Who you hire will determine how well your salon succeeds.Making your hiring decisions  will be one of your most important decisions when adding a new member to your your championship team as a salon owner.

Choosing between experienced vs. inexperienced hairdressers  will be an critical  decision for your business. Selecting committed professionals will depend on finding people who share your vision, goals, and quality control standards will be a key management skill.

A hit and miss approach to hiring a new member to your team is just too costly.

Below are some of the many factors you should consider in deciding who to hire as a valued member to your team:

Here are the pros and cons when it comes to decide who to hire.

Hiring Experienced Hairdressers

On the surface hiring people with a clientele can bring instant revenue and new customers. You will also save time and money in having to train and develop the new member to your team.

Unfortunately, this can be a short term solution to a bigger problem later on.

An applicant may make the following statements or have the following attitudes:

  • “I wasn’t busy enough at my former salon”
  • “The owner doesn’t advertise enough.”
  • “My previous salon was not progressive enough.”
  • Management is too stringent.””

A person making the above statements can be problematic in the workplace. If you are deciding to hire a much more experienced hairdresser, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

  • Did they leave previous employment taking names and phone numbers?
  • Will they share your vision?
  • Will they be a team player?
  • Will they adapt to your salon’s employee handbook?
  • Will they be compatible with your other team member
  • Do they have a history of changing jobs?
  • Can you call previous employers for references?
  • Will they be a positive influence with your young hairdressers?
  • Will they adapt to our salon’s artistic guidelines?

There are also things to watch out for when hiring experienced hairdressers:

  • Many hairdressers have unrealistic career & earning expectations.
  • Many more refuse to take full responsibility for their own success or failure. (It is always easier to blame others.)
  • Hairdresser’s sometimes over-value their skills.
  • Are they willing to accept your probation guidelines?

If a poor attitude seems to be present, I recommend that you avoid or at least be careful with this individual. A negative attitude can bring a host of new problems. It is a sure way to cause discontent and low morale with your other staff members.They are usually the ring leaders where salon gossip occurs in the back room.

In any case, probing a little deeper will help you uncover the real truth about your applicant. A probation period will help make sure both are compatible.

If your applicant accepts your terms of employment and you feel they share your vision and goals, hiring experienced help could be a very pleasant addition to your team.

Hiring Inexperienced Hairdressers

Don’t underestimate new young talent. My experience with rookies has always been good; at least you don’t have to change a lot of negative attitudes and poor work habits. Over the years I have successfully developed young talent with limited experience and molded them into outstanding professionals and team players.

You can fine-tune young, inexperienced hairdressers by helping them build strong work habits and positive attitudes.

If you have a strong employee training handbook and junior stylist program, hiring an inexperienced hairdresser could be a great choice if your new comer:

  • has a great personality
  • has a professional appearance
  • is willing to learn & adapt to your salon’s training and quality control standards
  • shows a caring attitude about people
  • has strong people and communication skills
  • an open mind towards education and ongoing self improvement

With a strong in-salon training program, strong leadership and people management skills on your part, you can fine-tune your entire team from the ground up. As leader of your team, it is your responsibility to share your knowledge and take your team to a higher level. It is also your responsibility to help your team maximize their full learning potential. Excellence does start at the top.

Of course there are drawbacks to hiring rookies, including:

  • Lack of experience
  • Lack of time for training
  • Paying them to learn
  • The possibility of losing customers due to lack of experience.

Training and mentoring young talent does take time, money, and effort, but effective employee training can give you long term results.

Implementing an apprenticeship and junior stylist program will pay high dividends.

Decision Time

Which applicant best suits your needs as a valuable member of your team?  Which individual is a solid diamond in the rough?  The person who meets your criteria is the person to offer a position to, but not until they read and accept your terms of employment in your employee handbook.

I believe having a combination of experienced hairdressers AND inexperienced hairdressers will be important to building your winning team.

If you want to learn more about effectively hiring and managing your salon, be sure to attend my 2-day Business Seminar in Las Vegas, July 9-10.

I will share my simplified apprenticeship and junior stylist program as one of my topics in Las Vegas. I will also release my 15 ways to recruit top talent.