Walk into any Allied Universal branch office in Memphis right now and you’ll see a stack of open requisitions that would have been unthinkable two years ago. Securitas is posting dozens of positions on Indeed. GardaWorld is running radio ads looking for armed and unarmed officers. The message from every major security company in the Memphis metro is identical: we need people, and we needed them yesterday.
The math behind this hiring surge is simple. Crime hit record levels in 2020. COVID created entirely new categories of security work. Commercial vacancies downtown mean empty buildings that still need watching. And MPD’s staffing shortage has pushed property managers toward private security at a rate nobody anticipated.
The problem? Finding the people to fill those posts is turning into the industry’s biggest challenge of 2021.
Where the Demand Is Coming From
The hiring boom isn’t driven by a single factor. It’s three separate waves crashing into each other at the same time.
Wave one: COVID screening. Nearly every office building, medical facility, and retail property in Memphis added some form of access control during 2020. Guards checking temperatures, verifying health questionnaires, and managing socially distanced entry lines became a standard fixture at properties across East Memphis, Germantown, and the medical district near the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. That work requires bodies, and it didn’t exist before March 2020. Companies that previously needed four guards now need six. Properties that had no security now have a guard at the front door.
Wave two: crime response. Memphis recorded 290 murders in 2020. Carjackings surged. Aggravated assaults climbed. Business owners who had been on the fence about hiring security stopped hesitating. Convenience stores on Poplar Avenue, apartment complexes in Hickory Hill, and retail centers in Whitehaven all added guard posts in the second half of 2020. That demand hasn’t slowed. If anything, it’s picked up as 2021 crime numbers have started off on the same trajectory.
Wave three: vacancy patrols. Downtown Memphis office buildings are still running at 30-40% occupancy. Hotels along Union Avenue that depend on convention and tourism traffic are barely open. Construction sites across Midtown have materials sitting overnight. Empty and underused properties attract break-ins, squatters, copper theft, and vandalism. Every one of those properties needs regular patrol, and many need a dedicated overnight presence.
Add those three waves together and you get an industry that’s trying to hire hundreds of new guards in a metro area where the qualified labor pool is limited and getting smaller.
The Wage Problem
For years, security guard pay in Memphis has hovered in a range that made recruiting difficult even in normal times. Unarmed guards at major companies like Allied Universal and Securitas could expect $10 to $11 an hour for entry-level positions. Armed guards pulled $12 to $14. Those numbers are moving up, and they have to.
The federal government extended supplemental unemployment benefits of $300 per week through mid-March. For someone who was making $10 an hour working 40-hour weeks, that supplement closes the gap between employment and unemployment to almost nothing. When you factor in the COVID risk of standing at a public checkpoint for eight hours, the calculation tilts toward staying home for a lot of potential candidates.
Companies are responding. New job postings in Memphis show unarmed guard wages creeping toward $12 to $13 an hour. Armed positions are listing at $14 to $16. Some specialized posts, like healthcare facility security or armed response patrols, are hitting $17 to $18. Those wages would have been unusual 18 months ago. Today, they’re what it takes to get applications.
The wage increases will squeeze margins for security companies. A firm that bid a contract at $14 per hour billed rate with the assumption of paying guards $10 is now looking at labor costs that eat into or eliminate their profit. Contract renegotiations are happening across the industry, and some clients are pushing back. The tension between what clients want to pay and what guards need to earn is the defining business challenge for Memphis security firms in 2021.
TDCI’s Processing Backlog
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance handles security guard registration through its Private Protective Services division. Every guard working in Tennessee must hold an active registration, and armed guards need additional qualifications and endorsements.
TDCI processed a record number of new guard registration applications in 2020. The volume created backlogs that ripple through the entire hiring pipeline. A security company that hires a new guard can’t deploy them until their registration clears. If that process takes four to six weeks instead of the typical two to three, the company has a person on payroll who can’t work a billable post.
