Explore by Career/Protective Service
Transportation Security Screeners
Conduct screening of passengers, baggage, or cargo to ensure compliance with Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations. May operate basic security equipment such as x-ray machines and hand wands at screening checkpoints.
- Median pay
- $63,360
- per year
- 10-year outlook
- -6%
- Declining
- Typical entry
- High school diploma or equivalent
Key skills
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Reading Comprehension
What they do
- Inspect carry-on items, using x-ray viewing equipment, to determine whether items contain objects that warrant further investigation.
- Search carry-on or checked baggage by hand when it is suspected to contain prohibited items such as weapons.
- Check passengers' tickets to ensure that they are valid, and to determine whether passengers have designations that require special handling, such as providing photo identification.
- Test baggage for any explosive materials, using equipment such as explosive detection machines or chemical swab systems.
- Perform pat-down or hand-held wand searches of passengers who have triggered machine alarms, who are unable to pass through metal detectors, or who have been randomly identified for such searches.
- Notify supervisors or other appropriate personnel when security breaches occur.
- Send checked baggage through automated screening machines, and set bags aside for searching or rescreening as indicated by equipment.
- Decide whether baggage that triggers alarms should be searched or should be allowed to pass through.
- Follow those who breach security until police or other security personnel arrive to apprehend them.
- Inform other screeners when baggage should not be opened because it might contain explosives.
Majors that lead here
No mapped majors yet.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, Employment Projections) and O*NET, used under CC BY 4.0.