SIA Door Supervisor Job Role

A door supervisor role must seem like a very tempting job for a lot of young men, standing on the front door of a swanky, upmarket nightclub, being chatted up by happy, alcohol fuelled women and of course the chance of a bit of action if a fight kicks off, but lets face facts here, if that is what you think being a door supervisor is all about, you will unfortunately fail at being successful in this line of work.

With so much violence, drugs and crime today, its no wonder that landlords of pubs, owners of nightclubs and owners of different venues and establishments are in desperate need to hire professional door supervisors to look after their property, staff and customers. Here are a few tips which you need to know before applying for any jobs.  

You will need to obtain an SIA Licence as it is an offence to work in this industry without having the correct licence and if caught working on a “door” you could incur a fine of up to 5000 pounds and a 6 month stint in prison, not worth risking it, is it?. Your licence will cost approximately 245 pounds, to which you will have to under go a criminal record check before being given your licence. Before applying for your licence make sure you have had sufficient training and gained your qualification like City and Guilds, BIIAB or SQA, as a minimum of 1 qualification is required on application.

The role itself isn’t as easy as just standing on a door and greeting customers i’m afraid, for starters you have to provide a pleasant, safe and comfortable atmosphere for all staff, colleagues and customers. You will need to make sure that the venue policy is adhered to, this could be from the dress code to enter the venue to the minimum age criteria and you will have to be aware of the fire safety requirements, such as fire exits and maximum occupancy for the venue.

When you are greeting customers you wont always be able to tell straight away whether they are out to cause trouble as they could be polite and smart but once inside and after they have had an evening of fun and drinks, trouble could flare and you will have to be able to deal with it in the correct manner using reasonable force if necessary, this is where your qualifications come in handy, everything you learn in your conflict management will be needed when this sort of situation arises.

My husband has been a door supervisor for a number of years now and he does come back from work with some scary stories and he tells me that you need to keep your eye on the ball, don’t get distracted and be 100% focused all of the time otherwise it could cost yours or someone else’s life. If after reading all the facts a little bit of inside knowledge (Thanks to my husband) you are still interested, ensure you follow the few simple tips and you will be successful in your new found role.