Salon Interview Questions and Pro Tips

[Music] thank you [Music] what is up and welcome back to the thriving stylus podcast I'm your host Britt Siva and today I thought we would talk about Salon interview questions and pro tips this is another like blind spot for me of like in my brain we've talked about this before and I think it's because I've talked about a lot in thrivers I've definitely talked about thriving leadership and I don't think I've ever brought it here to the podcast so let me tell you what my inspiration for this week's episode is one um you've probably heard

me talk about this before my daughter at the time of this recording just recently passed her state board exams which is very exciting and is navigating her journey through the industry this has been very eye-opening for me I've not tracked a young Beauty professional from their point of entry into the industry every step of the way in years I mean it's been a really long time and so it's interesting to see a stylist like post covid going through school in this time where beauty schools Coast to Coast are really deeply impacted there's a huge rush

of beauty professionals going to get licensing right now trades are exploding and so in this like new era of hair it's been really fascinating for me to watch somebody choose to go through the process from the start learn about what annoys her learn about what excites her it's she's been like my greatest case study so she's going to be mortified listening to this episode but she's been really helpful to me so one of the things that's come up along this journey which I think is important to understand is like for her she's decided it's really

important for her to create an identity outside of me so full disclosure not everybody she's interviewed with even has any clue who I am so the idea that she's either got a leg up or a disadvantage being my daughter that has not shown itself to be true I think some people are well aware of what I do and some people have no clue at all but what she's decided is she really wants to make a name for herself as an individual which I think is very respectful and very in aligned with her personality and doesn't

surprise me at all through that process and as we're kind of working to uncover you know what's important to her and as she's gone through this series of meeting salons and going to Salon interviews and talking to different professionals we have learned so much collectively about what successful salons are doing today that is blowing their interview process about what some successful salons that are doing today really well in their interview process some salons who clearly have no process at all and so it's made me realize like whoa I really have to talk about this because

I think a lot of salons I think a lot of salons don't realize the impression that they're setting when somebody comes in to meet with them a and I've also come to realize a lot of Young Beauty professionals don't know how to interview and this was a massive blind spot for me my daughter is a gen Z I'm a millennial I think one of the things that was common and I'm almost I'm an old Millennial I'm like a grandma Millennial I'm like a Gen X Millennial a geneximal oh my gosh I love that for me

and one of the things for us is we had to be so self-sufficient and self-reliant I think I've been a decent interviewee since I was like 15 years old I realize now that a younger generation doesn't have those same skills so I wanted to share a podcast episode that was for stylists who are potentially going for interviews and also for salon owners who are hosting these interviews just to give some insights as to like how to position yourself as the very best either candidate if you're the person who's being interviewed or Salon to work at

if you're somebody who is interviewing these hungry new stylists so I want to start by kind of sharing the things that were like turn offs or turn-ons to my daughter as she was going to interviews full disclosure I realize she doesn't represent everybody the things that irritated her somebody else might not have noticed and the things she loves I think the things she loved everybody would love but you know this is only from her perspective it's very biased I totally keep that in mind she's my only case study no other new Beauty professionals offering up

their feedback to me so I'm going to share her feedback knowing that it's probably biased it's definitely through her eyes but I should want to share with you some of the things that she said so a couple of the salons that she's chosen not to work for some of them she really had her heart set on and when it didn't work out it was fairly emotional for her pretty devastating and a huge part of why full disclosure she was offered opportunities everywhere She interviewed and the reason why she walked away or at least shut down

the interview process anywhere she was was always based on culture there was nothing else for her other than culture it was never location um sometimes it was education but for the most part it was culture and I think that's important to understand because I think she represents the majority in that I think most people are really looking for a place in space they feel confident and comfortable leading the way so there's some salons that She interviewed at that truly made her feel uncomfortable I don't know how to say that in a different way like she

walked away feeling inadequate and when she explained the comments to me that were shared I think they were coming from a place of like sarcasm and almost a place of like we're all friends here but to her as a candidate coming in the joking came a little too soon like but we're not friends I don't know you yet I'm here meeting you for the first time and I think that sometimes in Salon culture we do that we'll be interviewing a candidate and then have a quick side conversation to The Stylist over here or make a

