In brief: Protective security is one of Australia’s most talent-scarce built environment professions — not because universities don’t produce suitable graduates, but because most graduates never learn the profession exists. This research studies how the next generation enters the field, which disciplines are most likely to produce future practitioners, and where the gaps sit between what the profession offers and what graduates assume.
A research initiative into how the next generation finds its way into protective security — and a career discovery tool for graduates who’ve never heard the term before.
Protective security is one of the most talent-scarce professions in Australia’s built environment and infrastructure sectors. Not because universities don’t produce the right graduates. Because most graduates never learn the profession exists.
The sector needs planners, architects, engineers, lawyers, systems thinkers, policy professionals, and social scientists. It draws from the same disciplines every university produces. But career pathways are invisible to outsiders, recruitment pipelines are thin, and the profession hasn’t done enough to explain itself to the people who could lead it.
This initiative is Core42’s attempt to change that.
Why this research matters
The talent gap in protective security is not a supply problem. Universities in Australia produce thousands of graduates every year from the exact disciplines the profession depends on. The problem is visibility — and the cost of that invisibility accumulates in recruitment pipelines, succession plans, and the sector’s ability to respond to an expanding operating environment.
The profession draws from the same disciplines every university produces. But the pathway is invisible to the people most suited to walking it.
Without a clearer picture of how graduates encounter the profession, why some choose it, and what most never see about it, the sector continues to hire from a narrower pool than its remit requires.
What we’re studying
Core42 is studying how the next generation of professionals enters protective security, built environment risk, and design-integrated safety roles. We want to understand:
- Which disciplines are most likely to produce the next generation of practitioners — and how those disciplines currently treat security as a career destination
- What graduates know — and don’t know — about the field before entering it, including how the profession is represented (or not) in course materials and career advice
- What draws people toward security work, and what keeps others away — the narratives, assumptions, and structural barriers that shape early-career decision-making
- Where the gaps are between what the profession offers and what graduates assume, and where universities and employers can do more to connect capable graduates to roles they are already well-equipped to fill
The findings will be published and made available to the industry. Participation in the research does not create any obligation, and all responses are anonymised before analysis.
The career discovery tool
To collect the data behind the research, Core42 is building a free career discovery scorecard — a personalised report that maps academic background and professional interests to roles within the protective security field.
If you’re a student or early-career professional, the report covers where your background fits within the sector, which roles are most in demand, what entry into the profession typically looks like, and where the skills gaps are that your generation will be asked to fill.
You get a career pathways report. Core42 gets research data. Both outcomes are genuine and we’re transparent about both.
Publication
Findings and the associated career discovery tool will be published through this page as the research progresses. Register your interest and we’ll let you know when the scorecard goes live and when results are available.