Is it so hard to give people a chance?

[Fluffle]

Ok so I compleatly understand that salon owners dont want to spend money to train up "newbies to the industry" and that they want someone who can do everything right away and can deal with clients.

But how are us newbie meant to get experiance if no one will give us a chance.

It does not mean that doing a certain thing for longer garentees you to be better than someone who has only done something for a short time.

9 jobs I have applyed for (and have actually replyed to me 13 others didnt even bother with a no thankyou) and even before I have shown if I can do and what I can do, its a no you dont have any experiance so your not sutible.

I feel just like saying oh well give up on the dream, just keep myself in pretty nails and go get a job in a supermarket.
If I had realised it was such a closed field to work in I wouldnt of got myself going in it.

rant over and breath

 

[Baggybear]

If you problem seems to be no experience then why not offer your time free so you can gain some experience.

Get in touch with the job centre and ask if they have any schemes that can help you get experience and ask if they know of any other places you can look to find people who may be able to help you get the expereince you need to be able to get your foot in the door.

I know there have been schemes to help people get experience as I got my mate onto one that resulted in her getting a job.

You have spotted that this is an issue so ask anyone who you think may be able to help you to fix the issue so you can continue working towards your dream.

 

[Tomme]

Ok so I compleatly understand that salon owners dont want to spend money to train up "newbies to the industry" and that they want someone who can do everything right away and can deal with clients.

But how are us newbie meant to get experiance if no one will give us a chance.

It does not mean that doing a certain thing for longer garentees you to be better than someone who has only done something for a short time.

9 jobs I have applyed for (and have actually replyed to me 13 others didnt even bother with a no thankyou) and even before I have shown if I can do and what I can do, its a no you dont have any experiance so your not sutible.

I feel just like saying oh well give up on the dream, just keep myself in pretty nails and go get a job in a supermarket.
If I had realised it was such a closed field to work in I wouldnt of got myself going in it.

rant over and breath

It's the same for any job at the minute. As for getting a reply to say no, its rare. When I was a manager of a high street chain store I got literally 20+ cv's a day, if it didn't jump out at me from a glance (not reading it, but its layout, style etc...) it went in the bin. I didn't have time to read them all and reply, especially over 20 a day. At this moment jobs are scares and there are people with more experience out there, its a lot easier for a salon to take someone who has ironed out their kinks and can start straight away at a consistent level than a new person who still has a lot to learn (the hard truth is college graduates aren't actually great, I know, I've been there and been one, what you leave college with is the basics of basic and you will still have a lot of things to learn and perfect).
If its nails that you have done, get yourself noticed with them. Your cv is a great canvas. Ask a friend with longer nails to model for you. Do each nail different. Scale the photo small and join them all up to create a banner for the top and bottom of your cv. Print it in colour. It may not be a full portfolio of your work but its a start and a glimpse of your quality that will make your cv stand out a bit.

Get friends and family to let you do a full set of nails on them in all
Different styles and show off your work on them. Photograph them and lay out on a sheet a "scrap book" style of your work and transfer it to pc. Get the pages bound. Print on parchement paper. Make a watermark you can lay on your cv and pictures that will be faint enough to see through and read/ see images.

Its a tough world. In the hair industry 95000 around qualify each year, with only 40000 jobs available. That's 55000 people who won't get in. If you want the chance you have to be unique, different, stand out from the crowd, make yourself seen and be amazing.

