These days, the employment market is all about job security. If you're looking to narrow your job search down to positions you could imagine having relevance ten or twenty years down the road, concentrate on industries that provide essential services and aren’t going away any time soon.
Few lines of work are as essential to society's smooth functioning than locksmithing, which employs thousands in comfortable full-time positions and continues to grow each year. As more and more devices need keys, locksmiths are well-position for growth.
A Thousand Different Functions
Locksmiths aren't just on call to break into your car when you lose your keys or, worse, lock them inside of it. These professionals also design and grind bolt locks, replacement locks for doors, safe door locks, and countless other mechanisms for securing doors. Generalist locksmiths also make replacement keys to fit old locks, which is probably their highest-volume function, as well as new lock-and-key sets.
High-end locksmiths might make fire-safe boxes and other custom security devices to order as well, catering to deep-pocketed clients who value security and discretion. These projects can take weeks to plan and execute but pay off in the form of formidable workmanship that drives return business, the cornerstone of most successful locksmiths. In fact, many smaller locksmith businesses have been in the same family for decades or generations.
On-Demand Service
On the other hand, emergency calls and rush jobs are the bread-and-butter of many locksmiths. There are limitless combinations of situations beyond the standard locked-keys-in-car scenario for which lock-and-key professionals must be on call.
Landlords who execute large numbers of same-day apartment or office move-ins requiring new sets of keys, office managers who misplace keys for high-volume safes or storage rooms, and owners of high-turnover storage facilities and used-car dealerships all expect their locksmiths to be able to provide timely assistance without sacrificing quality.
Your Career Options
Upon entering the profession, you'll find a few different locksmith career options open to you. Many modern locksmith jobs are integrated into the operations of major corporations that value security in industries like energy and mineral extraction, aerospace, military logistics, and automobile manufacturing.
These jobs range from general-maintenance positions that require you to be a jack-of-all-trades to highly-specialized manufacturing appointments in which you'll perform a number of delicate but similar tasks day in and day out.
What Can You Earn?
For an industry without extensive education prerequisites, locksmithing affords you the chance to earn a competitive salary. If you can land a job with one of the specialized employers above, you can earn between $60,000 and $80,000 per year as you gain experience. If your job requires you to hold a special security clearance, you could earn even more than that.
At a smaller, more generally-focused locksmith business, your starting salary might be around $40,000 and rise to $60,000 or more with experience and your role. If you're willing to be on call at night, when many locksmith calls occur, you may be able to earn more for emergency services after hours.
This article was contributed on behalf of LockSmith.net where you can find automotive locksmith services and more to meet your locksmith needs.
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