EDUCATION Ask Not What They Have Done For You — Ask What You Can Do For Them “ALOA Education gained approval for GI Bill funding to train these veterans in the post-9/11 era in this wonderful profession we all love.” Training is great, but if you have no job to go to once the training is over — or more importantly, no job to go to while you are still training — it’s a moot point. You can train to be a multimillion-dollar- a-year athlete but if no team signs you, it means nothing. If we, as an association and as a pro- fession, train these wonderful men and women but have no place for them to go, then we’re no better than other entities out there that simply take the government’s money and give nothing or substandard results back. We’re doing a disservice to the people we’re training and — in no small part, in my mind — a disservice to the industry in that we may be losing some of the brightest minds and future giants in business by not giving them a chance. I understand business. I know if you’re barely making ends meet and it would destroy you to take on an additional per- son on the payroll, it’s not feasible. But there are a multitude of you out there — because I hear it all the time — who are busy and in need of help. How about giving some of these people a chance? ALOA training can give them the basics so they can assist you immediately, even if it’s just duplicating keys and repinning a few locks. But as they continue to train and learn on the job from you (and how many 54 KEYNOTES APRIL 2016 of you learned it that way?), they may be- come the biggest asset your company has. I know that there are programs out there that can supplement their income, so you may not have to pay as much to start, and they’ll still make a living wage. That’s just something you’d have to explore. Be Committed But it all starts with a commitment. A commitment from you, the business own- ers in the industry, to give someone a chance. And I don’t mean the lip service commitment I’ve gotten from some in the past, where when standing among your peers you make the “by gosh yes, I’ll gladly hire a veteran” statement for their benefit — but when I’ve sent a vet to you, they’ve been turned away. I mean a real commitment. When a vet who lives in your area comes through the training or if you send a vet to be trained, you will in earnest give them a chance if it’s financially feasible. You’ll look into programs to assist with veteran hiring and find ways to get them back into the mainstream to give them a chance. You’ll follow through and do the right thing — like they did when they put on that uniform to defend you, even though they didn’t know you. We’re compiling a list of companies (lock- smiths, access control, distributors and any other industry business) that will seriously commit to hiring these veterans when they start training. We’ll update this list and post it to our website. We’ll also distribute this list in the classes these men and women attend once they decide this is their future. If you’re willing to commit to honest- ly talking to and possibly hiring these trainees, get on our list. Please send your company name, contact name, street ad- dress, city, state, zip, email and phone to [email protected] and put “Support Veterans” in the subject line. Again, to all of you who have served, we thank you for your service and your sacrifice. God bless the United States of America. Jim Hancock, CML, CMST, ALOA’s education manager, began his locksmithing ca- reer at the age of 8 in his grandfather’s lock shop in Gulfport, MS. He has worked in every aspect of the business, from shop tech to mobile tech to operations man- agement. In 2003 and 2009, he was presented with the ALOA ACE Award as Instructor of the Year. You can reach him at [email protected] or (214) 819-9733. WWW.ALOA.ORG