quick inside joke and we do it in a way of like well they better learn to love our culture or they're out yes but sometimes it's almost like pushing them a little too far too fast and I think we need to be really careful and mindful of that too and I think for her it was like she was being pushed to be inside the crew even though she was clearly an outsider which leads me to my next point not all of the stylists were warm and fuzzy to her and gave her greetings and so she

was like playing with this dichotomy of sometimes she walked into the salons and The Stylist would simply stare at her sometimes they would smile sometimes they wouldn't smile and I don't know if that was like to be a little bit intimidating or to be like let's see if you can cut it I don't know but it was a huge turn off so if you were trying to turn her off congrats you did it um if you weren't just something to keep in mind but I think that when we do the combination of those things like

the team doesn't offer the warm welcome and then also there can be these like inside jokes or sarcastic remarks that's just like a little too much too fast if you make the candidate feel isolated there's a really good chance they're not going to choose to work for you because they don't feel like they're on the inside and here's the rub is that sometimes we try and do things to make people feel like but you're welcome here that's in the eye of the beholder and so some of the things that made her feel welcomed were one

of the salons she went into she called me right after and she was like I've never felt like a team was more excited to work with me so she said as she was walking in all the styles were like oh my gosh you're Emily right oh we're so excited that you're here so and so told us you were coming today can't wait to meet you let me know if you have any questions like over the top were so kind to her and she was like man I just felt like I mean these people for the

first time they're not coming from a place of judgment they don't think they're too cool for me it was just straight up like kindness and it sounds so simple but like when you have a candidate coming in do you tell your whole team hey Eric is coming in today when you see her make sure that you say hi shake her hands give her a smile give her a nod if you're with a client say hey my name is Brit just excited that you're here Erica welcome that little warm welcome at least for my daughter made

a huge impact and it's not a huge ask of your team so just something to think about takes a little bit of extra work to get your team included like that but it would have made a really huge impact um another thing that she said was when salons didn't have enough of a growth path or it felt a little bit too self-study or it didn't feel finalized enough so when it felt very like it's whatever go at your own pace you know you'll do this and then I'll check in for her she felt like if

I was gonna do it like that I'll just take independent education and piece it together myself she was looking for a very defined growth path which is what we talk about in thriving leadership and that's why I say you present the growth path at time of interview six months in you'll be here one year in you'll be here five years in you'll be here ten years in you'll be here if you don't want to put benchmarks all the way out say at least this is your first 30 days 60 days 90 days one year and

then from there these are the benchmarks to achieve that will allow you to grow to the place of stylist do you want to and you can grow as fast or slow as you want that's for her at least what she was looking for and I do believe that's becoming more and more common with these stylists is they don't want to just come in meet you here's some information about our education program good luck they want a more defined path gen Z just needs more information they simply do now another Salon she went to she walked

away feeling like they didn't ask enough questions about her as a person I thought that was so poignant she was like you know they asked me how I liked school they asked me where I went to school when I was in a past state board why I chose their salon and she was like but they don't know anything about me they don't know what my values are they don't know what my family's like they don't know what my hobbies are and she was like if I'm going to be spending 32 or 40 hours a week

with this person I want to know what they're into certainly they should want to know what I'm into unless they don't care and that was her big takeaway too of like I want these people to care about me as a human if you're going to expect me to dedicate my life to working for your salon I would like you to see me as a whole human not a cog in your machine and it was I had never thought of it like that she was like some of these salons didn't ask enough questions about me as

a person and it was a turn off because it made me feel like they didn't care I thought that was so interesting another Salon she worked at this the salon owner who was interviewing her showed up late which I guess could be okay but it was weird the salon owner showed up late and then told my daughter sorry about that my daughter's going out to party tonight and I just needed to make sure that she had a ride coordinated and it was like it started off with this very unprofessional dialogue about this Salon owner's daughter

who was going to go out and have a fun time in the city and while that's all fine and well for that salon owner it's kind of like what I said it's like too much too fast my daughter wanted the opportunity to share about her for certain and get to know the owner but not like full transparency Full Exposure or hear about your daughter's night of partying in San Francisco like again too much too fast and so really finding that boundary of you're trying to set a professional stage you're trying to set this candidate at

