Forus is delighted to have been helped by over a hundred young people over the summer that gained positive experiences of security work at larger and smaller events. Many of them will continue to go on doing more short-term work during the autumn period. Some young people decided to continue their careers at Forus and have wanted to join our aviation security team.
The new draft Security Act will allow people to work in security from the age of 18. We offered young people the opportunity to work short-term security jobs at various entertainment and sporting events over the summer so they could earn a bit of extra money alongside school or their main jobs, and to learn more about the behind-the-scenes of security work. This is why we launched the ‘Forus Noorus’ (Forus Youth) campaign.
It became customary that many of the young people wished to continue their short-term employment after their first gig, as they were able to enjoy much more of the event buzz compared to regular audiences. They often brought along a friend or acquaintance to the next event as well.
18-year-old Sander Paap (pictured on the left), a senior at the Saue State High School, set a goal before the summer holidays to work temporary jobs at different places to earn money in addition to resting. ‘It was important for me to be able to work on a more open schedule. I am a high school student and in addition to working in summer, I wanted to rest and spend time with friends and loved ones,’ Sander said. He added that the short-term employment at Forus offered him exactly that opportunity – to work at a suitable time and be in command of his own time.
Working in summer has become commonplace for the young man and he especially likes customer service. Before the beginning of the summer, he decided to create a job portal account for himself and applied for various positions, including the short-term gigs of Forus. At one point, he received a call from Pille-Riin Tammela, the Head of the Forus Recruitment Department, who invited him to the Youth Song Celebration ‘Püha on maa’ (Holy is the Land). Sander immediately took this opportunity.
During the preparatory period of the song celebration, Sander’s first position was patrol. This meant touring the area of the Song Festival Grounds and maintaining order. On the day of the event, he was stationed in the seating area and helped guests find their seats and handled ticket control.
The young man considers WRC Rally Estonia, where he worked as a track security officer, the most memorable. Sander had always wanted to see the race up close. ‘If I had to describe this experience, I would say I felt like I was in an action film – cars were constantly speeding by.’
Sander had no ideas or expectations prior to the race. He only hoped to get a good position. ‘I ended up getting a spot so good that I saw everything very up close. As a track security officer, I was where spectators are not allowed to be.’
Not just work
Some workdays might have been long, but Sander says there was always something to do and in addition to working, there was always a lot of event excitement. He never got bored.
The same was confirmed by Grete Miil, 24, who helped Forus for a week when the Unibet Arena hosted the qualification matches for the Women’s European Volleyball Championships.
While Sander Paap only tried security work in summer, Grete has been involved in the field since 2019. She has been a full-time security guard for a couple of years, but has been mainly working short-term jobs at various security companies. ‘I work full-time across several companies, but I choose my working hours depending on my own schedule, whatever fits me best at the time,’ she said.
Grete had a bit more free time in summer. So, she decided to use this time practically and took up short-term employment at Forus. ‘Working security at entertainment and sports events is a good opportunity to work on an open schedule. So, short-term employment at Forus seemed like a good idea to me,’ Grete said.
When Grete was offered the opportunity to work at the Volleyball EC, her eyes immediately lit up.
She worked for the whole competition period, so a week. Volleyball is very close to her heart – Grete has played volleyball for more than half of her life and has also been a member of the youth team.
While she was tasked with carrying out security checks at the entrance, then for the rest of the period, she was able to be by the court. ‘These days were very interesting for me and I did not really feel like I was at work. I had the opportunity to be very close to the players, while enjoying the buzz and the sports competition. It was the example of a perfect workday,’ says Grete.
Different than imagined
Sander said that the security work surprised him positively because he assumed it would be much more monotone. ‘I instructed and helped a lot of people and enjoyed the surroundings – it was much more for me than just watching and sitting. It was very diverse,’ he said.
He also said, half-joking, that he always used to think that security guards were a bit angry and serious. ‘This is not at all true. You have to be able to assert yourself, but security guards are certainly not angry.’
According to Sander and Grete, the security work was generally calm and went well. They did not experience any major incidents. People were generally understanding and followed the rules, but they did have to deal with some unpleasant attitudes.
According to Sander, the rally was the busiest for work. As a track security officer, he was responsible for ensuring that spectators would not go onto the track during the race and would be in the spectator area. ‘People were still trying to get on the track and I had to keep them back. Some of them did it by accident and did not know where they were supposed to be. There were also cases when I was told that I was too young to know anything. I also experienced some patronising attitudes,’ Sander said.
Continuing cooperation
Grete Miil and Sander Paap both consider themselves bold and enthusiastic young people who quickly adapt to different situations. They will continue to assist Forus at various events and recommend everyone else to try out their short-term employment.
‘If you have a bit of interest in law enforcement and entertainment, getting involved will give you a lot of experience in different fields. You will also make a lot of useful acquaintances among co-workers and people in the organising team. And in addition, the freedom to choose when and which events you would like to work at,’ Grete finds.
However, Grete recommends to various companies involved in the security sector that from time to time, the training should be a little more thorough, as the buildings and areas are often new and security managers expect all employees to learn the required information on the fly.
Sander Paap confirmed that he gained positive and interesting experiences at Forus and that the communication was friendly and supportive. ‘I would definitely recommend short-term employment at Forus. Especially if you happen to end up at a cool event, such as Rally Estonia or the Song Celebration,’ he said.
In summer, Grete decided that she wanted to be more permanently involved in security work once again. She saw Forus’ job advertisement looking for aviation security staff at Tallinn Airport. This ad, and especially the employment benefits, such as working according to a flexible schedule, spoke to her.
She is currently in training for aviation security to contribute to the safety of aviation in only a matter of months.
She still works short-term security jobs at Forus. For example, in the beginning of October, she will be at the Tallinn International Horse Show.
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Pille-Riin Tammela, Head of Forus Recruitment Department
There were a lot of people interested in ‘Forus Noorus’ during the first weeks of the campaign and we also advertised ourselves on job portals in parallel with social media. In addition, we went to the recruitment day of the Tapa Defence Forces to introduce ourselves. These activities worked very well.
A hundred young people from all over Estonia helped us at our events during the summer period. Everyone was very professional and great, and we at Forus had a positive experience and were very satisfied with the young people. We definitely welcome everyone to return.
It was a big surprise to us that the interest is so big – there were mothers and daughters, some came with their whole families, etc. This is nothing but a joy for us. When one person applied, they had a positive experience and brought a friend or acquaintance with them for the next event. Once they tried the short-term employment, they were happy to do it again.
The most popular event among the young people and other short-term employees every year is the rally. We are able to compile the team quite quickly as the event speaks to many people and there are many that have been with us for several years.
We also have a number of events coming up in autumn, where we are looking forward to seeing young people and everyone else work short-term. We are also happy that many young people told us that they wanted to continue with us after the summer.
