Why Smart Locksmiths Only Supports and Promotes the Ofqual Locksmith Diplomas

28 Feb 2022

Smart Locksmiths continue to support the official Ofqual locksmith diplomas and urge anyone looking to start an exciting new career as a locksmith get the correct training...

Cheap 1/3 day locksmiths training courses may seem attractive but won't give you the skills you need to succeed in the industry and take your career forward.

The good news is that because these are official Gov't regulated courses there is a lot of funding available meaning some students can get big discounts, some will even train for free, yet not everyone opt's for these official locksmith training courses.

What's the attraction of these unofficial locksmith training courses?

There have been a number of private locksmith training course released over the years, some have in fact been very good in-depth courses teaching all the skills required to trade and succeed as an independent locksmith. However, for every good, well put together locksmith training course there seems to be a number of poorly structured, crash courses tempting students with cheap prices and a quick turnaround promising that you'll be a qualified locksmith after 1 day and a few hundred pound.

In reality a lot of these courses are nothing more than a quick money maker for the private companies running them who don't need to have qualified teachers or have any knowledge of the subject they are teaching. This can't be legal can it?

Unfortunately this is perfectly legal and it's because of a lack of regulation in the locksmith industry. No regulation means that anyone can set themselves up as a locksmith and anyone can offer locksmith training just like anyone can claim to be an internet marketing expert and run internet marketing and SEO courses and you'll find 100's of online SEO courses all run by companies claiming to be the utmost experts in the industry.

All of the online SEO and Internet Marketing Course are a scam and you're better of simply downloading a free marketing guide rather than throwing your money away on an SEO course.

With internet marketing the entire course can be run online which is why there are so many of these worthless course available, but with the locksmith industry there needs to some practical training which is the only reason why their aren't more of these unofficial locksmith training courses around.

Why Take The Ofqual Route?

Ofqual stands for The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation and is a non-ministerial government department that regulates qualifications, exams and tests in England.

The official Ofqual diplomas take many months to complete - as any course that teaches a trade should - and involves a number of practical and written modules.

Launched in 2018 the Ofqual locksmith diplomas are now the recognised training standard for the locksmith industry and because of this many business and institutions that regularly use locksmiths such as housing associations, construction companies and the Police are beginning to make the Ofqual diploma a requirement when hiring.

More Reasons to Choose The Official Training Course

Even if you don't intend going after contract work for construction companies and housing associations or warrant work for your local Police, it is still better to get proper training so you can move forward in your chosen industry about the replica watches.

Most locksmiths who take the cheaper private courses or just pick up basic skills by watching how to videos on Youtube call it a day within the first 12 months when they realise that they are out of their depth. The proper training will give you the proper skills such as non destructive entry, which is the ability to bypass a lock by picking it or using some sort of bypass tool, a skill that simply isn't taught in the cheaper 1-3 day private courses.

A local locksmith proving his or her skill by picking the lock of someone who has just misplaced their keys will build up a much better reputation and get more positive reviews than a locksmith who only knows how to drill out a lock making the callout a lot more expensive to the customer who now has to pay for a new lock and get new keys cut even though they had a spare set of keys in the house.

Reputation is everything in the locksmith industry and if you can build up a positive one you'll get individuals and companies actually referring you.