Paul Hunter

Security job: Executive Director of Business Affairs, ICTS UK & Ireland

I joined ICTS UK in 1994 as a Security Agent at London Gatwick Airport. Having previously served in the military, I was naturally drawn to the security industry and, in particular, the unique challenges presented by aviation security. I became Recruitment and Training Manager at Gatwick. I was additionally asked to act as an Instructor across ICTS Europe, training future Supervisors at the different European subsidiaries.

In 1997, ICTS UK received ISO accreditation for the first time. This was a project I headed. It took 4-5 months to bring the company to the required standards and it was this project that paved the way to be becoming Quality Manager, responsible for all ISO systems within the Company.

It was at this point that I resumed my law studies, backed by ICTS, who sponsored me to complete a part-time, specialist course in Employment Law, which was later followed by a further specialisation in Business and Commercial Law. My qualifications allowed me to become Legal and Compliance Manager, eventually assuming responsibility for all legal matters for the UK subsidiaries in the role of Legal and Compliance Manager.

Further career milestones were: in 2007 when I was appointed Company Secretary (ICTS sponsored my studies with the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators); in 2009, I was appointed Group Company Secretary and Head of Legal and Corporate Services; in 2015 I was appointed to my current position of Executive Director of Business Affairs.

The constant pressures of working in a security environment inevitably place stresses on you and I find that key to dealing with this is creating space where work is, even for a brief period of time, completely ignored. For me that is when I travel and I use this time to read and switch my mind away from work and recharge my mental batteries.

My 5 tips for success are:

Be decisive – indecision paralyses business

Encourage collaborative working between teams

Delegate –  you can’t do it all yourself

Learn from your mistakes

Believe that no problem is unsolvable – challenge yourself to find the solution.