Guild vs Babtac

[Cindy1005]

Hello everyone,
I've started beauty training a month ago. I've done 2 short courses that are certified (Indian head massage and threading) and I'm enrolled in a level 2 ITEC course in beauty at the moment. I called the Beauty Guild last week and spoke to them about membership and they recommended full membership as opposed to student membership so I can use the certified courses which I agreed to. However I later discovered I'm not covered as a student for case studies I will do over the next 6 months. I have just discovered that Babtac offers a student membership which will cover me for case studies. My question is - are we required to register with both professional organizations or are they more or less the same? What have you done when you began your training? I plan to be a mobile therapist.

thank you

 

[BABTAC]

Hi Cindy,

Welcome to the industry and we hope you are enjoying your courses! How are you finding them? Great that you are looking to become a mobile therapist!

Reading through your thread, there are a number of different things you would like answering and we hope we’ll be able to help.

First, you mention the following question: “Are we required to register with both professional organisations or are they more or less the same”. To answer your question; as an industry, beauty is currently an unregulated discipline and you are not actually required to register yourself with anyone. Whilst it is not a legal requirement, we would hasten to add that we highly recommend joining a professional body and getting yourself insured for a number of reasons:
1)In addition to having recognised qualifications (like your ITEC course), joining a professional body and having insurance shows you are reputable and trustworthy. In the last few years we have begun to see a trend in consumers contacting us about selecting a salon/therapist and ensuring they are safe and this is set to continue. Being with a body helps you to demonstrate your professionalism to your clients.
2)Insurance helps you to relieve the financial burden should the worst happen. Whilst we all work to practice our skills properly and professionally, sometimes the unexpected can happen and you don’t want to be left with the financial burden of claims against you. As with any other insurance, joining a body such as ours (or as you have with the Guild) will protect you against claims.
3)Most bodies representing the beauty industry will also offer you additional benefits with your membership other than just insurance. As a student, money off courses, shopping, trade purchases etc., along with magazines on industry trends and the like are bound to come in handy.

Second, you have compared membership from The Guild versus BABTAC. Obviously, we are unable to advise you about The Guild, so you will need to clarify with them direct (which you seem to have done). We can however advise you of the best approach with BABTAC - we offer a student membership (as you have quite rightly said) at just £19 which includes insurance for case studies at college or at home, as well as giving you access to our full range of benefits (which you can view online here: http://www.babtac.com/student-membership/). Once you have passed your first modules and wish to start practicing in the disciplines you are qualified in, we then offer you an upgrade on your membership to our full membership package at half price (just £49) which allows you to practice unsupervised on paying clients in the areas you are qualified and to continue to practice supervised case studies in the areas you are not.

Although we really don’t want to hit you with a hard sell, a couple of things you may also like to know is that we are currently developing a series of additional benefits just for students. Three days ago, we launched a new collaboration with BarryM Cosmetics and Beauty Boxes, creating a make-up starter kit for our students. In addition, we are also working to increase business for our members and we are running on-pack promotions with major consumer brands (like Tampax, Always and Actimel) and have also just collaborated with Wahanda to drive more business for members too. Although this may not affect you yet, it could be a handy thing to know when you branch out on your own as a mobile therapist. One final thing is that we are the only not-for-profit organisation in the market and every penny that we earn from membership goes back into the business to benefit the members and improve the industry.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask them on here or to call our membership team. Hopefully this info will help you with your decision.

We’d love to have you as a member.

 

[Cindy1005]

Dear BABTAC
thank you for your detailed response clarifying things for me. I began training in May and I'm really enjoying my courses. I do want to join professional bodies so that clients will know that I'm serious and I'm a professional they can trust. While I'm covered for courses I've been certified in by the Guild, I'm a bit concerned that I'm not covered for case studies in case anything goes wrong. I like your principles and the fact that you strive to help students and professionals and promote our business. I will sign up for the student membership.

thank you for all your advice
Cindy