All prospective employees, regardless of whether they are responding to an advertisement or have been referred by an existing employee, are required to apply in-person at one of our office locations.  Employees may download the Argus application and pre-complete the paperwork prior to arriving at the office, but all prospective employees are required to move through the following steps:

• Event Staff Eligibility.  Prospective employees must certify that they meet certain physical requirements for venue positions.  Venue positions are categorized as ES1, ES2, and ES3, with ES1 having the most stringent requirements -- high level ES categories can work at lower ES positions (i.e., ES1 can work ES1, ES2, and ES3 positions), but lower level ES categories cannot work at higher ES positions (i.e., ES2 can only work ES2 and ES3 positions, never at ES1).

• Full Application Completion.  Prospective employees must complete the full employment application, including all personal information and required tax information.  A photocopy of a valid government-issued identification and accompanying social security card or other IRS-allowed document is made and kept on-file with the application.  The application requires that employees certify that all information entered is true and accurate.

• Statewide Background Check.  Prospective employees must submit to a Background Check.  Only those employees that have a felony-free record and a record that does not denote moral turpitude are allowed to continue through the screening process.

• National Sex Offender Check.  Prospective employees must submit to a national sex offender database check; only employees that pass this check are allowed to continue through the screening process.

• E-Verify. Prospective employees must successfully pass an E-Verify check, or else submit evidence of resolution within the federally-mandated window.

• Video-based Training and Testing.  Prospective employees must view several video-based training modules (Managing the Crowd, Metal Detector Training, First Aid Training, and Disability Sensitivity Training) and pass associated tests to continue through screening.

• Personal Interview.  Prospective employees must personally interview with an AES hiring representative -- the hiring representative can exit a prospective employee from the process based on general demeanor, response to questions, etc.

Random background checks are done each month to ensure that long-term team members maintain Argus standards to work.

Argus Experience™ Training
Created with best practices from the twice winning Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award for Customer Service, the Ritz Carlton, Argus Experience™ training provides the basis and ongoing education for a customer-service-focused culture throughout the organization. Team members go through Argus Experience™ training that is given by Argus venue Management and core values and service values are reinforced every event through Supervisor briefings and peer interactions. In addition to presentations and ongoing training, team members are provided with pocket cards that state all of the service values and reinforce service execution steps -- available for reference at any time, the cards are considered part of the uniform at venues where Argus Experience™ training has taken place. In order to continually reinforce the core components of the Argus Experience™, stories about real-life service experiences are collected from all team members and broadcast throughout the organization through traditional media, social media, and pre-event briefings.

Americans with Disabilities Training
Argus performs comprehensive Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Awareness and Sensitivity training for all employees to ensure compliance with the Act as administered by the US Department of Justice.

Components of ADA Training include:

• Duties and Responsibilities
• Situational Role Play
• Proper Etiquette and Sensitivity
• Interaction Guidelines for Patrons and Co-workers

Alcohol Awareness & TEAM Training
Argus has created a well-regarded and successful alcohol awareness training module for all employees known as “Level One Alcohol Awareness Training.” Level One Alcohol Awareness Training arms employees with the necessary tools to identify potential problems involving alcohol, deter inappropriate and unsafe behavior, and intervene without infringing on the enjoyment of other patrons.

In addition to Level One Alcohol Awareness Training, all Assistant Supervisors, Supervisors, and Managers are required to take Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management (TEAM) Training, and TEAM training is also available to any employee that wishes to participate. Created in 1985, TEAM (Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management) Coalition, Inc., is a unique, non-profit alliance of professional and collegiate sports, entertainment facilities, concessionaires, stadium service providers, the beer industry, broadcasters, government traffic safety experts, and others working together to promote responsible drinking and positive fan behavior at sports and entertainment facilities. The organization encourages facilities to implement and enforce alcohol policies through an effective alcohol service training program that educates facility employees about how to identify patrons who may have over-consumed and intervene in a non-confrontational way to properly ensure everyone’s safety.

Safety & Emergency Training
First Impression Customer Service™ also includes includes a commitment to customer safety. Argus utilizes a combination of Safety and Emergency Preparedness training and techniques to encourage a safe environment for clients and facilities. Argus employees are specially trained to identify potential safety hazards and employees function as an “early warning” system so that potentially troublesome situations can be defused before escalating to promote a safe environment.

Training components include:

• Emergency Preparedness
• Venue/Client-specific Emergency Response
• CPR/First Aid
• Metal Detector and Search Techniques
• Crowd Management Techniques

Argus employees engage in advanced Emergency Preparedness and Mitigation training with local, regional, and national agencies, including those pictured below:

Quality Assurance evaluations are done on a continual basis and serve as a benchmark for ongoing improvement. In developing an evaluation for a facility, input is gathered from clients and management to capture the key aspects of the operation. 

Just as each facility has its own personality, each assessment document must accurately capture the unique aspects of various events and clients. Whether the uniforms vary, the location where team member badges must be worn is different, or there is an entirely different security screening process, each document is carefully created to ensure that, from start to finish, performance indicators are accurately drawn.

In each region, an evaluation team is trained to perform the Quality Assessments. The teams rotate through the buildings to ensure a fresh set of eyes that may recognize different potential issues and improvement opportunities. The assessment documents are written with great detail so that any manager, without familiarity of a facility, could successfully evaluate any operation based solely on the document.

Once an assessment is completed, the results are entered into the spreadsheet and sent to the proper managers. If any significant issues were found, they are communicated immediately during the event. Other issues are discussed post event, and prior to the next event.

Quality Assessments are updated at least once each year, typically prior to the beginning of a season, or as needed if the facility does not experience an off-season. All documents are stored electronically for reference.