In just five years, Jared Saylor went from working security at stadiums to overseeing operations as a regional director at WESS, a GardaWorld company. He credits his ability to learn from his mistakes and adapt plans on the fly. 

 

For the last five years, I’ve been working with WESS, a GardaWorld brand and nationwide provider of event staffing and security services. When I started, I had just gotten out of the army and I was looking for a fun part-time job. 

 

Applying military values to civilian life and work at GardaWorld 

Many people from the army go on to work at GardaWorld. The army teaches you a lot of values to live by, including honesty, integrity, discipline, a strong work ethic, and an ability to work with anyone from anywhere. I took these values with me to civilian life, including to my job at GardaWorld. 

 

Multiple promotions and the opportunity to start a new security service from scratch 

I began my GardaWorld career working security part time with Wess for the Kansas City Royals. The greatest memory I have of this time is when the Royals won the American League Championship Series. I then got to work the World Series games the following week. The atmosphere was so ecstatic and energetic. 

After about a year of working part time, I decided I wanted to move up in the company. I became a full-time supervisor, and I continued to take on more responsibilities while still providing the same level of support and care for staff and guests. A few months later, I was promoted to be the assistant manager of WESS’s operations for the Kansas City Chiefs. I ran all stadium and interior security operations for that NFL season. 

Once the NFL season was over, there was an opportunity to be an account manager in El Paso for the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). After a very successful year there, I stepped up into an area manager role and oversaw operations for WESS Georgia. As part of this role, I was responsible for starting the new stadium security services at the Georgia Institute of Technology. We were starting from scratch, working with a new client and new staff in a new stadium. There is so much to plan for, so it was really important to be organized and willing to listen. Starting with nothing and building something strong and successful on the first try really solidified my confidence in my abilities. 

Now, I’m the regional director for WESS. This is an exciting opportunity for me, because I get to help leaders become better for themselves, the staff, the clients, and our team. 

 

Criticism can inspire growth 

My advice to people who want to follow a similar path to mine is to be prepared for things to change. Behind the scenes, events are controlled chaos. Nothing ever goes exactly as planned, so you need to be flexible. What you do when the plan changes is what defines you as a leader. 

Secondly, be ready to take a lot of criticism on your journey to success. That’s part of the process. Use criticism to your advantage by learning from it and building your skills and habits in response to it. And try to remember your lessons along the way. You can use the knowledge you’re gleaning now to mentor and develop those you’ll lead one day. 

 

 

See how you can build a successful career at GardaWorld. View our job opportunities here.