Trust us! There are no stupid questions!
Are you starting your school visits? Does the thought of the process make you feel a bit queasy? As cliché as this may sound…..YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
It is important to feel comfortable with the school you choose to attend. After all you are required to complete a certain number of hours of training to become a licensed cosmetologist. You also want to feel good about the work you perform once you graduate and that starts by feeling confident with the education you receive.
The biggest piece of advice we can give you to help ease your school visit experience is to ask questions and ask for clarification when you don’t understand. Even if the information has already been touched on, asking again to get more detailed answers will help you remember once you leave. This will also help the person giving the tour understand more of what your needs and concerns are.
Trust us when we say, there are no stupid questions! A lot of information is presented to you during the tour and sometimes the tour giver can even go into auto pilot mode and not even realize the sentence they just said didn’t make any sense. However, if your tour starts turning into the Friends episode (S9E21) where Joey gives Charlie a tour of the MET….. backwards… we recommend leaving. You do not want to be given a tour by someone who does not know what they are talking about!
There is also lots of stuff you can learn by just watching what is going on around you as you are on your tour. Notice the quality of education the current students are receiving, and look at how the staff, students and clients interact with each other. Enjoying the people you spend your time around will make your school experience much easier. Not to say that there will be no ripples in a school made up of mostly women… but you should not feel like you just walked straight into North Shore High School in Mean Girls. If there is a group calling themselves the plastics….. run……….
In this industry the ‘brand name’ of a school doesn’t bring you as far you may think. You want to be somewhere you will get the attention you need to learn the skills to succeed. This industry is so hands on and so personal, you don’t want to feel like you floated through school or that you got lost in the shuffle. Employers will hire you because of your skills and keep you because your ability to grow with the salon. Clients return to you because they like your work, but most of all its because they like you! As the chorus of Milkshake by Kelis starts playing in the back of your head, remember your personality, charm and skills keep people coming back.
That sinking feeling you feel in the pit of your stomach is normal when you start something big and new in your life. And starting school is no exception. The hardest part was taking the leap, and after deciding on a school you are another step further to bettering your career.
-Alyssa
Hastings Beauty School