Hiring guideRead at source, 29 September 2026

How to Recruit Locksmiths: Hire the Adjacent Trades, Then Train

To recruit locksmiths, widen the search beyond people who already hold the title. BLS counts about 18,700 locksmiths and safe repairers nationally with roughly 1,200 openings a year, so in most metros the experienced pool is a handful of people. Recruit low-voltage and alarm technicians, door hardware installers and handy maintenance workers, state the pay, van, on-call rotation and training in the ad, check your state's licensing rule, keep the mobile application to three or four questions and call back the same day.

Who you are actually hiring

BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 count 18,700 locksmiths and safe repairers in 2025, projected to fall 11.7 percent by 2035, with about 1,200 openings a year across the whole country. The BLS, May 2025 median annual wage for the occupation was $51,320. The typical entry path BLS lists is a high school diploma plus long-term on-the-job training, so the trade is typically learned on the job rather than in school.

That is the fact that shapes every recruiting decision. The traditional key and lock side of the trade is shrinking, while the electronic side (electric strikes, card readers, keypads, access control wiring) keeps growing. A modern locksmith job is often half door hardware and half low-voltage work, and the people who already do the second half are your best recruiting pool. The locksmith job description breaks down the specialties (commercial, access control, residential, automotive, safes, in-house institutional) so you can name the one you are hiring.

Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35; BLS, May 2025 median annual wage.

Where to find locksmiths

Where to find locksmiths is mostly a question of where to find people who can become one quickly:

• Low-voltage, alarm and access control technicians. They already pull wire, mount readers and program controllers. For access-control-heavy work they are the closest match you will find.
• Door and hardware installers. Commercial door, frame and closer installers understand why a door does not latch, a mechanical problem that commercial locksmiths deal with constantly.
• Maintenance workers with a mechanical streak. General maintenance is a very large occupation, and apartment, school and hospital maintenance staff already rekey and swap hardware as part of the job.
• Existing locksmiths at other shops. Few in number and usually employed. Reach them with a specific offer (rate, van, on-call pay, the platforms you install) rather than a generic posting.
• Referrals. In a trade this small, the locksmiths you employ know the others. A paid employee referral program is cheap relative to one hire.

Job boards mostly return people searching the exact title, which in this trade is a short list. Social ads work differently: they show the job to people in the adjacent trades who are not searching for a locksmith role at all. Employment ads on Meta run in the special ad category, so you cannot target by age, gender or ZIP code and location targeting needs at least a 15-mile radius, which suits a service territory anyway.

Check the licensing rule before you write the ad

Locksmith licensing is set by states and sometimes cities, and requirements vary by state. California is a clear example: the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services licenses locksmith companies and issues locksmith employee registrations, and applicants for both undergo a criminal history background check through the California DOJ and the FBI. BSIS also notes that simply duplicating keys is not locksmithing. Look up your own state's rule, then say in the ad whether you sponsor and pay for the license.

Certification is different from licensing. ALOA offers designations such as Certified Registered Locksmith (CRL), Certified Professional Locksmith (CPL) and Certified Electronic Locksmith (CEL). They make better offers than filters: paying for them tells an alarm technician there is a path.

How to write the locksmith ad

The candidate is reading on a phone and already has a job. The first three lines need the pay range, the specialty mix, the van and tools, and the on-call rotation. Pay guidance for the role is on the locksmith job description page; check local security installer rates too, because that is who you are competing with.

Say plainly that tools and key machines are provided; someone from another trade assumes they need to buy them. Name the on-call rotation and the call-out pay, because unquantified on-call in an emergency trade reads as unlimited. More on structure is in what makes a good job ad.

Screening questions for the mobile application

Keep knockouts to things the job legally or practically requires, and let the phone call handle the rest.

• Do you hold a valid driver's license? (You will drive a company van.)
• This role requires a criminal background check for licensing and customer access. Are you willing to complete one?
• Which of these have you done: rekeying, door hardware, access control or low-voltage wiring, alarm installation, automotive keys, none yet?
• Can you take part in an on-call rotation of one week in four?

The third question is informational, not a knockout. "None yet" is a fine answer for a trainee opening. See pre-screening questions for what not to ask.

Speed and follow-up

The alarm technician who applies on a Tuesday lunch break is still employed and will not chase you. Text within minutes of the application, call the same day, and book a ride-along or shop visit within the week. Text recruiting keeps that first touch fast when your office is also dispatching calls.

What it costs to recruit a locksmith on social

Boostpoint's benchmark does not report locksmiths on their own. In the Technician / mechanic family in Boostpoint's 2026 benchmark, the median campaign cost $13.41 per applicant, with a middle half of $7.40 to $23.58 and a 16% apply rate. Across all 891 campaigns, the apply experience explained 70% of cost variation, so a short form matters more than the bid. The full distribution is on the benchmarks page. Cost per applicant is not cost per hire.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 (SOC 49-9094, 49-2098, 49-9071); BLS, May 2025 median annual wage; California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services locksmith fact sheet; ALOA certification list; Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark. Read at source 29 September 2026.