Every January 100's of people set off on a new career path due to New Years resolutions, many people fed up of working 9-5 for a company that they don't even like, for bosses they can't stand go down the self employment route.
There are lots of different self employed careers that can be set up with very little capital and one of those is a career as a professional locksmith. Whether you want to become a Locksmith, Electrician or Plumber you'll need training and here lies the problem.
The Locksmith industry is un-regulated which not only means anyone can tout for work as a locksmith with little of no training it also means that any company can claim to be experts in the industry and run poor quality private locksmith courses, most running for just 1 to 5 days so the training centre can get the highest volume of signups.
The truth is that you cannot learn a trade in 1 - 5 days, it's ludicrous yet people fall for it all the time, they pass the course - get a worthless made up certificate - and go out touting for work, but these crash course amateurs soon realise they are way out of their depth when.
You will have come across on of these amateurs if you have ever been locked out of your home or office and called out a locksmith, who when they arrive immediate get out their drill and start to butcher your property.
A professionally training locksmith will try a number of Non Destructive entry techniques before reluctantly drilling the lock
How do you know you've chosen professional locksmith training college?
The main answer is in the title above (college) because to run Government approved training course you need to be a registered college and your staff all required teaching qualifications which is why the companies running the unofficial course refer to themselves as a centre or training centre because if they used college they world be in serious trouble
Even though the locksmith industry is unregulated there is in fact an official locksmith training course regulated by Ofqual (The Government office of qualifications and examinations regulation), two actually, one for someone who wants to work as a residential and/or commercial locksmith and another for people interested in the automotive locksmith industry. Some locksmiths take both courses so they can get more work especially in rural towns and villages up in Scotland for example where jobs can be few and far between.
Scottish Towns such as Ayr, BeBeith, Bishopbriggs, Clydebank, Dalry, Greenock, Hamilton, Inverclyde, Kilmarnock and Paisley, Renfrew & Troon generally have the most skilled locksmiths who have taken more courses so they can cover commercial work, residential work, automotive work and more. You sometimes also find that these locksmiths will offer burglar alarm installation, CCTV installation, door entry system installation and even emergency boarding up service
How long have these official courses been around?
The official Ofqual courses where only launched in 2019 so are quite new, so new in fact, that many veteran/time served locksmiths may have not even heard of them which is great news for companies running unofficial crash courses. However, eventually the cat will be fully out of the bag and hopefully we'll see the last of this type of training company
Unlike there crash course counterparts Ofqual courses run for many month and you will be taught a full range of skills including lock picking, using specialist equipment and more.
Course links
- Level 3 Diploma in Commercial Locksmiths & Property Security
- Level 3 Diploma in Automotive Locksmiths & Vehicle Security
Summary
Before taking the plunge into a new locksmith career make a note of these important facts.
Unofficial Locksmith Training courses run for 1-5 days, the Official, registered courses run for many months. Which one do you believe will be more in-depth
Only a registered college with qualified teaching staff can run Official courses
Funding an grants are available for the Official, registered courses, grants such as;
- 16 to 19 Bursary Fund - Government Link
- Help with childcare while you study - Government Link
- UK Government Legal entitlements - Government Link
- Ministry of Defence ELCAS Credits - Government Link
- Welsh Government ReACT funding- More Information
- Royal British Legion Grants - Organisation Link
Above is just a small selection of the grants and finance available should you choose the official OfQual locksmiths training course.