Take the cv tips and portfolio tips and run wild. There are other styles you can do but that's just an idea.
Your cv could also be your portfolio, still in the scrapbook style but make sure the colouring is faint so you can read over it and send in a normal clarity portfolio too. Its something to get noticed with. Front cover for portfolio? Your face with a load of hands surrounding you of nails you have done? Just you with your hands on your face showing off nails? A nice cocktail glass held by a elegant hand with nice nails? Its all to get noticed.
Best of luck xoxo

 

[Becki2003]

What experience did you gain whist you were training? Did you do a placement at a salon? How many did you do? How long for? I have one college near my salon that only insist on 1 weeks work experience. I've had a student in that worked 2 days a week for the best part of her college year because she was told at her college to go out and get as much experience as possible. I'm an ex teacher and when we were applying for teacher training, part of our application and interview was how much "work experience" we'd done. What we'd learnt during that experience and then got asked questions and set a task that was easier to answer had we spent considerable time in different schools. This industry is swapped with oldies and newbies and we as employers can pick and choose. I do agree that experience doesn't necessarily make you any good but it gives you the tools to adapt quickly to any situation, to think on your feet and volunteering shows that you seriously do want to be a part of the industry. My advice to you is, if you can't get a job based on experience, volunteer. You never know, there may be a job comes out of it. I took my student on after she qualified and I also used to pay her a little bit if I asked to do more hours or if she'd had a lot of clients in, sold a lot of products etc. Because she was willing to learn, I taught her how to run my salon. She learnt stock control, accounts, pay roll and responsibility as well as gaining experience of working on clients and as part of a team. Hope that helps xx

 

[smallandcute]

I totally agree with what has been said above about experience and i highy advise you do some internships/ volunteery work. However if you do get an interview i suggest you turn the negative into a possitive. If the interviewer appears negative towards your lack of experience then turn it round say that your training may be fresher and newer in terms of standards and trends, you can be moulded to how the employer wants you to be and dont forget and college salon work is experience so sell it so something along the lines of two years part time salon work.

Again i agree with the above post about making your cv stand out. I have seen some great ones on the internet so have a good rummage around online and see what you like and go from there. I was given a tip a few years ago about using company colours on your cv, subconsiously it makes your potentail employer think you are already part of the company. In this industry i expect potentail employees to be creative and be a little different even if its just to add some fun facts about themselves like fave food,book and film. Please dont add a picture of yourself to your cv as in this economy employers are getting crafty and you're potentailly opening yourself up for discrimination. For your personal statement write it in the third person, in fact your entire cv should be in third person so that it reads far more professionally.

Also have a look at creating an online portfolio for your work so you can take a few to interview but suggest further viewing of your work.

I hope this helps a little but i know and understand how hard it is to sell yourself. I hate doing it but its one of those things that we have to do. I look at it as 'if your not going to sell yourself who is?' Big yourself up, highlight your skills and achievements and ultimately remember if they didnt give you the job then its their loss and it wasnt the right job for you. X

 

[Purple]

Hey Hun I feel for you times are tough :'(
Do you have a portfolio with work? maybe start with pictures of doing your friends or moms hair, etc... Sometimes it can make a tangible difference, HTH
::hug::

 

[Jocie]

Well lovie its unfortunate but that's sorta how this industry works. It can take a while, it took me almost 5 years and I am still trying to find my happy medium. It takes years to build a steady clientele. I worked at a grocery store for 4 of the 5 years having pretty nails is good advertising! Even if you gotta work in a non beauty job for a few days a week till you bold clientele its worth it!

 

[snyggiss]

well I hugely agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! when I got my job (whilst just being level 2 trained and just enrolling on my level 3 at the time) my manager said that she sees huge value in training a new therapist who has no experience as then she can "mold" them instead of taking a therapist with loads of experience and bad habits that are hard to break! so I think that there are a few there that can look at things differently. I absolutely dont think that you should work for free when you have your qualificatons (who can afford that?? I know i cant!!) and if you can not get anyone to give you a chance then start doing mobile, friends . family for whatever fee you are comfortable, get your experience that way first and then try again.. anyways I guess I was "lucky" but i say keep on trying cos the opportunity IS out there, somewhere!! FOR SURE!

 

[Fluffle]

Some very interesting points made hear and all I have taken in.

Many things like always having nice nails, photos of my work ect, but I really like the idea of turning negitive in to positive I never thought of it like that before.

