Getting the Job

Where Are You Going To Work?

I recently spoke with a student, who was near graduation, about her plans. She was very excited about going on to take additional training. Then I asked her where she was going to work. Her answer was that she was going to wait until she finished her additional training.

My response surprised her. I said, “No! You have to work. It’s really important that you get out there and get a job in what you just learned.” She didn’t understand why so we talked about it.

The reason it’s vitally important to work as soon as you graduate is so you can integrate the work. It’s just like the student clinic. If you waited until after you completed all of your theory classes and then did clinic at the end, you would have a hard time remembering the work from the beginning of the program and integrating all the work together. It’s vitally important that you integrate each thing you learn as quickly as possible.

There is also a second reason. When you integrate what you just learned you create a foundation for learning the next thing. If you don’t integrate the work then everything runs together. This is particularly true when you complete studies in one field such as aesthetics and then go on to massage or the other way around. These are vastly different fields with different skills. As you learn the new skill it’s very important that you continue to integrate the first set of skills into your knowledge and technique. And the more you assimilate the knowledge, the more the new material will be a significant addition.

Then we came to the second reason for her strategy. She wasn’t confident in her skills or her ability to succeed and felt like she should wait until she had more confidence before getting a job. Again, I disagreed. First, she had done very well in clinic and clients liked her work. Second, the very reason she didn’t feel confident was because she had very high standards and therefore it was hard for her to feel confident. In both cases, breaking through her fear and doing the work professionally is exactly what she needs to build her confidence. When you are working with clients and getting positive feedback your confidence grows. The more sessions you give the more confident you become. If she had continued her training without working at the same time, she would have reinforced her lack of confidence as she added yet more material that she hadn’t mastered. Mastery comes from doing the work.

The whole purpose of your education is to give you sufficient skills to start your professional career. But what happens in the daily events of working professionally will lift you up faster than you can imagine. It’s like when a rocket is launched. At first there are a lot of flames and smoke and the rocket doesn’t move. Then it starts to slowly ascend and continues to accelerate until it finally reaches it’s full speed and flies into orbit. That’s very much like your education.

It’s the first and hardest part because you are lifting up off the launch pad. But getting the job is like when you are already on your way and you just go higher and faster from that point forward.

When Should you Start to Plan for your Massage, Aesthetics or Cosmetology Job?

You should actually start planning on where you are going to work when you start the admissions process. If you recall, it’s one of the questions that was asked during the interview. The process should continue through orientation and every day of school. By graduation the goal is to have you well on your way to starting the new job, not just starting to look for the new job.

So whatever you’re doing, stop right now and think about where you’re going to work when you graduate. Set a goal of having a clear idea in one week and then start to talk to your teachers and directors about developing a strategy for getting the job you want. It make school much more fun when you have a clear idea of where you will be working when you graduate.

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