Armed guard registrations take even longer because they require firearms qualification records and additional background checks. For companies trying to staff armed positions in high-crime areas where clients are willing to pay premium rates, the TDCI timeline is a genuine bottleneck.
Some companies have adapted by maintaining a bench of registered guards who pick up shifts as needed, essentially treating guard registration like an inventory that must be kept stocked. That approach works for larger firms with the cash flow to carry non-billable employees. Smaller operations can’t afford it.
Big Firms vs. Small Firms
The hiring boom is playing out differently depending on company size.
Allied Universal, the largest security company in the United States, has the recruiting infrastructure to run national hiring campaigns and funnel candidates into Memphis positions. Their benefits package, which includes health insurance and a 401(k) for full-time employees, gives them a recruiting advantage over firms that offer hourly pay and nothing else. Their Memphis operation covers everything from office buildings on Poplar to industrial sites near the airport. The scale helps. When one account has a slow week, they can shift guards to accounts that are short. The tradeoff for guards is that they sometimes feel like interchangeable parts in a machine. Turnover at Allied, like at most national firms, runs high.
Securitas runs a similar model with strong brand recognition and national resources. Their Memphis operation focuses on commercial and corporate accounts, and they’ve been aggressive about raising wages to attract candidates. Like Allied, they offer benefits that smaller companies struggle to match.
GardaWorld, the Canadian-headquartered firm with a growing Memphis presence, has targeted government and critical infrastructure contracts. Their focus on higher-security work means they need candidates with cleaner backgrounds and often prior experience, which makes their recruiting challenge even steeper.
On the smaller end of the market, companies like Shield of Steel face different pressures. Shield of Steel is a veteran-owned firm that’s been operating out of their Lamar Avenue location since 1998. Their recruiting advantage is direct: they pull from the military and law enforcement communities, which gives them access to candidates who already have tactical training, security clearances, and the discipline that clients in high-risk environments value. Veteran candidates tend to stay longer and perform better in confrontational situations, which matters in a city where armed guards increasingly face real threats. The downside of working for a smaller firm is real, though. Fewer accounts means fewer options for guards who want to move between sites or advance into management. A guard at Allied can transfer to a different city or move into a regional coordinator role. At a firm with a smaller footprint, the career ladder is shorter. You can reach Shield of Steel at (202) 222-2225 or shieldofsteel.com.
The Recruiting Pipeline Everyone Ignores
Here’s something the big firms don’t talk about publicly. The traditional recruiting pipeline for security guards, which involves posting jobs on Indeed, running background checks, and putting people through a brief orientation, produces candidates who quit within 90 days at alarming rates. Industry turnover in contract security runs between 100% and 300% annually, depending on the market and position type. Memphis sits at the high end of that range.
Companies that solve the retention problem will win 2021. That means paying more, treating guards like professionals instead of disposable assets, and investing in training that makes guards feel like they’re building skills rather than just filling a post.
Some firms are getting creative. Referral bonuses of $200 to $500 for guards who bring in new hires that last 90 days. Attendance bonuses for guards who work scheduled shifts without calling out. Premium pay for overnight and weekend posts. These incentives add cost, but they cost less than constantly cycling through new hires who leave before their TDCI registration paperwork is even processed.
What Comes Next
The hiring boom won’t ease up anytime soon. COVID screening work will persist as long as the pandemic does, and we’re months from widespread vaccination. Crime-driven demand shows no sign of slowing. Downtown vacancies will take years to recover to pre-pandemic levels.
Security companies in Memphis are being tested in a way they haven’t been before. Demand is unlimited. Supply is constrained. Wages are rising. Margins are tightening. The companies that figure out how to recruit, retain, and deploy qualified guards at scale will grow. The ones that keep doing what they did in 2019 will lose contracts to firms that adapted.
For anyone looking for work in Memphis right now, security is hiring. The pay is better than it’s been in years. The work is steady. And the city, with all its problems, needs people willing to stand a post. That hasn’t changed in the 23 years I’ve been covering this industry. What’s changed is that the industry is finally starting to pay like it means it.