ease they're looking to have a growth path and plan laid out for them they want you to care enough to get to know them without you making them feel like they're The Outsider in your inside jokes they're not welcome here it is a finance and balance and I just encourage you to kind of work to find that so let me let me share some interview questions and some tips that I think would have been helpful for those who interviewed her or other other even salons I've sat in on some Salon interviews I think these are

just general things to think about so if you're a candidate going in for a salon interview my first piece of advice is number one be yourself if you go into a salon interview and you're playing a part or being a character and they hire you as that character they're going to want that character to show up to work every single day being a character is exhausting like being inauthentic 365 days a year is not sustainable it's a huge cause of burnout when you show up to an interview first and foremost be yourself the salon owner

is interviewing you but you're also interviewing them and if it's not going to be a fit from the start don't try and force it if the puzzle piece doesn't fit find a new box right number two be prepared assume the salon is going to ask you questions so my daughter one of her recent interviews she's like Mom I'm feeling nervous and I said why are you nervous and she said I don't know what they're going to ask me and I said well how about I just ask you a bunch of questions and we'll see how

your answers are and she's like well you don't know that you're going to ask what they're asking and I said no but if even if I get 30 of the questions correct it'll get your mind in the right place and space to answer these questions so I asked her a series of questions and honestly sometimes her answer wasn't very good and I would stop her and say ah but see when they're asking that what they mean is this I'm going to go through some of those questions today so if you're like my mom wouldn't do

that for me I'll be your mom and I'll go through that for you in a second but even like as you're driving to the interview in your car role play some of your answers in your mind it makes it so much easier when you actually get there number three prepare questions to ask in advance so think about what you want to know from the salon before you leave the interview and don't ask basic questions ask questions that position you as somebody who is a desirable hire that is a pro tip when you ask questions like

what's the schedule how much money am I going to make how many people work here it's not that those are bad questions but like most of those questions the answers probably live on the website the questions you want to ask are the questions that you would only get by speaking to the manager or the owner so we'll go through some of those questions today but prepare like smart questions in advance this is one of my best pro tips make a dream Salon wish list before you go to the salon for the interview it will help

you to not have blinders on and to screen to make sure do I actually want to work at the salon or am I caught up in a fantasy so when I when I graduated cosmetology school there was only two salons I was considering working at one that I considered my dream salon and then the other one that I really enjoyed what I was seeing about the salon but it wasn't the dream salon my first interview was at the dream salon and I went in there and it was like my dream turned into a nightmare I

hated everything I saw the salon's reputation was great the location was Stellar the program was killer and I just couldn't stand the manager and I just felt like culturally it wasn't the right fit for me versus I went to the other Salon that was not my dream Salon but there was something about it that I really loved and it ended up being the salon I worked at and then ended up managing for years and years and years I fell in love with it it was like I'd found my family and the only reason I was

able to make that distinction is before my interviews I had made this list of like what does Brit want from this job and when the dream Salon ultimately didn't fit the bill it was an easy no I didn't get caught up in the fantasy of people will think I'm so cool if I work here which PS they would have it would have been a much bigger Flex for me to work at that first Salon but my soul would have been so miserable and having that list of what is really required for me to be happy

was what allowed me to make that choice and lastly be an expert of the salon before you arrive again going back to that like don't ask silly questions what days are the salon open okay that should really be on the salon's website and PS if you're a salon owner and that's not on your website please add that today like don't ask silly questions where it's like did you not even look us up before you started you should be a pretty good expert of like what services does this Salon do who are the stylists who work

here how big is the team what are the retail lines they carry go in looking like you didn't just stumble in off the street but you actually care about working here and do your due diligence be a real expert before you arrive okay now if you're a salon owner what you're screening for is different for me I always say I can teach people talent I can't change their personality so whenever I was interviewing somebody to be an assistant or on the rare occasion we were looking to hire a more senior stylist I was always like

