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Yes, there are security consultants who consult on things like industrial, physical, and corporate security; but there isn't a lot of demand. Like others have said, experience is most important. There are very few police departments in all levels of government that require or have a strong preference for criminal justice degrees. For jobs like parole and probation that do require a degree in criminal justice, they also accept other degrees in the behavioral sciences. Get the business management degree; it'll have more utility and flexibility, but you can't jump right into management consulting.
Criminal justice has to be one of the most useless majors out there. Even insurance fraud jobs that look for criminal justice majors also look for business, finance, and accounting majors. I have only come across a few jobs that absolutely require only a criminal justice degree and most of them are in corrections. From personal experience, it is very hard to move up in the private security industry. There is a lot of politics, nepotism, fraternizing, and favoritism. People, normally, do not move up based on merit and seniority. In my opinion, the whole private security industry is inept because it's filled with stupid people who are incapable of doing anything else and will die making $12 an hour. It's a nice job to have while going to college though.
There are degrees in security management and homeland security/emergency management, but these are relatively new and it is yet to be seen how useful they are in gaining employment. Contrary to popular belief, the FBI and CIA do not want CJ majors for most gigs. There are only two positions I've seen in the CIA that listed CJ as a desirable degree along with psychology, sociology, and even English and those openings are no longer up. Off the top of my head, the U.S. Marshals and ICE have a preference for CJ, law, etc. If you want to go into intelligence, get a STEM, business/economics/finance/accounting, political science, international relations, regional/foreign area studies, or national security/security studies degree and learn a critical needs language.
All wrong in boldface. I know a CJ grad in private sec. who earns $250K yearly. It was/is all ability. Very few people in any industry are capable of being the top leaders. Because you have thus far failed does not mean others do.
OP: Who makes most money has no bearing on your ability to earn those top tier wages. It takes years of dedication, professional and personal development outside of the university environment in the actual competitive world to know if one is truly world class in terms of earning the top wages of a given industry. Since you have to ask the question here on a public board then it means you are indecisive. There would be less doubt if you were already focused and did not have to post a question about Your life choices.
Case in point, my wife with a B.S in Accounting got a call from an FBI recruiter...
Right, they look for forensics and fraud auditors...in essence, a witch hunter, which, I guess is fine, because you get a good benefits package. It's just that most of the accounting majors want to do accounting. There IS a difference.
All wrong in boldface. I know a CJ grad in private sec. who earns $250K yearly. It was/is all ability. Very few people in any industry are capable of being the top leaders. Because you have thus far failed does not mean others do.
OP: Who makes most money has no bearing on your ability to earn those top tier wages. It takes years of dedication, professional and personal development outside of the university environment in the actual competitive world to know if one is truly world class in terms of earning the top wages of a given industry. Since you have to ask the question here on a public board then it means you are indecisive. There would be less doubt if you were already focused and did not have to post a question about Your life choices.
That is anecdotal evidence and an outlier. The average person with a criminal justice degree does not make $250k. There are people with no degrees who make billions, but I wouldn't tell everyone they could do the same. I have not failed and my degree is not even in CJ. I haven't even attempted to become a security consultant because there is very little demand. A CJ degree is not even required to get a consulting license where I live. I'm only in my twenties and just graduated 3 months ago. However, I do have several years of experience in security and know a lot of people who have been working security for over 10 years and have gone nowhere. The people at the top usually have business, military, or law enforcement experience. I am looking to get a job outside of the private security industry after I graduate with my master's degree in a field with high demand and a high average salary. I'm not taking the chance of being an outlier in the private security industry. You have failed to provide evidence that there is high demand for private security consulting outside of IT. Just do a nationwide search on Indeed and tell me how many non-technical security consulting jobs you find.
It is real world and renders your blanket statements void. The qualifying proviso is indicated in the second part. I also alluded to the difference between a leader and a drone. Your zeal to condem CJ degrees and private security based on your failed experiences is entirely anecdotal. In the case I am familar with the person, (my brother), is success.
Now you are flip flopping from the all knowing regarding what is needed for sec/law enf/intell careers to the "I am only in my twenties...recent grad..." blah,blah The latter is correct in that you know nothing of what you talking about by personal experience only by biased observations. Good luck on being successful with your current condescending attitude towards others. Too bad for your future co-workers.
You are not making any sense. My experiences are just as real world as yours and they are also anecdotal evidence just like yours. Do you even work in the CJ industry? Have you even studied CJ? Most CJ programs cover very little when it comes to physical security.
