Over the past few months, since Prime Minister, Boris Johnson announced the UK lock down measures, lots of businesses have been calling it a day, closing their doors and making staff redundant and rumour has that the Corona Virus may return next year so even if your company and your job survives maybe it’s time to work for yourself in a more stable profession or trade?
Not all businesses and trades have been adversely affected by the COVID19 lockdown, some have thrived and for many it’s been business as usual. So what industry or trade should you consider moving into? And what are the pros and cons?
Of course we all know that it’s been the restaurants, hair salons, beauty parlours, gyms etc that have been the most effected due to the amount of human contact involved but it has also effected travel agencies, the airline industries and the hotels too and people working in these industries are the most vulnerable and most in danger of losing their jobs. All these industries are classed as luxury industries so in the current climate it’s better to be in an essential industry or trade.
Learning a trade will be the best option as people will always need a plumber, an electrician or a locksmith because things can still go wrong with your electrics or plumbing and people will always lose keys and require security upgrades and a lock down will not stop you requiring these services
Most trades require training but locksmith training only takes 6 months to complete and once trained it’s easy to set up a website and advertise yourself as an emergency locksmith because you don’t need premises, just a van/car and tools.
Unfortunately the locksmith industry is unregulated and because more and more people are enquiring about locksmith training a number of questionable locksmith training centres have opened up offering cut price course.
So what is the issue with Cheap Locksmith Training Courses?
For a start you get what the pay for, pay for a cheap course and get substandard training. The official Locksmith Training Course regulated by Ofqual is the Level 3 Diploma in Commercial Locksmiths and Property Security and it takes around 6 months to complete, it’s an official Ofqual course with written work and practical training.
The cheap “unofficial” locksmith courses cost around half as much but only run for 3-5 days so for a start actually work out more expensive, but 3-5 days? Really? 3-5 days to learn an entire trade, this is where most people will call bullshit but some people do fall for this, hand over their money and after 3-5 days of training get a worthless unofficial certificate. But are they fully trained locksmiths? Of course not, most will give the industry a go, realise they have bitten off more than they can chew and move on.
How do the “unofficial” locksmith Training Centres Get Away With This?
Even though there are official OFQUAL (government) courses for locksmiths, the industry itself as a whole isn’t regulated meaning these training centres are doing nothing illegal, immoral yes, illegal no. They run these useless courses continuously and award their own certificates not worth the paper they are printed on and rake in thousands of pound a months.
If you’re looking for the official OFQUAL locksmith courses then the gov.uk website is the place to go to find out where the courses are being run near you, however, the place most locksmiths get their training is at the locksmith training college in Atherton, Gtr Manchester which is a dedicated locksmith training college that also runs other official courses such as fire safety, health and safety, teaching and other courses, note that it’s a college and not a training centre which is the name used by all the companies running the fake 3-5 courses, this is because to be referred to as a college the teaching staff must have official teaching qualifications.
A career as a locksmith can be very rewarding and lucrative; you work your own hours, you are your own boss and can earn well over £30,000 a year.
Read more about each course here.
Level 3 Diploma In Commercial Locksmiths And Property Security
Level 3 Diploma In Automotive Locksmiths And Vehicle Security