can I spend 32 to 40 hours a week with this person or are they gonna drive me up the walls if I don't if I would not enjoy spending time with you and PS that doesn't mean we have to be best friends full disclosure I don't think I've ever been close friends with anybody I work with like that is very vulnerable admission any of the people I work with now or have worked with in the past would probably tell you the same thing I don't work with anybody to be their friend but I do need

to enjoy your company and if I would not enjoy your company this will not work and so when you're interviewing somebody you're trying to determine like is this a cultural fit does this person make sense for our existing team you can likely teach or train somebody who has soft skills if you're really a true leader but it's the personality fit like is that really a good mix when you're asking interview questions as a salon owner or leader you should say the phrase tell me more about that at least 10 times in the interview whenever you're

interviewing somebody the first answer they give you is always surface level there's generally two or three more levels to the answer so if you say hey tell me a little bit about yourself and they say well great I grew up in a small town and I have two dogs in the cat and I always live with my mom and dad I have one brother and my favorite kind of ice cream is mint chocolate chip awesome tell me more about your family Dynamic what does that look like are you a close family do you still spend

a lot of time together well actually we're not that close kind of over the years we've Grown Apart a little bit I may still love and care about them but no I'm not really close to them totally understandable okay great is all your family still in the area do you travel to see them actually my dad now lives in Chicago and I usually you know I fly back East to go see him or wherever Chicago is Midwest I fly out there every Thanksgiving push push push don't just take the surface level if somebody says what's

your favorite Services I like to do extensions awesome tell me a little bit more about that well I've always loved extensions I like the transformation that it makes amazing tell me more about that what about the transformation really hits your heart tell me more about that push the candidate to tell you more the truth lies in the details on that um lastly like I said make sure that your whole team knows a candidate is coming and get them excited if your team is not excited about a new hire you have a problem with your existing

team your team should be really stoked every time you expand if not you have a cultural issue and it's something to look at at the door okay so I want to go through first um the questions for the salon owner to ask and then I'm going to get into the questions that I think a stylist should come prepared to ask so for me whenever I sit down with a candidate even today my interview always starts with hey I'm Brit I'm so so excited that you're here I am a non-traditional interviewer and I really just want

to get to know you as a person I always start saying that as a non-traditional interview you know why because I don't want them to give me their canned answers I really want to get to know them as a person and breaking down that wall allows them to go immediately you'll watch the body language change then almost always I'll give a compliment and I'll shift because no one's expecting it so I'll be like and I just have to stop and say I'm like obsessed with your earrings did you make those yourself or where did you

find those or I'll say something like the top that you're wearing right now I actually have it and it's one of my favorites even if I don't have it like I'll find some kind of comment to make that shifts the gears from hello I am Brit and I am here from an interview I try and really change it from that robotic interview nervous point to we're just friends and we're here to chat do you know why because that's where the truth lives and if I can get somebody feeling very comfortable with me they will spill

their soul it is amazing what people are willing to tell me in an interview but I want to get to know people for who they are not who they think they are supposed to be and in asking those kind of things and setting up the interview that way I've been able to break the barrier so that's a little Pro tip here's the questions I would ask what would being a stellar team member look like to you let the candidate qualify what they think success looks like what are you looking to achieve with this opportunity what

are your professional goals that was interesting I asked my daughter that question and she did not know how to answer it so if you're a new stylist and you don't yet know how to answer that question I want you to really think about it and here's the thing there's no right or wrong answer the honest truth is the answer so where do you see yourself professionally like when somebody asks the question what are your professional goals be honest I want to be a part-time working dad who's home with their kids three days a week I

want to be a platform artist whatever but I want you to think about what are your goals in this profession most salon owners will ask you that so if you're a stylist really have an answer to that one and then for if you were a salon owner what do you want their goals to be think about that do you care if they have goals what do you want them to be really think it through what do you feel you learned a lot about in school and what you have left to learn how do you plan

to Market yourself if you work at this salon what are you looking to learn from me as your leader if someone does not want to learn from you as their leader they are not for you even if it's a booth renter they should come into this place in space looking to collaborate and learn that's what a team player looks like what would success success look like for you in the next five years what is your dream income what steps can you commit to taking in the next year to get closer to that income can I

