Salons run on the talents of beauty professionals, and ensuring the continued success of your salon will depend on hiring talented stylists and other skilled salon employees. As you set out to hire salon employees, you should be sure that your salon's online presence is updated and visually appealing. Along with your website, your social media profiles should be updated with visually interesting content so that people can fall in love with your salon before they even apply.
Job Advertising for Salon Employees
Your job advertising for salon employees should be as colorful as the hairstyles you offer to customers, and should highlight the unique benefits of working for your salon.
Job advertising should include your rules for hair salon employees, but your main objective is to generate interest in your job openings, not bore people with a list of rules and "must haves."
Applicants will have many questions about working at your salon, and you should answer as many as you can in your job description:
- "How much do you make as a cosmetologist at your salon?"
- "How will beauty salon policies and procedures support me as an employee?"
- "Who are other employees at your salon and what are their styles?"
- "How is working for your salon different than working for other salons?"
Once your job description is ready, you should post it as well as post links to your job description on your social media profiles (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.). Posting to more platforms will mean more exposure for your open job and more talented candidates applying for the open position.
[Related: Job Descriptions Template]
Tap Your Professional Network to Attract Hair Stylists and More
Seeking out talented salon employees through your personal and professional networks is one of your most important salon owner duties and responsibilities. As an owner, your word carries weight, and your direct interest in a stylist, manicurist and other salon professionals will cause these candidates to be more engaged in your open positions.
Policies and Procedures for Salon Employees
When writing your job advertisement and speaking with applicants, it's important to discuss your hair salon's policies for employees. These policies will shape the experience that salon employees have while working for you, and will be a big part of the final decision that candidates make about working for you. Here's an example of a salon employee handbook that has very detailed policies and procedures for salon employees.
Types of Salon Employees
There are many roles and responsibilities of staff in a salon, and it's important that the needs of your salon business are supported. However, you still need to know how to pay salon employees competitively if you want the interest of high-quality salon employees. If the average salon worker salary at your business is lower than the average salon salary paid by competitors, you may be losing out on recruiting the best talent available in your area.
[Related: Glassdoor's Guide to Salary Conversations]
How to Recruit Hair Stylists
The hairstylists you employ will determine the treatments, styles and looks that you can offer to customers so, along with matching your salon's aesthetic, hair stylists hires should be able to offer a variety of skills to customers. Though you may want to get creative with your job description and use another name for hair stylist, such as "hair artist," hair stylists will be using the term "Hair Stylist" when they search for open jobs, and you should use this term for your job description to have a high visibility for candidates. If your job board advertising produces limited results and you are still wondering how to hire a hair stylist who meets your needs, you should look to social media. Instagram and other social media platforms are a good place to see the work of different stylists in your area and a good way to contact these stylists. You can use Glassdoor Salaries to see the salary range for hair stylists in your area and offer a competitive rate for your salon staff hiring plan.
How to Recruit Salon Managers
Salon managers may take on some of the responsibilities of a salon owner, but salon managers are primarily responsible for managing the daily operations of salon businesses. The average salary for a salon manager is higher than for other salon employees, and you should make sure that the salary you're offering for beauty salon manager matches up with the average for your area. You can use Glassdoor Salaries to see the salary range for salon managers in your area and offer a competitive rate to attract talented candidates for the job.
How to Recruit Receptionists / Salon Coordinators
Receptionists and salon coordinators won't have a direct hand in the hairstyles of your customers, but they will still have an effect on the experiences of clients. Though hair salon receptionist pay is not as high as other positions, you should still offer a competitive salon coordinator salary to ensure high candidate quality. You can use Glassdoor Salaries to see the salon receptionist salary range for receptionists/coordinators in your area and offer a competitive rate to attract talented candidates for the job.
How to Recruit a Salon Assistant
The right salon assistant for your company is someone who fits right in with the beauty professionals you employ. Salon assistant duties are varied, and it's important that your salon assistant hire has the right background to assist your employees, as well as the right attitude.
How to Recruit Manicurists
Offering manicure and other nail services is important to many salon owners who want to offer the widest range of beauty treatments possible to their clients. Just like when you recruit other salon employees, it's crucial to give manicurists good reasons to choose your salon over a competitor. It's also crucial that you pay a manicurist salary that is competitive for your area and appropriate for the level of experience of manicurist hires. You can use Glassdoor Salaries to see the salary range for manicurists in your area and offer a competitive rate to attract talented candidates for the job.
Train New Salon Hires and Monitor their Performance
After new employees have signed your hair salon's contract of employment, it's important to train new employees on the policies of your salon and onboard them to your company.
Train and Onboard New Hires
Thorough training and onboarding is essential to the success of your newly hired employee, When creating training materials, it can be helpful to use a hair salon employee handbook template, to ensure that all new hires can see that your salon is highly organized and a good employer. Your employee handbook should contain all rules for salon employees, as well as all employee policies and examples of work that fit your salon's style.
[Related: New Hire Onboarding Checklist]
Monitor Performance & Engagement
After recruiting hair stylists and other salon employees, it's important to monitor their levels of performance and engagement. If it turns out that an employee does not have the skill level you believed them to have or if they are a toxic employee who puts customers and co-workers on edge, acknowledge this fact. The faster you admit that you made a hiring mistake, the faster you can fire the poor performer or problem employee and find a hire who is a better fit for your salon. If an employee becomes disengaged, their quality of work may start to slip and they cannot be relied upon to remain in any kind of long-term capacity. To fight disengagement, recognize the signs early and have a discussion with the employee in question to see if you can turn their attitude around.
