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Start Your Cosmetology Career after Beauty School with a Great Salon Job Interview

Published: December 03, 2007
by Rosanne Ullman

If you want to start your cosmetology career working at a salon after you graduate from beauty school, you’ll have a lot of options because salons always need great people. The trick is how to truly become, not just appear to be, one of the great people they need.
Cosmetology Career in a Salon after Beauty School

Cosmetology Career in a Salon after Beauty School

At the interview, draw on what you learned in your cosmetology classes. Be prepared with stories from your studies that illustrate how passionate you are about your chosen cosmetology career. Be cheerful, and be helpful. One spa owner told me she purposely drops a pencil on the floor during every interview with employment candidates. If the applicant immediately reaches to pick up the pencil for her, she knows that person has the right instincts to deliver top customer service. It’s a subtle test that a lot of applicants fail.

Dress more professionally than you think you need to, and don’t show much skin but do try to let your own sense of style shine through. Read the salon’s entire website before you get there, and carry a list of questions that are not addressed on the site. The major question you should ask is how much opportunity for growth you’ll have, not how much money you’ll make or how much time off you can take. Show an interest in advanced beauty education, serious challenge and hard work. That’s what every employer is looking for.

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Halfway Through Beauty School, Plans Can Change

Published: November 29, 2007
by Rosanne Ullman

Maybe you’re stuck between enrolling in a massage therapy school or a nail technician school. Or perhaps you’ve chosen a large, general beauty school and can’t decide between the hair design curriculum and the esthetics program. If you’re on the fence like that, don’t let indecision paralyze you to the point that you don’t act at all. You’re better off choosing something and seeing how it goes. The worst that can happen is that you’ll end up with two licenses, and that’s not so bad!
Hair Design in Beauty School

Let’s take an example: you start at an electrolysis school only to discover that you really love make-up and want to switch to a professional make-up artist school. Once you’ve spent the money at the first school, you might as well finish and go for your electrolysis license. Then you can get a part-time job in electrolysis while you continue your make-up education.

If you’re not even leaning one way or the other, your best bet is to enter a general cosmetology program that includes classes in hair design, nails, esthetics and make-up, if your state’s laws allow that. A lot of cosmetology graduates eventually settle on one discipline, while others enjoy cosmetology careers that provide the variety of having clients coming in for all different services.

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10 Questions to Ask at Your Cosmetology School Visit

Published: November 25, 2007
by Rosanne Ullman

Visiting Cosmetology Schools and Beauty Schools I hope you’re planning on visiting several beauty schools in your chosen field—hairdresser, esthetician, nail technician, barber schools or whatever—before you make your final decision on a cosmetology school. When my daughter and I went to various schools, she wanted to base her selection on what the other young people were wearing and whether the admissions people were nice or nasty. Not a good idea!

Do your homework by checking out the cosmetology school’s website, where some beauty schools post a lot of information. To fill in more facts, meet with someone knowledgeable and take this list of questions with you along with pen and paper to write down the answers.

1) What are your exact rates of graduation and graduate licensing?

2) What is your rate of job placement, and how does your career center operate?

3) If you have housing, how many students can live there?

4) What are the names of all the scholarship and loan programs you offer?

5) What is your student/faculty ratio?

6) Which agencies and organizations have given your school licensing and accreditation?

7) What percentage of your classroom time is hands-on training with mannequins and with real clients?

8) Do these credits transfer easily to another school if I need to do that?

9) What happens if I need to take time off and continue at a later date?

10) After I’m licensed, do you offer continuing education classes, and are they free to alumni?

Compare responses to find the best beauty school fit for you.

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How Much Does Your Choice of Cosmetology School Matter?

Published: November 21, 2007
by Rosanne Ullman

You’re very wise to continue your education. Like any of your friends deciding which university or trade school to attend, you’re probably feeling that your choice of a beauty college or cosmetology school marks a critically important decision that will affect the rest of your life. On one hand, that’s so true. During the next year or so, the beauty school will determine the training you receive, the inspiration you acquire and the people you meet.

But in the bigger picture, I think choosing a cosmetology school or beauty college has a less dramatic impact. As long as you select a beauty school with a generally good reputation, you will meet like-minded peers and learn the basics from dedicated cosmetology instructors who will prepare you to pass your state’s cosmetology licensing exam. If you communicate a thirst for continued knowledge and ambition to succeed, you’ll easily find employment in this job market. In my experience, people who work smart and hard are rewarded with money and job satisfaction, no matter what their field—or where they went to school.

You should take your next step thoughtfully because it’s a year of your life, and you want to spend it comfortably in a cosmetology school environment that matches your personality. But don’t overthink it as a success-or-failure decision. The success-determining decision is to get the education, and you’ve already made that one! After that, you just have to be dedicated to your new cosmetology career, and you’ll do fine.

