Restyle Your Recruitment
Veronica Butler, director of www.hairandbeautyjobs.com, provides practical advice on how to recruit the best staff to your salon using the latest recruitment methods.
The hair and beauty industry has expanded rapidly in recent years. It was once a vocational industry for those interested in a career as a hairdresser or beautician, dominated by small independent salons. Now the industry has become big business, investment is pouring into salons nationwide and large chains are becoming household names.
All this change brings many exciting career opportunities, for both job seekers looking to break into the industry and for ambitious stylists and therapists wishing to progress up the ladder. TV dramas like ‘Cutting It’ and the reality TV series ‘The Salon’ have also helped to make the hair and beauty industry even more appealing for job seekers and expectations are higher now than ever before.
As a result, the growth in the salon industry has created a need for a more sophisticated approach to recruitment. Traditional methods such as word of mouth, referral or advertisements in salon windows are no longer adequate because there is much more competition among salons to attract the very best candidates.
So, how do you advertise and attract the best staff to your salon? Here’s a guide on what to say in your recruitment advert, where to place your advert, how to select the best candidates for interview and what to cover in the interview.
The Recruitment Advert
Here are seven key steps to creating an effective recruitment advert for your salon:
- Promote you salon by providing a brief explanation, just two sentences, on its highlights or selling points e.g. New/fast growing salon with a reputation for offering excellent customer care.
- Provide a brief description of the job e.g. Salon Manager – supervising staff, promoting salon, reaching targets, customer care. The more accurate the information, the higher the quality of applicants received.
- List the specific qualifications required and the level of experience required e.g. NVQ Level 3 and a minimum of five years salon experience.
- Detail the type of person required and attributes e.g. proven leadership qualities, lively outgoing personality and passionate about their work.
- Refer to the salary, whether it is negotiable, list any benefits e.g. holiday pay, sick pay, commission and potential for career development.
- Explain how candidates apply, what action they must take to apply e.g. To apply click the ‘apply now’ button below, please phone etc.
- DO NOT state any age, sex or ethnic background preferences as this is classified as discrimination and is against the law.
Where to advertise?
The industry is developing rapidly and with it the skills required from salons to market themselves effectively too. Here below is a guide to the pros and cons of each method of recruitment.
Word of Mouth
P: This method of recruitment is simple. You tell your customers, staff, friends and family that you’re looking for a new stylist for your salon. For no cost, you may be able to hire someone who lives locally and comes highly recommended.
C: If your salon has more than a handful of employees or has been running for a few years you may have exhausted the supply of potential new employees and exhausted your friends and family by asking them for referrals every time you see them.
Poster in Salon Window
P: A professional looking poster can attract local stylists or beauticians at relatively low cost.
C: A poorly presented poster may deter experienced job seekers from applying if they think the quality of the hair cuts and treatments is as poor as the poster. You may instead get applications from inexperienced people or juniors when you’re looking for a manager.
Local Paper
P: A recruitment advert in a local paper is read by a large audience and can achieve a high number of applicants.
C: This method of advertising can be expensive, especially if you don’t fill the vacancy during the week the advert runs. In addition, the audience of a local paper is very broad and you cannot guarantee that the people who read the local paper are the same people you might employ.
Hair and Beauty/Salon Trade Magazines
P: The main advantage of advertising in a trade magazine, over a local paper, is that the readers are likely to be in your industry.
C: It’s expensive, your advert lasts for just one issue (either a week or a month) and the lead time from placing the advert to receiving calls from candidates can be anything from two weeks to two months, so it is no good for urgent recruitment needs. Frequently managers and salon owners read trade magazines but the magazines don’t get passed on to staff.
Recruitment Agencies
P: It is much more common for salons to use recruitment agencies now to save themselves a lot of time from having to set up the recruitment advertising, sorting through the applications and identifying a short list. Agencies, particularly those who specialise in the hair and beauty sector, also provide high quality candidates.
C: It can be more expensive than other methods of recruitment.
Salon Website
P: Many salons now have their own websites, so you can include a recruitment section on your site. Advertising for staff online also provides a much broader target audience than local advertising.
C: If you don’t already have a website, the set up costs can be significant.
Online Jobs Board
P: In many industries, Internet-based recruitment has become more popular than traditional forms of recruitment. This is because it is quick, convenient, more affordable and provides access to a larger pool of job seekers. Employers can upload jobs 24/7 and are finding vacancies can be filled within a matter of hours, rather than weeks.
The advantages of online jobs boards, such as www.hairandbeautyjobs.com, is that job seekers can search for jobs by location and job title, and recruiters can search for candidates by experience and qualifications. From the candidates’ point of view, the Internet allows jobseekers to access vacancies they would never have been aware of using more traditional channels. From the employers’ point of view, it allows them to advertise jobs more professionally and attract candidates from further away than they would have been able to by using more local advertising.
C: There are regional differences in the adoption of online recruitment methods. For example, job seekers and recruiters from the South East and London are the most willing to realise the advantages of new online recruitment methods.
Who to Interview?
Most of the time it will be obvious whether the applicant’s experience and qualifications match the job. But, if you are unsure which candidates to invite for interview, here’s a simple rule of thumb to follow: Always call to clarify the key details and experience on the CV and exactly what the job seeker is looking for in a new job. Do not make assumptions based on information that is missing from a C.V.
For example, do not rule out a good candidate just because they live in Northampton and your salon is in Kent. It is possible the applicant may be relocating to Kent but had forgotten to mention this on their CV and covering letter.
The Interview
Here is a simple guide to what to cover and how to handle the interview:
- Location - Arrange the interview in the salon, or if this is not possible, at a location near by but make sure they meet you at the salon.
- General Interview - Cover the key details on the C.V./application including qualifications, experience, background and why they want a new job.
- Screening Questions – Ask the candidate several scenario-based questions e.g. how have you dealt with a specific situation in the past (which may arise in the job for which they are applying). If the candidate is new to the industry provide a scenario and ask them how they might handle it.
- Achievements – Ask the candidate for examples of their work-related achievements or things they are proud of.
- Company Briefing - Provide an insight into the salon background, how the company operates and what you expect from your staff. DO NOT over sell the company or the job – be up front and honest about the job to avoid disappointment.
- Conclusion – Explain what happens next, who will get back to the candidate with feedback and the outcome of the interview. DO NOT try to avoid upsetting interviewees by giving them the impression that they have been successful in the interview.
About the author: Veronica Butler is the co-founder of hairandbeautyjobs.com and Red Hot Careers, an online jobs board and recruitment agency respectively specialising in the hair and beauty industries. For further information please visit www.hairandbeautyjobs.com or telephone 0870 770 5671.
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Magazine: Salon Business
Author: Veronica Butler, director of hairandbeautyjobs.com
Topic: Recruitment in the Salon Business
Words: 1,457
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