Hiring Preferences of Security Professionals: A National Survey

• NCJ Number: 162131
• Journal: Journal of Security Administration Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: (December 1995) Pages: 29-38
• Author(s): M K Nalla; K E Christian; M A Morash; P J Schram
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Security managers and directors were surveyed to solicit their preferences when hiring undergraduates and graduate degree holders for security positions.

Abstract

Data were obtained from a larger survey conducted by the Leadership and Management Program in Security in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. A questionnaire was constructed to include Likert-type scales and open-ended questions. The sample consisted of security professionals (n=5,649) from the membership of the American Society for Industrial Security. A total of 1,490 surveys were returned (response rate of 26.4 percent). Among those who responded, 1,360 professionals ranked the hiring preferences for bachelor's and master's graduates in various disciplines. The respondents preferred undergraduates over graduates, irrespective of the degree program, suggesting a greater likelihood for undergraduates to find entry-level jobs in the security profession compared to graduates. A comparison of the relative demand for undergraduates from various degree programs suggests that there is high demand for a major in criminal justice/security with coursework in business. Other majors that received higher rankings included criminal justice/security and a major in business with coursework in security. The remaining majors were business, computer science with coursework in security, and computer science. Hiring preferences for graduate students, although weaker, were relatively similar to those for the undergraduate programs. Majors in criminal justice/security and criminal justice/security with coursework in business ranked the highest. There was no dramatic geographic variation among the means for each of the undergraduate and graduate academic programs. The findings suggest that security executives have sent a signal to universities to develop security curricula with a significant coverage of business and computing skills. They also suggest the demand for the establishment of closer working relationships among the criminal justice, business, and computer science departments in universities that offer security programs. 2 tables and 13 references