Lock smith or help around the shop

[Jason13]

Hey im 13 and coming 14 in August and i heard that you can apply for a job at 16 to help around the shop and maybe even key cutting.


Then when your 18 you can do lockouts, When they interview you what do they look for.


Of course the Skill of lockpicking but is there anything else you need to be good at?


Regardz

[SteveW]

Clean shoes and a sensible haircut

[Jason13]

Well of course your not going to walk in looking like you dragged half of the street in with you, what i mean is if they go oh low attedence in school etc which i didnt go cause of other reasons other than annoying bullys,

Which is differnt on the other hand cause i would enjoy going to the job that involves picking locks key cutting etc...

[Shrub]

The ability to listen and learn, yes school attendance would be a majour thing as it shows how reliable you are and that you can stick things out but they cant realy check on that anyway.

A smartly dressed, eager to lean and able to learn, already knowledgeable but not cocky with it young chap would be an asset to them and youve got to convince them of that.

Dont drone on about your life story but get across your aims in life and what youve done already to achive those goals.

Be 5-10 minutes early for any meeting and think of the interview as being from the moment you enter the premises to the momnet you leave, joking around with the other staff that you used to stick forks in locks etc will get back to the boss and could be the differance between you getting a job or not.

Dont tell them your user name on here

[pip]

i guess just know the basics of locks
how a lock works
how to fit a lock into a door

there's more to locksmithing than locks

find an old locksmith book about 20-30 years old
and learn the basics

[SteveW]

Sorry i was just being cheeky

Going for an interview at a Lockie shop would be pretty much the same as an interview for anything else. Its more to do with whether they think you are the right man for the job and what your competition are like.

But don't expect to be picking many locks in a shop. Most of the stuff you will learn will be bench work, working the till and a lot of other 'normal shop' stuff. And i think because of Health and Safety laws you wont even be cutting keys until you are 18.

But give it a go if you can, you have nothing to loose and you wont know what its like until you have tried it

I will try and write something more constructive in the morning

Cheers
Steve

[Shrub]

We all know he would be cuttin keys just not when the inspecter came round checking ages lol

[Jason13]

Im guessing installing a lock into a door isnt really hard to learn but at the moment i dont really need to know how unless i was going to, And another thing Master keying ive heard it from some1 but cant fully understand, is there any pictures showing the insides of it.

[Lock Jockey]

On page six if the Crypto Master Keying paper it shows a cutaway of a masterkeyed lock and it has some good info about master keying and it's vulnerabilities.

[Jason13]

It be bad if you went to lockpick some guys front door, and hes an enthusiast in picking locks so he knows that a bird is easy as mad.

Picking infront of people I'II get use to some day but imagine it took you ages and you were like OMG ITS A BIRD! LOL

[Vincent-XXI]

Everything you learn now is one thing less a locksmith would have to teach you which you be to your advantage I'd imagine, especially if your ability was great enough to impress him. If the first years would be spent heloing around the shop, learning to repinn, key locks alike and create masterkey systems would be more impressive than the ability to pick, though again it just adds up to one less thing he needs to teach.


Ability to pick ect isn't a necessity for getting a job helping around,locksmiths probably expect to teach new employees such skills themselves/pay for a course, though it probably would prove a small advantage. I would say that if interviewed the question, "What do you do with your time given you don't regularly attend school?" Has a very high likelyhood of being asked. I know I'd be d**n curious sa to what someone does with 30+ hours a week otherwise occupied by school and homework, I don't want to know 'tis none of my buisness, but an interviewer probably will ask.
If a person didn't attend school but wa taught at home, I'd employ them if I had a buisness.
If a pperson left school to study things he found interesting, electronics, woodwork and was able to take a car apart and rebuild it, I'd employ him in nearly anything. (showing motivation willingnes to learn and many other admirable qualities)
Finally a kid that didn't go to schoolbut instead sat at home playing counter strike for upteen hours a day with a little lockpicking skill therown in... the phrase sod off comes to mind.

In short school provides several advantages:
Reference from teaches/ principal.
Record of attendance (strong indicator of reliability)
grades (shows willingess to work and talent)

I'd like to think you have more than "I can pick locks." for an interview situation, by not going to school you are loosing out alot more than you are gaining,and putting myself in an interviewers or employers shoes I'd sure want to know how you spent that extra time.

Carpentry courses at a tech or such I'd imagine would be a worthwile investment, if you can bring more skills to his buisness you have amuch better chance.

[Blink]

Hey now, get serious, Counter Strike is a well respected game.

[Raccoon]

Jason13: If you really want a job at this specific shop, I highly recommend waiting until you are 17 before even applying. The best you can do now is make your presence known by frequenting the shop and buying locks and making conversation with the owner. You're just a kid. Adults are extremely fond of influencing kids with their interests, in this case locks. So spend the next 4 years becoming the shop owner's friend, and you will have a job waiting for you at 17.

If you applied now, and managed to get a job, you would probably be spending the day sweeping floors and dusting merchandise. It would be entirely "teach you some responsibilities" grunt work and have nothing to do with locks. Judging by your personality as I perceive it, this meaningless labor would bore and frustrate you, and probably end up in an unhappy relationship with your boss. When you finally become an adult and wish to work there, you'll have already blown your chance.

This is, in any case, the first scenario that comes to mind. You have much maturing to do yet before people take you seriously, and this would be serious work.