Hairstylist 

(Female, Age 25) from Bloomington, IL

This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Female aged 25 who works as a Hairstylist in Bloomington, IL. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.

At a Glance

Current Job

Basic data on your current job

Job Title Hairstylist
Salary $25,000
Other Compensation None Set
Hours/Week
Company Size (not answered)
Location Bloomington, IL
Years Experience 5 years

Career Ratings

Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)

Years in Career 0
Education (not answered)
Income Rating 0 / 10
Interest Rating 0 / 10
Work-Life Rating 0 / 10
Fulfilment Rating 0 / 10

Current job Q&A

Describe the type of organization you work for.
I work at a salon that employes about 40 stylists. We do haircuts and color hair.

Describe your job role and responsibilities.
I book appointments, answer the phone, sell hair styling products to my customers, cut and style customers hair, color and highlight their hair. On occasion I do “up-do’s” too.

Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
I get health insurance, life insurance.

Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
under compensated

Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
I have to work with about 15 other co-workers on a daily basis. I also have to work with my customers, some of whom I have never met before. I like this because I meet new people every day and it keeps things interesting.

Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
No

Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?

Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
I work in a hair salon. I like it being open and it has a lot of glass so I can see outside all day long.

Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 3
Benefits: 6
Hours: 2
Co-Workers: 4
Supervisors: 5
Job Title: 8
Level of Responsibility: 7
The Actual Work: 1

A day in the life of…

Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:

5am to 6am
6am to 7am
7am to 8am
8am to 9am
9am to 10am
10am to 11am
11am to 12pm
12pm to 1pm Go to work. Clock in. Check appointments. Start first appointment which is usually a haircut and color.
1pm to 2pm Continuing with haircut and color. Ends around 1:30p. Check client out. Take a short break. Next client comes around 1:45p. They are just a haircut.
2pm to 3pm Continue with haircut. Haircut ends around 2:30p. Check client out. Next appointment isn’t until 3:00. Take a break, clean station for next client.
3pm to 4pm Next client has very long hair…wants all over color and highlights. Will take two hours.
4pm to 5pm Continuing to work on client.
5pm to 6pm Check client out. Clean station. Next appointment is at 6:15p Is a all-over color.
6pm to 7pm Continue to work on client.
7pm to 8pm Done with them at 7:45p. Take a break for dinner. (late dinner today- I’m busy!)
8pm to 9pm No clients scheduled for the rest of the night. Clean the salon up with other stylists that are not working on clients.
9pm to 10pm Salon closes at 9:00p.
10pm to 11pm
11pm to 12am

Table of Contents

How you got your job

How did you get your current job?
A friend referred me

What was the application process?
I applied to beauty school…they had an application like colleges do.

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
I had an interview that asked about my past jobs, my experience, why I wanted to work at that particular salon. I interviewed with only one person and he was the owner of the salon.

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
I don’t remember.

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes. I was already trained for the actual job but they trained me on how to run the store, answer the phone, work the computer, use their product line.

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
I went to beauty school for nine months.

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes. Without it, there would be a lot of bald people walking around!

If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
n/a

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
You have to go to beauty school and then once you graduate you must just start putting your resume out there. Don’t expect to start working at some high paying salon to begin with, you need EXPERIENCE!

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
They have to like people. You must be able to talk to different types of people even if you don’t particularly like them. You will be working on them for an extended length of time and you have to find different things to talk about. You also have to be able to multi-task…you need to be able to talk and cut, highlight and hold hair up. You need to be able to market yourself too. There are a lot of hairstylists out there.. you need to convince your client that you are the best and they need to come back to you because you do the best job.

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
Yes.

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Be patient and learn all you can in beauty school. Realize that you don’t know everything and use every experience as a learning tool.

Long-term career plans

Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
Yes…it is preparing me to work at a more upscale salon when I am ready to make that step.

What are your current career goals?
To work at an upscale salon that pays more money.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
no

Prior work history

Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:

Title Length Salary Description
Prior Job 1 Master Colorist 5 yrs. 24000 Cut and color clients hair. Answer any questions clients may have about hair coloring at the salon. Sell hair products, answer phones and schedule appointments for stylists.
Prior Job 2

Educational background

Please list your educational background:

High School GPA:3

GPA School Degree
College (Undergraduate)
or Technical/Vocational
n/a n/a n/a
Graduate or Professional
(Masters or Doctorate)
n/a n/a n/a

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