All one has to do is search for security consulting opportunities and see that there are very few out there. The average pay for private security employees is low. That is a fact; it's not a blanket statement. Your friend is an outlier meaning that the overwhelming majority of people will not earn $250k a year or anything close to it outside of high ranking people in law enforcement.
The whole bit about being in my twenties was not to imply I don't have experience or knowledge, it was to illustrate that I have not been trying to chase a security career for 10 or twenty years after earning a degree. One cannot be deemed a failure if they haven't even tried something. I have never had an interest in becoming a security consultant and I have never tried. I have worked as a security supervisor while going to school; it was never a career choice and was just a job to earn money until I graduated. How is being a supervisor a failure? I oversee employees who are twice my age and have much more experience than I do. Why is that? It's because these people have jumped from job to job or they are a former fired or demoted supervisors. CJ majors score the lowest on the LSAT even though they spend years learning about law. Security and protection majors are also estimated to have IQ scores on the lower end based on SAT scores. The Audacious Epigone: IQ estimates by intended college major via SAT scores
The pay for the majority of criminal justice majors is nowhere near $250k.
http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/Unemployment.Final.pdf (broken link)
You aren't doing anyone a favor by giving erroneous advice based on one person you know. You can't provide any facts to back up your claims. Yes, anyone can become successful through hard work with or without a criminal justice degree. The point is that a criminal justice degree is not going to do much to increase your chances of being successful, so why waste time and money getting one when you can earn a more lucrative degree. All you can do is attack the messenger because you have nothing to back up your statements. Unless you can come up with some facts, please stop with the nonsense.
By the way, this is condescending. There is nothing wrong with researching opportunities. Actually, it's the smart thing to do.
Quote:
Since you have to ask the question here on a public board then it means you are indecisive. There would be less doubt if you were already focused and did not have to post a question about Your life choices.
I make plenty of sense in exposing your all-knowing BS. You are the type of measure their own lives from a very narrow viewpoint which is evidenced by your failure in your current work and your grandious claims of securing something in the future. This is compared to the actual experience of someone who has achieved success in a manner which entirely contravenes your biased conclusions.
Again you are flip flopping and tossing out data from the lower echelons of the security field which are not even part of this discussion as was apparent from the beginning of this post. Security officer or guard is not a professional and in manner what the OP was asking or the following responses referring to. If that is your basis for experience then you have no knowledge of professional level security industry. Now you say you have no interest nor tried in the field yet routinely post as if you are the all knowing authority. Typical immature person commenting authoritatively on a subject they know nothing about. Internet expert. Now you use the straw man approach of "bring in facts" I did with the real world. You have done nothing with your own failures and data from other equal losers. Every field must have leaders, drones and losers.
I actually provided the very best advice in the second para of my original post. You did not notice it because your self esteem was injured. Well too bad. Acting as the know-it-all is cool in college and fun on the Internet but fails quickly in the real world.
Yes, there are security consultants who consult on things like industrial, physical, and corporate security; but there isn't a lot of demand. Like others have said, experience is most important. There are very few police departments in all levels of government that require or have a strong preference for criminal justice degrees. For jobs like parole and probation that do require a degree in criminal justice, they also accept other degrees in the behavioral sciences. Get the business management degree; it'll have more utility and flexibility, but you can't jump right into management consulting.
Criminal justice has to be one of the most useless majors out there. Even insurance fraud jobs that look for criminal justice majors also look for business, finance, and accounting majors. I have only come across a few jobs that absolutely require only a criminal justice degree and most of them are in corrections. From personal experience, it is very hard to move up in the private security industry. There is a lot of politics, nepotism, fraternizing, and favoritism. People, normally, do not move up based on merit and seniority. In my opinion, the whole private security industry is inept because it's filled with stupid people who are incapable of doing anything else and will die making $12 an hour. It's a nice job to have while going to college though.
There are degrees in security management and homeland security/emergency management, but these are relatively new and it is yet to be seen how useful they are in gaining employment. Contrary to popular belief, the FBI and CIA do not want CJ majors for most gigs. There are only two positions I've seen in the CIA that listed CJ as a desirable degree along with psychology, sociology, and even English and those openings are no longer up. Off the top of my head, the U.S. Marshals and ICE have a preference for CJ, law, etc. If you want to go into intelligence, get a STEM, business/economics/finance/accounting, political science, international relations, regional/foreign area studies, or national security/security studies degree and learn a critical needs language.
Case in point. My cousin who if fluent in a critical needs language and is getting a foreign area studies masters (all paid for by the feds).
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