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Esthetics Schools Must Train Leaders

Published: November 17, 2007
by Rosanne Ullman

Become a Skin Care Professional at Esthetics School

If you’re thinking of going to esthetics school to become an esthetician, you’ll find yourself entering an industry just as it’s leading America down a new path. That path is green, and skin care schools can prepare you to blaze the environmentalist trail.

I just finished working on an article, “The Green Spa,” for our skin care and spa industry publication, RENEW (renewprofessional.com). Everyone’s talking about recycling, driving hybrid cars and dialing down the use of chemicals, but spas are actually changing the way they do business. Spa facilities are eliminating fumes and carbon, replacing bottled water with tap water in washable glasses, reducing paper use by going digital and using only as much heat and air-conditioning as necessary.

Esthetics professionals, esthetician schools and skin care clients are all so aware of the earth’s gifts; it makes sense that the spa industry has stepped forward to lead the way toward environmental responsibility. If you’re interested in helping not only people but also the planet earth to maintain beauty and wellness, you’re enrolling in esthetics school at an exciting time in history. You’ll be able to share your ideas for preserving and appreciating nature and have the opportunity to really make a difference in the world.

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Beauty School Student Looking to Buy Beauty Salon

Published: November 13, 2007
by Rosanne Ullman

Does that describe you? A large percentage of people enrolled in, or soon entering, cosmetology school hope someday to have their own beauty salon. It’s not a pipe dream!

That doesn’t mean you can do it right away. Most new beauty salon owners already have a lot of clients. It takes a while to build that clientele, not to mention gaining advanced cosmetology skills that come with experience. So you pretty much have to work in a beauty salon before you can own one. In addition to the hair, nails or skin care skills you’ll gather in beauty school, y Beauty Salon and Beauty School Owner

ou’ll need business skills. By working at a beauty salon, you’ll see first-hand how a business runs. As a beauty salon owner, you’ll have to train and manage staff, purchase products, do inventory, market your business, maintain your facility and so forth.

Still, hair people become businesspeople all the time. Once you’ve been working for a few years, you can seriously consider going out on your own. You can simply rent space from a beauty salon, or you can open a full-fledged beauty salon. To get a bank loan, you’ll need a business plan. Ask the beauty schools you’re considering attending whether they offer any business education. If not, it wouldn’t hurt to take a business course at your community college.

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Accredited Versus Non-Accredited Beauty Schools

Published: November 09, 2007
by Rosanne Ullman

You may notice that some beauty schools include the word accredited on their advertising materials. This word gives you important information about those beauty schools.

All colleges, universities and, yes, cosmetology schools are eligible to seek accreditation by a government-approved agency. Beauty schools that are accredited aren’t necessarily better than those that are not accredited. But they do meet the standards set by the agency, which most often is NACCAS, the National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences (naccas.org). NACCAS accreditation ensures that the cosmetology school’s facilities, programs and graduate stats are at adequate levels and that the beauty schools deliver what they promise.

Accreditation is not the same as cosmetology licensing. You should make sure the beauty school you choose is licensed by your state.

To receive NACCAS accreditation, beauty schools have to pay an application fee and go through a lot of paperwork and in-house visits. Some cosmetology school owners do not feel it’s worth the time and money even though they would be able to meet the required standards. One benefit of accreditation is that it allows beauty schools to offer federally funded money like Pell grants and Stanford loans. However, both accredited and non-accredited cosmetology schools can offer private scholarships and bank loans. When you compare the tuition at various beauty schools, keep in mind that the additional scholarship opportunities at accredited schools often can offset their typically higher price.

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Break the Cosmetology School Chain, or Join It?

Published: November 05, 2007
by Rosanne Ullman

Chain Cosmetology School or Boutique Beauty School

When deciding which beauty college to attend, one of the many factors you’ll consider is whether to choose a chain cosmetology school or a boutique beauty school. In this regard, cosmetology is much like other industries. Think about food. (I know that’s easy for everyone!) If you eat at a chain restaurant like TGIF, Panera or Chili’s, the menu and standards of service will be the same whether you go to the franchise a mile from your house or three states over. The decor will be similar, the wait staff will wear corporate colors and the prices will be comparable. If you try a restaurant that is not a franchise or part of a chain, everything about it will be more of a wild card. You may find a gem of a restaurant, with owners who greet you personally at your table and remember you next time. Or you may be disappointed and wish you’d gone with the sure bet.

Similarly, chain beauty schools are safe and reliable; you’re certain to get a solid beauty education. Another advantage is that if you want to relocate, you’ll have an easier time transferring all of your credits to a cosmetology school within the same company. But don’t overlook the boutique beauty schools, because you may find a perfect match for you, especially if you like the owner’s personal touch and a more intimate environment.

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