SINGAPORE: A new scheme to boost the number of career tracks available for security personnel was launched on Monday (Jun 13).

Called the Security Specialist Vocation Scheme (SSVS), the programme is a collaboration between security service company Soverus Group and the Union of Security Employees.

The scheme will give security officers from the group training opportunities to help them move within the company’s diversified line of business, with potential career tracks including security consultancy, security software engineering and cyber security.

Chief Executive Officer of Secura Group Paul Lim said he hoped SSVS would help solve some of the challenges facing the security industry, such as a shortfall in manpower, as it would give employees the choice to switch to different career tracks should they see a need to.

The company hopes that this will help attract more talents, especially those from the younger age group who may be keen on trying out different job scopes within the security sector, Mr Lim said, adding that the security industry currently requires about 30 per cent more security workers, or about 10,000 to 15,000 more employees.

The programme was developed in line with the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) for the security industry, which specifies training and salary requirements for security officers that security companies must implement as part of their licensing requirements by Sep 1 this year. As of March this year, about 15,000 active security officers, or 35 per cent of the industry had yet to be trained in line with requirements.