In an ideal world then yes I would be asking to work for free for experiance but with a house kids and car bills to pay for theres just no way I could not be earning any money

I am building up my work either by doing them on myself or friends. But theres only so many sets you can do on humans (I am not a fan of nail trainer photos )

Although trained in other aspects I just want to do nails (at a meeting I was told this was a good thing as I can focus on the one area and be on top form)

 

[tanfastic]

I am sorry that you are struggling to find a job, but as a previous HR professional the first thing I noticed about your post and the next was that you didn't use a spell checker. Do you check your CV and make sure there are no spelling or Grammatical errors. When I used to shortlist, I did what Tomme did and if a CV got past the initial layout and general look of it check, it would still be chucked out if there were any spelling or grammatical errors. If someone can't make the effort with a CV, what makes you think they will make any effort at work.

I do hope you don't take this personally, I am only mentioning what many employers will look for in a CV and not making the best impression in a CV will definitely not get you the job.

 

[tanfastic]

Some very interesting points made hear and all I have taken in.

Many things like always having nice nails, photos of my work ect, but I really like the idea of turning negitive in to positive I never thought of it like that before.

In an ideal world then yes I would be asking to work for free for experiance but with a house kids and car bills to pay for theres just no way I could not be earning any money

I am building up my work either by doing them on myself or friends. But theres only so many sets you can do on humans (I am not a fan of nail trainer photos )

Although trained in other aspects I just want to do nails (at a meeting I was told this was a good thing as I can focus on the one area and be on top form)

Why not get a friend to be your model and do each nail different. You will have ten different nails to show off and once you have taken a picture of each for your portfolio you can paint them for your friend so they all match.

 

[Baggybear]

In an ideal world then yes I would be asking to work for free for experiance but with a house kids and car bills to pay for theres just no way I could not be earning any money

I understand that you can't work full time for free as there are bills etc.. to pay but:

1) I'm sure you could offer a few hours every week for voluntary work if it means you get the experience to then get a job & possibly gets your foot in the door for a job where you volunteer.

2) Some of the jobcentre schemes that are out there PAY you to do them, not as much as you would get if you were on a fulltime wage but you don't loose your benefits and you do get an extra bit of money aswell as the experience you need. These would have to be worth looking into in your situation.

If you don't try to help yourself then nobody else is going to help you, get on the phone and internet & ask for help. Find out what there is available in your area that might help you and apply for it all.


When I decided this was the industry I wanted to be in & that I wanted to have my own business, I looked at everything available in my area and I got myself all the help I could. I managed to get some training courses & some kit paid for and I went on business advice courses and seminars, there would have been no way I could have started my business up when I did if I had not taken all that help.

 

[NiCshairstudio]

In my lifetime I have done 1 CV, ok technically 2 I think, does the school one count? It was a port folio of all my achievements about me etc, and actually one of the best I have ever seen, (from a school) but I didn't know that back then... Anyway I got my first placement through an aprentaship, so had my portfolio for that, then I left and worked for a big monopoly level firm but again never entered a CV to them, on working there god knows how I even got the interview, due to me ending up being the one that gave no one a shot without a decent looking CV, and whilst I was there one of my managers made me do one as she found out I hadn't got one. Always always got interviews for all jobs I went for internally, so me personally never realised just how important they were....

My bf however being a perfectionist, agonised over his for weeks then days and days, tweaking it here and there, for a job he knew he had already pretty much got, but still, he then got me to check it on first impressions, then second etc, he then ignored me and scrutinised it again himself, his CV is now the benchmark that company use for director level, he was going for a senior role at the time... And tbf it is the best CV I have ever seen, to the point all the sections were aligned to the milipoint! Font and sizing, spelling and grammar, etc.

Work is slow for everyone so some salons prefer experience as they can come in ready to make you money, some prefer someone they can invest time in, pay less and mood their way! Try renting a space within a salon?