How To Become A Bodyguard: What It Is and Career Path

What is a bodyguard and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a bodyguard. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.48 an hour? That's $34,288 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 38,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreBodyguardUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $34,288

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.82%

Asian 5.21%

Black or African American 14.20%

Hispanic or Latino 23.52%

Unknown 5.83%

White 49.42%

Gender

female 3.92%

male 96.08%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.9

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.4

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a bodyguard

Explore bodyguard education requirements

Most common bodyguard degrees

High School Diploma

36.6 %

Associate

25.7 %

Bachelor's

22.3 %

Start to develop specific bodyguard skills

Skills	Percentages
Crowd Control	34.98%
VIP	25.97%
Protective Services	17.12%
Law Enforcement	13.98%
Security Systems	7.96%

Complete relevant bodyguard training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New bodyguards learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a bodyguard based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real bodyguard resumes.

Research bodyguard duties and responsibilities

Safeguard arrival and departure docks for principals as well VIP and private areas.
Make risk assessments to assure that all VIP are safe and protect at all times.
Monitor CCTV and cameras for the interior and exterior of all buildings and parking lots.
Complete estate security using perimeter patrol and highly advance electronic surveillance and advance intrusion detection systems.

Prepare your bodyguard resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your bodyguard resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a bodyguard resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable bodyguard resume templates

Build a professional bodyguard resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your bodyguard resume.

Apply for bodyguard jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a bodyguard job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do bodyguards rate their job?

-/5

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1 star

Bodyguard reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2020

Pros

Its a good job you get to know what kind of people enter a strip club or private parties trying g to start problems and you have to always be there to help out the rest of the people around you.