the initiative to buy the manual and pay for the test myself. I did everything in less than a week and thus have reapplied. Would calling the HR Department seem like too much of a huant, or if I word myself correctly would it seem more like a very interested candidate. I will take the advanced and supervisor tests, but currently have little to no money to buy the materials. I figured I am already showing initiative by doing it on my own, but does anyone else have any suggestions? Thank-you for all your prior answers and comments.

Thanks Kozmo for the info, unfortunately I check daily and apply when a position opens for BIDMC, MGH, Tufts-NEMC, Faulkner, Cambridge Health Alliance, and BMC. If you check the NEMC job postings, they must have close to 10 openings, I both applied online and faxed over a cover letter and resume. What really stinks is that most places now don't even have paper applications, so taking a trip to HR to make you face known doesn't even help anymore.

It is tough to get into dept's like these without any exp. I do understand how frustrating it can be, but keep trying and take whatever you can and then build from there. It is just like everthing else, don't give it and apply 100 times if you have too.
Good job with the IAHSS exam, the advanced it very easy also.

Mass, thank-you for the positive praise, I will definitely keep on applying. I would love to take the advanced test, but when I say I am beyond broke I truly mean it. I have been looking at the usual contract security places including Allied Barton. I will take a job if offered and use it as experience. Again, thank-you.

You welcome! With the positive attitude that you have, you will achieve a position somewhere. Some companies look for a diamond in the rough with no exp.
Keep in mind that there are hotels and motels out there too that have proprietary security also.

Apollo does or did have the contract for metrowest natick.

I think psych hospitals would offer the best training for a police officer however, I am sure nothing beats the ER/Psych Hospital security guard roles. Most security guards in stand a lone psych hospitals do lock and key, however do interact with patients and as a liaison on when to call the police and assisting the police in investigations of patients in the hospitals (ones who do bad things like destroy whole rooms or sneak drugs into the detox unit).

Absolutely, Psych and the ER are the most likely places for violence to occur, thus the need to be on high alert. I know being a former Nursing student and hospital employee, the ER saw it's fair share of overdoses, drunks, and psychs. Of course there are the usual rounds, but when a call is placed, you'd bet I'd be there in a heartbeat.

Well I finally received the IAHSS certificate in the mail, at least I can include that with the applications now. I have contacted a few HR departments in regards to the current hiring status and am currently waiting for a response. Everyday I wait for the phone to ring, but to my dismay it is usually a telemarketer.

I don't know where you live Adam1984,but there is always this company in the Boston Globe that is looking for armed patrol officers....must have knowledge of Boston streets. There is only a phone number that is always listed. Check it out if you want.

If you have a medical background and you're interested in healthcare, try looking into a Special Agent position with the US Dept of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigations. They investigate healthcare fraud within the federal programs ie Medicare and Medicaid.

http://oig.hhs.gov/career/oi_brochure/recruit1.htm

http://oig.hhs.gov/organization/OI/index.html

Good luck

Well I can pretty much only wait now, I applied via the online application, snail mail, and fax. If this doesn't work, well then, I might just give in for a while. Until then, I can only hope for the best. On a slightly, and I mean slightly better note, I have an interview with my local police department next week. They are hiring 10 reserves yet in the local paper today because of the statewide financial crunch, they are looking to lay off 4 full-time officers. Things just keep on getting better and better. After these options are exhausted, I have looked in joining a reserve branch of the military or just moving away to a place where hiring is done on a more frequent basis.

Things are going to get worse. Its sad but true. I hope we don't see what happened in the early 90s come back again. I know some cities put officers through the academy then could not afford to pay them when they graduated. Thus leaving new unemployed police officers.

If I can get some Military experience in as well as finish my degree, Austin TX and the whole state look very pleasing. I just have to convince the fiance that there is no future in this cold and dreary hellhole. Heck, she knows first hand working for DSS, sorry DCF.

Just don't always think that the grass is greener somewhere else. Eveyplace has it's issues and problems.

Adam...check your PM's

I just caught this thread today sorry it's a little late and don't know if you still check it or not, but I am currently with MGH PD right now and going through their HR departments will prob get you know where. I actually had to track down who does the hiring for the department and I contacted him directly. A lot of the people here do have experience, but I have seen people get hired with a BA degree in whatever,it doesn't matter. Once you you have been here long enough and you are squared away they will send you to the intermittent academy for you SSPO and they will give you that IAHSS training as well. Don't know if that helps.........sometimes just submitting the online app isn't enough you have to track down whos in charge of hiring, these healthcare organizations get hundreds of apps a day.

I would stay away from DYS. However it could give you some reel world experience. So can working at a convenience store late at night in Mattapan by yourself.

The only thing good about DYS are those transit guys I see so often. They are always funny and never burned out. I am sure they worked there way up though.

Also stay away from private psych hospitals. With the exception of maybe Maclean. At the most a private psych hospital will have lock and key security, if that even.

Well, I had gotten a job in November at Winchester Hospital but it is only EOW. I am not complaining, but I have been looking at others places in the meanwhile. First off, I would love a full-time schedule, and secondly, I would like to do more than detex and random sandwich runs. Yes, we are sometimes hit with many psychs in the ER, but for the most part it is not that exciting. Do I like the people I work with, absolutely, but I was just expecting more activity. If anyone has any inside connections, please let me know, I am an honest, hardworking, and ethical person just buying his time.

i have trouble seeing a non academy trained non veteran person with no experience getting on the job in this state anytime soon unless they are connected in the organization. with all the budget cuts and layoffs, and 8 years worth of shooting war, it just isnt going to happen. think about all those worcester guys. that thirty two full time municiple academy trained guys out on the street. if they decide to bite the bullet and take a hospital gig until they called called back to worcester, its theirs. the same for the colleges.

further, with the preponderance of veterans, anybody who isnt might as well give up on the cs test this years. vets at the top of a list(and god love em that right where they should be) that with the budget crunch is going to see very little movement this year or next. you might as well save that hundred bucks. me personally, ive all but given up on a le career in ma....

Same here. I gave up in 2001 when Springfield laid off 50 officers, and those officers commuted up to 50 miles away and worked in Webster and Oxford, MA. Of course as soon as Springfield called they got their jobs back. With lay-offs, etc. etc. its bad out there.

I believe the jobs should go to people who have been trained like the Worcester Officers a trained police officer not working is a terrible thing to waste. There is no easy solution, if I wait around in MA I will be far too old. If your young I would move down south.

Working in healthcare as a Nurse, in theory one could move on to the next place if one place closes because all healthcare facilities have nurses. Security and Police in healthcare facilities varies extremely. Most are lucky to even have someone lock the doors.

However the only thing this country has left that is undebatable is its medical care system. We have the best healthcare in the world. This may end soon.

All is very true and you have pretty much hit it on the head. I was in the coast guard active duty and was with a tactical LE team and an AS in crminal justice, with great experience and the best I could land in MA was Mass General PD. Also I took the last the civil service two years ago. Theres no hope in this state unless you want to wait a long time, they just pink slipped an entire academy class in boston. I would leave the area thats what im doing now

db, do you have vets preference from the coast guard for actice duty?