Loss Prevention Job Descriptions

If you’re looking to work in loss prevention, it’s good to review possible loss prevention job descriptions to know what they’re looking for. It’s also a chance for you to think through how you would answer a possible interview.

What Is the Loss Prevention Sector?

Loss prevention is any activity or process that projects possible scenarios that cause loss for a company (for example, theft). It then develops ways to remove or counter those scenarios. Loss prevention job descriptions all have this basic principle at the center. 

Loss Prevention Job Descriptions

There are multiple loss prevention job descriptions, but they mostly have the same basic parts. Let’s assume that you are entering this particular company for the first time. You’ll need to study the unique job descriptions of each company you apply to, but they generally include the following:

1. Review and do the standard operating procedures

Unless you are the very first loss prevention officer of a startup company, you will enter a company where there are already standard operating procedures for loss prevention. At the very least,  you will be asked to learn the processes and standard operating procedures, and to carry them out or enforce them. 

2. Maintain standards and processes

Besides learning and enforcing standard operating procedures, you will be asked to maintain the basic checks and balances already in place. If part of the procedures include both bag and body checks, you will need to make sure that one is in practice will the other is not used. 

3. Investigate incidents of loss

If you are in retail loss prevention, you will need to monitor both loss due to customers, and loss due to employees. If there is a charge of shoplifting, for example, you need to carry out the investigation of the incident. The same is true if there is fraud among employees. This will be your responsibility. 

4. Escalate incidents of loss to the right authorities and third parties

Once you have investigated an incident of loss and decided it should be escalated, you are also responsible for contacting and cooperating with law enforcement. This can also mean contacting third parties. One example is a tech company that archives your store’s CCTV footage. You will need to contact them and authorize them to share anything they have with law enforcement. 

5. Audit for loss

You will also need to audit stocks for inventory, checking for possible incidences of loss that you might have missed. This can be tedious, requiring multiple records and intense cross-referencing, but it helps find losses that might otherwise slip through the cracks. 

6. Report the current state of loss prevention

Whenever investigations or audits are made, it will also be your responsibility to create reports that outline the results of the investigation or audit. These reports create a paper trail that helps the loss prevention officers even after you. 

7. Improve and innovate the processes

After understanding and maintaining the system you learned, use actual incidences and investigations to alter your procedures if you think it’s necessary. Being comfortable with the current process is crucial to eventual innovation. 

8. Train others in loss prevention

Even though you will be the loss prevention officer, you may be requested to conduct trainings on loss prevention, current security measures, protocols on signing items in and out, and so forth. The trainings allow every employee to take an active part of loss prevention. 

This is what you can expect from basically every loss prevention officer job description. The tasks look extensive, and they are, but these basic responsibilities allow small and large businesses to invest in minimizing losses.