At the beginning of this year, it became clear that the National Security Service is looking to hire 30 new employees. The vacancies are 20 – for security guards and 10 for drivers. Nikolay Beremliyski decided to check what the requirements are for candidates. It turns out that many of them “stumble” in a seemingly elementary physical exercise, reports Nova TV.
Colonel Krasimir Lalev is the man whom everyone who wants to become part of the ranks of the NSO meets. His professional path began more than 20 years ago. Today he is the head of the “Training Center” sector of the National Security Service.
"We are responsible, together with my team, for the organization and conduct of the academic year in the NSO, the implementation of the exams. We work in close cooperation with Bulgarian and foreign structures similar to ours, with which we are constantly exchanging experience". Lalev pointed out.
A main requirement for candidate security guards is to be clinically healthy.
"The first stage is the submission of documents. At the end of it, you go through an examination at a medical facility, where clinical health is established and whether it meets the requirements for an NSO employee. About 40% stumble there", he explained.
Those who manage to jump over the barrier of the medical examination appear for the next stage. "It consists of performing several exercises - pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups. It is important to say that some of the exercises are performed for a time. The minimum number of repetitions is 10", added Lalev.
According to him, the competition is held on the so-called competitive principle. "We have a minimum and maximum number of requirements. The more repetitions the candidate does over the maximum number of repetitions, the higher the ranking he receives in the final phase. When performing push-ups, the chest must touch the device and the elbows must be locked in the upper position in order to count one point", he pointed out.
Of the remaining 60 percent of candidates, 40 fail the physical exam. The critical point for most turns out to be a seemingly easy exercise.
"The next exercise has the most severe impact on the self-assessment and self-esteem of the candidates – this is the performance of a lift from a supine position or the so-called "abdominal presses", Lalev further explained.
The exam continues with running. There is a difference in the standards for men and women.
A psychomotor test follows, which is conducted immediately after the physical and aims to show whether the candidates are able to maintain their concentration despite fatigue. They must remember what is required of them and perform it in a specific sequence.
The last 2 stages are a psychological examination and a final interview, in which the motivation of the candidates is analyzed. Those who successfully pass them enter the system, where new training awaits them.
Regarding the current competition for guards and drivers in the NSO, Colonel Lalev says that it is still at the stage of submitting documents. And while the candidates have not yet passed the physical tests, the head of the "Training Center" sector he recalls with a smile some of the previous applicants.
"People come who manage to do one pull-up, with a required minimum of 10, and I can't help but ask a question: “And haven't you tried this exercise somewhere else?” And they say: “I thought that when I come here I will tighten up and do it”. It doesn't happen by tightening up here. It happens with training”, he is categorical.
The colonel states that, like a living organism, the National Guard Service is constantly in motion, developing and changing.
"We analyze the processes that occur in adolescents. The pandemic use of psychoactive substances, alcohol, tobacco products, any other deviation in their behavior – we try not to pass it by, because these are the people who will one day join the ranks of the security service. The cell has one property - selective permeability, the membrane is called. The training center is like an immune system, it must be ready at any moment to give an answer, even before the question has arisen, because our work is mainly preventive", noted Lalev.
Colonel Lalev has two sons. However, he does not want to influence their choice of profession.
"My effort is to educate them so that they can choose their own professional path. When they are disciplined, when they are hardworking and when they are patient enough, they will realize themselves, in any field", he believes.
And his advice to all future and current candidates for work in the NSO sounds like this:
"They need to embrace the training. To feel the pulse of the security service, to synchronize with that pulse, and then their development becomes easy. Hard work and patience yield exceptional results".