Developing Your Own Apprenticeship Program
I think as salon owners you will all agree that there is a tremendous need to develop cost effective apprenticeship program for on job training when adding a new member to your team,especially newcomers right out of beauty school. All other professions have an apprenticeship programs except the beauty profession.
Nine or ten months of beauty school is just not enough time to teach other job market skills that are needed to compete in a very competitive job market,especially if you want to develop your own quality control standards. Beauty school is but a first step in preparing young hairdressers to compete in a very competitive job market, especially if young hairdressers want to maximize their full learning and earning potential and work in an upscale salon.
Education in beauty school is but their first step on their journey to success.
Although there is a lot of criticism towards many of our beauty schools from employers, some of the criticism is justified while some are not.
Over the years I have had the privilege of meeting many excellent and dedicated teachers who are dedicated to teaching.
To be fair to our beauty schools must cover a curriculum created by a government agency to protect the public health and safety of the consumer.
Beauty school curriculum is designed to protect the public health and safety of the consumer and help students pass their state board examination and earn their license; it is not designed, nor have the time to help their students learn all the additional skills needed to stand above the crowd and compete. There is a big gap between beauty school and working and competing in a very competitive job market especially if they want to work in a high end salon.
Hiring Young Talent vs. Experienced
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As an employer I have had great success in training well screened young talent as part of my championship team. With young talent you don’t have to break very many bad work habits or negative attitudes. Young talent,provided you set high hiring standards. Over the years I have had great success with young talent.
Potential young starters can be much easier to train and develop into your salon team culture.It is essential that you take advantage of their excitement and eagerness to learn in the beginning of their training and development.
Don’t dismiss hiring experienced hairdressers as well as long as they are willing to accept your salon’s training program and share your vision and educational and quality control standards. Combining experienced hairdressers and young talent can help you build your championship team.
The main obstacles young hairdressers face when trying to build their skills is their lack of hands on training. acquiring hands on experience working on real people without compromising your client retention efforts will be a challenge.
Learning on real customers by trial and error at regular salon prices on paying customers is not an option. Keep in mind beauty school customers are a lot different then the clients that patronize our salons, who expect quality and excellence in meeting their beauty needs. T
How do we allow young talent to gain knowledge and valuable hands on experience working on paying customers with out compromising our client retention efforts and high quality control standards?
The answer is to develop your own Junior Stylist Program . Your junior stylist program will allow you to minimize customer loss due to inexperience as well as help you recover your training wages by letting your new team member work on paying customers at reduced prices under the supervision of the owner, master stylist, or director of education.
This will also allow you to measure their performance making sure they are following your educational and quality control guidelines. This is an excellent way to help them build self confidence , self esteem, and hands on training without compromising your client retention efforts.
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Before you allow your new junior stylist work on paying customers make sure you develop a comprehensive employee training and assistant program in place.It begins with salon orientation procedures.
During this orientation procedure make sure they are following your educational and quality control guidelines, assist and observe other hairdressers, and then gradually allow them to work on paying customers at reduced rates a couple days a week. Once you feel they completely understand your educational systems, then you can elevate them to junior stylist status, then eventually you can elevate them to master stylist at regular prices when you feel they are ready. Please refer to my educational resources that have these programs all ready in place. My personal development seminar will be an excellent and cost effective way to develop talent.
I urge you to follow my educational training programs as part of their training and educational orientation procedures.
Due to a lack of an Apprenticeship Program that is desperately needed in our profession, I urge all salon owners to develop their own junior stylist training program and use mine as a guide.For my special report on how to develop your apprenticeship or junior stylist program. Click here
Refer to my Business articles for more info on developing an easy to understand junior stylist program. This valuable information will save you time, money, and dramatically reduce customer loss.