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Locksmith Career Guide – 10 Quick Tips

Locksmith Career Guide - Quick Tips

Here at the Master Locksmiths Association, we get many questions about people wanting to know how to become a locksmith, some have just left school or the army, some are looking for a career change.

Below are tips to help you in a career as a potential locksmith, from what qualifications are required, advice on training providers, hours you may work to what you put in a future locksmith business plan.

Beginners Courses

1. Locksmith Qualifications

We currently run an Official OFQUAL Level 4 Certificate in locksmithing, this is an Ofqual regulated nationally recognised qualification with the specialist awarding body ABBE (Awarding Body for the Built Environment).

For more on the topic of locksmith qualifications, please see our locksmith qualification page.

What if I take a course at the MLA? – We provide all attendees of our courses with a certificate of attendance.

Locksmith Qualification Programme

2. Skills Required

Skills for going the self-employed route

Should you go self employed as a locksmith and setup your own compay y.ou will need business skills on top of locksmithing skills.

Skills you will need as your own locksmith will range from marketing, accounts, setting up a website, general business knowledge, that’s if you’ve never run your own business before.

Skills Working for an established locksmith company

Working for an already established locksmith company means you will only need to concentrate on your skills as a locksmith ( mechanical engineering, carpentry, people skills etc.. ).

Skills to be a locksmith

3. Do your research – Important Questions to ask

Where will you be working?
What’s the area like?
Are there many Locksmiths already in your area?
Expert Tip: do a Google search, look at your potential competitor’s reviews
Are there any gaps in the market?
Expert Tip: Does a Safe specialist live in your area? Who fits Security Grilles and Gates in your area?
What sort of locksmith work is required in the area?
Expert Tip: Is lock snapping common where you live?

Training FAQ’s – Your questions answered

4. Training Is required – Difficult to Learn Online!

You will need to think about training to become a locksmith as there are different courses available.

Do you want to take a locksmith course or take an apprenticeship in locksmithing? – be aware that the government’s trailblazer apprenticeship scheme ceased in 2016.

The type of training you do will depend on the type of services you want to offer – see tip #5 below.

Once you’ve been trading as a locksmith you may want to look into offering more services, think of taking advanced courses in areas such as lock opening, furniture locks and working with aluminium doors.

Request FREE Course Pack

5. What Services you offer as a locksmith

Think about what locksmith services you want to offer (and more importantly what sort of services are required by customers):

Auto Car locksmith – requires taking a Auto locksmith course
Security Safes ( safe engineers ) – learning to crack open safes
Commercial – access control, alarms etc..
Domestic Homes – 24 emergency lockouts, security upgrades –
What services will your customers want in your area?

Find your niche and dominate it!

6. Start a business plan

With all the costs of starting up including:

Training needed
Equipment such as locksmith tools ( letterbox tool, pick set, drill, pick gun, key extractor etc.. )
Van (and associated vehicle costs)
Advertising and marketing (offline and online)
Separate Telephone line setup (especially if 24 Hour)
Website costs such as yearly domain hosting, purchasing a website address, https certificate cost, firewall security etc….
SEO costs – so your website ranks high on Google – Become an MLA Approved Locksmith we rank high!
Social Media Advertising – get your business noticed on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram
Insurance & business rates
Stock required – locks, key blanks

Don’t underestimate these costs!

7. Hours you may work

A lot of locksmiths offer 24-hour emergency service, how will this fit in with your family life? Is it something that you want to offer.

Some locksmiths offer a 24-hour emergency service

Are there a lot of emergency locksmiths in your area?
Is there any safe opening experts in your area?
What about auto locksmiths in your area? especially 24 hours?

8. Locksmith Training Providers

Do your research on the Locksmith training provider, whilst there is a lot of good quality training available there is also a lot of poor training out there.

Ask existing locksmiths who have done a training course who they used and what the course was like.
Ask locksmiths in Facebook groups where they trained

9. Never Stop Learning

Finally don’t forget you never stop learning, with new products, changing standards etc..

Free training is put on at MLA Regional meetings

You will always need to keep up to speed and refresh your knowledge. For example, MLA members do this by regularly attending regional meetings.

After taking our beginners locksmith courses, many go onto take our advanced modules which allows them to offer more services as a locksmith.

There is also Europe’s largest exhibition MLA Expo, there will be over 70 training classes and seminars taking place over the weekend, some of these are FREE.

View All Advanced Courses
MLA Expo – Free Locksmith Event

10. Don’t Believe the Hype

Don’t believe the hype spread by some training organizations who sell locksmithing as a ‘get rich quick career’ – short courses will not automatically lead to a £60K a year career as a locksmith

Companies that sell locksmith tools as part of their training:

Be wary of companies that sell locksmith tools as an add-on to their training courses, this is where companies can make a large amount of profit.

Also, tools required will depend on the type of work you end up doing, and to a certain degree the area in which you’re based.

We at the MLA do not sell any locksmith tools ourselves but can highlight the kind of tools required as well as point you towards trusted companies in the industry to buy them from.