Apprentiship or full time college??

[x.x.kelly]

heyy im realli confused wether to do an apprentiship or do full time college,
which one is better?
which one do u get more out of?
so jus overall which is better to get the qualifications.

many thanx

 

[Dimples xx]

Hi,I got my qualifications by doing an apprenticship and personally I think its better than doing a year in college as your working and training in a salon also its much more hands on,plus you get paid ..
Hth,

 

[dolly666]

I agree with the above u get paid for training and plus afterwards you'll have a job as with doing college full time u may not get one straight away,u cant beat shop floor experiance.

 

[3 WISHES]

Completely agree with the others apprentiship is so much better thats how I trained you gain so much more experience eg more people skills and dealing with awkward clients. I am a slon manager and personaly I only employ people with salon experience, we have employed people in the past from college and to be honest with you they dont really know how to deal with customers correctly, and to me have nopeople skills as most of them only train with dolls heads and you cant really have a conversation with them lol. Hope this helps xx

 

[nixxxminxx39]

Hi there, I have to say apprenticeship is the way to go, you will be working in a salon full time, and either go to college one day a week or they may have inhouse training if you go to a bigger salon, so you gain your nvq 1,2 and maybe even level 3 if you feel you want to.
While working in the salon you will learn so much, and at a salon pace, i have found from talking to other people about this, that did full time college in hair, that they found it hard getting a job in a salon after, as a stigma attached to doing hair full time at college...and they found it hard keeping up with the pace of the salon and doing services in salon times.
Good luck in you new career.

 

[persianista]

Salon trained hairdressers are much more in demand. You will earn more throughout your career if you are apprentice trained rather than college trained. Most full time college leavers struggle to get jobs after leaving. I only ever employ salon trained stylists.

 

[angelina221]

Definitely an apprenticeship! I have my own salon and like Persianista, i never take on people who are solely college trained.
Did it once and never again! I've also had girls come in for a trade test who were college trained and the ones i saw were appalling.
I think that colleges have had the same syllabus for over 30 years and are rather out of date.
You may get the odd person from college that does have a natural flair for hairdressing but they are very few and far between.
My nephew is nearly 17 and has been cutting and colouring his friends hair since he was 13. He just has a natural flair for it and i've told him not to go to college, it would be such a waste!
You will have much more opportunities by training in a salon

 

[x.x.kelly]

thanx so much everyone for your replies, realli helped x

 

[ZooBaby]

i think it depends how old you are too, i am in my thirties and went back to college part time last year to do my nvq2 qualification as it's all i could do to fit around my children. I have a salon placement once a week and my manager has already offered me a job when i finish in July, depends how committed you are and if you are naturally comfortable chatting to people and dealing with clients, as previous jobs have taught me a bit on that front.
I go to college and i get a lot from that, we don't just practice on dolls heads either we have clients who are members of the public booking in for appointments so you do get thrown in a bit, but not as much as you would in a salon. I have found i've learned at a lot quicker pace at college than when i tried an apprenticeship years ago, it all depends on you personally i suppose.

I like the fact that i've got trained tutors with years of experience on one hand, but then i pick a lot up from the stylists in the salon when i'm there,

hope it all works out for you, it's the best thing i have done I love the job!
all the best

 

[ellcee]

I finished college in August and I haven't been able to get a job since then because I dont have any experience in a salon (apart from a placement 1 day a week for a year), it's really frustrating and sooo wish I had done training through a salon instead. Now I have a job 1 day a week in a salon ... still its not great but its the only thing anyone would give me feel like Im going backwards now!

Go for a salon !!!!!! lol

 

[callum91]

I finished college in August and I haven't been able to get a job since then because I dont have any experience in a salon (apart from a placement 1 day a week for a year), it's really frustrating and sooo wish I had done training through a salon instead. Now I have a job 1 day a week in a salon ... still its not great but its the only thing anyone would give me feel like Im going backwards now!

Go for a salon !!!!!! lol

I completely agree ~ I went back to college in September
to do Lv3 to up my chances of finding salon work.

I haven't had any salon experience previously, and am now finding it hard to find a placement.:cry:

You will definately learn loads more in an apprenticeship!
I wish I had done an apprenticeship instead :lol:

 

[persianista]

It seems so unfair that they don't tell 16 year olds about this BEFORE they sign up at college full time. They leave with a qualification but completely unprepared for salon work in terms of the pace and accuracy needed.

 

[bronzebrunette]

I completely agree ~ I went back to college in September
to do Lv3 to up my chances of finding salon work.

I haven't had any salon experience previously, and am now finding it hard to find a placement.:cry:

You will definately learn loads more in an apprenticeship!
I wish I had done an apprenticeship instead :lol:

im doing level 2 full time at college just now and in a salon placement 1 day a week and sometimes wish i had trained thru a salon (hardly viable now as i am 33/40 wks pregnant, and will be startin level 3 in sept to take advantage of onsite childcare)

even tho i know most salon owners probably wont be interested in someone whos studied solely at college+a young mum! i do feel that the training I get at college IS useful, the lecturers are young and some still work in salons so theyre not out of touch and we do perform treatments to salon time and the college is VERY "anti-training heads" plus we get to take part in competitions (against other student, other colleges, AHT, world skills..) and we get to be creative as we have to put together a long hair styling portfolio. although i too think i will struggle to find anywhere that will even touch me when i come out of college.

but bizzarely enough there are a few girls i know who have been trained thru salons who have said to me, "i wish i had gone right through college and THEN worked my way up in a salon"

 

[bandit]

I think it depends on circumstances, ive done both but got my qualifications through college. I loved college, learnt loads more, won comps, got student of the year twice, went straight into a salon, owned my own salon, and have worked for myself now for 17 years. It depends on your effort, enthusiasm (excuse spelling if thats not right)abbility and natural talent. Only you can decide, i've never looked back at going to college, some of my best years. You can always look for work experiance whilst at college.