Pros
Sunstates is an above average security contractor. From my experience, management offered a good level of support and training. Sunstates utilizes an online system similar to Moodle that provides you with online training. This is nice because you can do it from home. I'll say that co-workers are a pro for a few reasons. First, most of the officers and supervisors I worked with are legit nice people and generally care about what is happening around them. The folks that are not could end up being a source of amusement for you. Trust me on this, some of the cats I worked with were good to have around just for a laugh. I'd have to say that no one I worked with was malicious, the worst thing you might see is an officer who is just straight up lazy and you have to pick up their slack. Annoying but not terrible. If you are dependable and at least semi professional, you will get noticed by management. This is good because they are more likely to promote those that have appeared on the "Good radar" so to speak. So the fact that management pays attention to the good and the bad is refreshing. The pay is not great but when you compare it to the rest of the security industry, it's above average. I worked with two clients in the Wilmington NC area and at both client locations the pay was well above any other security job. Most in Wilmington pay $8-$8.50. I saw one for minimum wage once. Easy, no hassle access to uniforms and equipment. You need a shirt? Here you go, no questions asked. Need a coat? Got you covered. You have to pay a deposit when you start. I think it was $250 and they don't take it all at once. They take it $25 per check until you are paid. Uniforms and equipment were constantly flowing in from the home office to our site and we never were charged more than that base deposit. When I ended my employment, I returned my stuff and the $250 was returned to me in no time. I didn't even have to ask for it. Training was fun. No, seriously, it actually was enjoyable. I learned a lot and the trainer had a good time with it. Only bad thing is I had to drive from Wilmington to Raleigh for a 2 day training. luckily my dad lives in the area so I crashed with him. Good tech. The site I was at had a good tech setup; smartphones to do your patrol checkins, 2-way radio features, all that good stuff. We also had two 4 D cell mag lites in case we had to tune someone up outside at night. Don't ask, Wilmington is crazy at 3am. The good news is when a drunk college frat boy sees you in uniform with a 4 cell mag lite, they normally turn the other way. The uniform sunstates uses looks just enough like a cop's uniform to fool idiots and drunks.
Cons
Training in another city. As I mentioned above, I crashed with my dad. Not everyone has that luxury though. So going for a 2 day training session in another city and getting a hotel room for a $10 an hour job is kind of a bummer. The Client is a con. The pay for the site is based on what the client will pay. News flash; clients hate paying anything. There were times at the site were I felt as though the guards were there to take blame for things the actual client employees did. Not going to mention specifics, but the good news is management will often (not always) have your back.
