Get Prepared
Preparing for an interview means preparing to be your best
Whether you have been hairdressing for years or you are an eager apprentice, passing an interview is probably the most important experience in your career.
Be prepared
The first step (which is the most important) is to be prepared:
- Make sure you know how to get to the salon for your interview.
- Make sure you arrive on time. A good tip is to make sure that you arrive at least 15 minutes before your interview. If you arrive late your potential employer may already suspect you have problems with time-keeping which is not a good first impression to make.
- As well as arriving early, take great consideration into what clothes you will wear for your interview. Remember a first impression lasts!
A salon owner told us this story about a bad first impression:
“We once had someone that came for a 9.00am interview for our apprentice programme. She looked like she had just rolled out of bed. She came wearing track pants and mucky sneakers. I couldn’t tell if her hair was wet or greasy. I asked her how much thought she had given the interview and she couldn’t answer. I stopped the interview right away and told her that we are a fashion industry and it was a waste of her time”
Ideas of what to wear at an interview
Follow these handy guidelines:
- Make sure you shower and apply deodorant.
- If you’re female (or even a male), wear some simple make-up (foundation, eye shadow and mascara)
- Don’t wear too much jewellery. At the maximum, wear 1 ring, one bracelet or watch and one necklace.
- Style your hair! This may sound obvious, but you would be surprised how many hairdressers wear their hair in a pony tail for an interview. You are your biggest advertisement. Show off your creativity.
- Stuck for what to wear? You can’t go wrong with black. Make sure you dress smart-casual – that means no jeans or plunging necklines.
- Polish your shoes and manicure your nails!
Sell Yourself
- Once you’ve arrived for your interview you must remember that it’s not just the boss you need to keep happy. Show that you’re a friendly person to everybody in the salon. After you have gone, the owner is bound to ask the rest of the staff for their impressions of you. So smile and be friendly to everyone around you, not just the person who is interviewing you.
- Keep in mind that you are selling yourself. If the owner takes you on as an employee they will be effectively ‘buying your time’. The owner wants to know if you will offer value for money.
- Remember to say “Thank you”.
- Being confident at an interview is a good thing, but being over-confident is fatal.
- Remember that a salon owner interviews you because you need a job, not because the salon needs you. Tell the owner why you’d love to work at their salon and you should be fine.
- Never suggest to a salon owner that their success is somehow critical to you working there – it’s not! Finally, a simple “thank you for seeing me today,” a hand shake and a smile at the end of the interview will confirm you as a friendly and polite person.
A few things to remember
- Always have a couple of questions to ask at the end of the interview.
- Make a great impression first time.
- Even if you don’t get the job, don’t give up.
A salon owner told us this story of how persistence can pay off:
“I have an interesting story about a girl I have just hired. She has applied 5 times to work for me. The first 3 were a “no”, the 4th she brought her CV, dressed smartly, smiled and I thought ‘wow, she’s got some persistence.’ She is now a HITO apprentice, a pleasure to teach, she loves the salon, has fitted in so well, and is eager to learn. She told me she has learned more in 1 month with us than she did during her 1 year full-time training at a polytechnic.”