hold you accountable to that so allow somebody to explain how they look like they're going to achieve their goals and then the follow-up of can I hold you accountable to that and if they make a smirk or get weird or say like well I don't know then you might have somebody who's not accountable on your hands so think about that and if they say yes say awesome I'm going to make a note of that and if we choose to move forward this is going to be become one of your kpis for the next year ahead

do you see how from the jump you're setting the standard of this is the salon where achievement happens and they can opt in or opt out next what do you want this team to say about you those are some of the more Innovative questions I want you to consider adding to your interview repertoire now if you are a stylist looking to interview at a salon here are some of the questions I would come prepared to ask salon owners listen up because this is what the candidates will be asking you and you should have answers to

them tell me about the growth path at this salon when did your most recent stylist start working here how long has your longest term stylist work here what makes the most senior stylists the most senior is seniority based on how long somebody has worked here their achievements the size of their clientele their social media following tell me more what does education look like here are there education expectations here what would being a stellar team member look like to you basically flipping that question back on the salon owner who would I be assisting for now this

is a question for a new stylist now some of you are hiring season stylists you only pick and choose the questions here that make sense for your team who would I be assisting for and how long is the assisting program how is my compensation determined it's okay to talk about money in the interview it should not be the only thing you ask about because then it says I don't care about this team as long as I make money that's the subliminal message that happens if you don't come with other intelligent questions to ask so asking

about compensation is okay sometimes it's necessary but don't let that be the only question it sends the wrong message this is one of my favorites what are the fastest ways to grow my income being a part of your salon company it shows that you're driven and it puts the salon owner in a position to have an intelligent answer if they say work hard ask for referrals that would concern me so you want a salon owner who has viable options like well based on our Salon growth path and plan if you do blah blah blah it

will work take our stylist Sadie for example something that she's done over the last six months is XYZ right so you want to have specific answers and examples for that I will tell you one of the things that my daughter really enjoyed in salons and ultimately led her to make her ultimate decision of where to work was the owner that she had an interview with where she decided like this is the place for me if she was like it felt like every time I had an answer she echoed back something we had in common for

example um the salon owner said when would you be available to start and my daughter said well you know I have this trip coming up it's a business trip she's actually coming with me I have this trip coming up but once I'm finished with that I'm I'm fully available I just need to get that out of the way and the salon owner said tell me more the salon owner totally followed this format and where are you going and my daughter said well I'm going to Austin Texas and the owner said oh my gosh funny um

and then she wanted to tell a story about I think it's her current fiance or her husband or something is from Austin and she'd been there before and and then she turned it into this story this like connection Point she didn't have to do that my daughter could have just said I'm going to Austin Texas and the owner could have said great when you're going to be back and then she could have said the date and that would have been the end but because the owner took a beat and said oh my gosh here's my

funny story about Austin and then turned it back to my daughter and said have you ever been there before and then my daughter had a chance to say no it's my first time and then the owner responded by saying oh my gosh you're gonna love it have fun when you get back we should talk about it she was building a relationship forward from the start but she was doing it in a way that felt natural not contrived a good interview feels effortless when you're at a salon where the culture is simply aligned you don't have

to work that hard and I think that the reason why the salon she's ultimately going to work at really knocked it out of the park is because they had a very clearly defined growth path and plan which PS isn't easy it's definitely not the easiest Salon my daughter could have worked at she's gonna have to work really hard to make this happen but she's here for it she'd rather work harder and have like all of her boxes checked than not right so she's found this Salon space in place where there's a defined growth path everybody

was super kind to her she felt like a really natural Rapport and dynamic with the leader from the start it's a salon where she's going to be able to build her identity completely separate from me which is a unique challenge I'm not saying that most people have that but something that she certainly has she felt like the owner asked about her as a person none of the comments made her feel like inadequate or like an outsider and she really felt like this was a place they wanted her to be so I hope this has been

helpful whether you are a stylist looking to go into an interview your salon or looking to interview others again this was like a real stream of thought one so I hope it was helpful any questions leave me me a rating or review with more shoot me a DM let me know what you thought and as I always say so much love happy business building I'll see you on the next one [Music]