If we had a dollar for everytime we heard the question ‘where are people finding good therapists these days?’, well let’s just say you wouldn’t be reading this blog piece, because we would be laying poolside in the Bahamas with a G&T in hand! Since COVID hit therapists have scattered like ants, causing business owners to fight nail and tooth to find and retain exceptional therapists. Competition for experienced, highly skilled therapists is fierce, and if you’re not pulling out all the stops to attract high performers and make them feel valued, your competition is passing you by.
Here are our seven secrets to help you stand out from the rest of the industry.
1. Establish a hiring process
Recruiting really is an investment for your beauty business, so it’s best done with strategic planning behind it! For starters, think about making your hiring process repeatable and easy to replicate, as often beauty businesses recruit on average, four times a year. Document the hiring process you find works best for your business and follow that same strategy every time. Does phone interviewing work better than group interviewing, or perhaps you like to sift through applicants before trade testing? If your process is easy to replicate, it shouldn’t take too much time and you’ll find a create process where quality applicants can be easily identified.
2. Create a culture people would leave their current job for
Culture is running theme here at Beaute Industrie that we’re continually pushing for in the professional beauty industry, yet too is something that many business owners haven’t quite mastered. Culture is the vibe or the feel of the business you work in. If your therapists are dreading coming into work, or show up with stinky attitude before the day has even begun, you’ve likely got an off culture in your business. On the other hand, teams who work together, run like a well oiled machine and enjoy coming to work, contribute to a thriving culture. The secret sauce to boosting a business culture? Validation and Value. Listen to your therapists, let them have a voice and watch them shine!
Rebecca Miller of La Bella Medispa shares her secret stating; “For us at La Bella to find good therapists and keep them we always hire on personality and values, skills can always be taught later. Really understanding their strengths and weaknesses always expand on their strengths and aim to help fill the gaps when it comes to their weakness. Being interested in their dreams helps because they are part of yours, and always try to be the leader you would want to follow.”
3. Advertise outside of the normal spaces
If you’re looking for staff on traditional websites like Seek.com, you’re only going to get traditional applicants. We love up and coming recruitment sites like Head Hunter and The Aesthetic Agency, both who are shaking up the way our industry recruits and advertises for staff. If you haven’t already, ask your team to ask their inner circle of beauty school classmates if any of them are looking for a new job. This way, your current employees are suggesting your business as a known and trusted place of employment, while vetting the candidate for you – win, win!
4. Have an understanding of what your applicants want
Often we ask business owners ‘what drives your team?’, to which they respond ‘money’, however this is not the case in more circumstance than one. In 2018, we asked 100 therapists what inspired and motivated them to work harder or more efficiently and the top responses were; praise, time off and promotion. When you completely understand what applicants are looking for in a role, you’ll better be able to cater to their needs, thus improving your ability to recruit and retain staff.
Natalie Arakelian of Euphoria Skin says simply; “I have only 1 sentence which I practice everyday…. Treat my team as I want to be treated. This has served me very well. It has also created a good reputation for our clinic. It’s means when we need to recruit we have plenty of applications come through.”
5. Talk about what perks your business provides
Ever scrolled through a recruitment website to see repeated ads stating ‘must have 3+ years experience, good work ethic, presentable and be a team player’? Instead of preaching about what you want in an employee, talk about what your company provides a potential applicant. Perhaps you take the team to the Beauty Expo in Sydney every year, or have team meetings at a local restaurant or perhaps have a contra deal with a gym down the road to get free membership – all of this speaks to applicants who are thinking about what they want when searching for their next employer, and helps you stand out amongst the boring old adverts that are currently gathering cobwebs in cyberspace!
6. Start off on the right foot with an efficient onboarding and induction process
One of the biggest complaints from therapists is that they ‘were never shown’ how to do *insert service*. Now don’t get us wrong, there’s always going to be a busy day when you’re caught off guard with a therapist down and the ‘old sink or swim’ comes into play, however generally speaking, all new recruits should be onboarded and inducted into a business. We recommend working with your Manager or having an In Salon Trainer who you can bounce off to create a seamless transition for your new therapist. Try teaming administration, employee details and paperwork in with company values, introductions, space etiquette, uniform standards and salon tours all which make for a great three hour shift, easing therapists into a new role and allowing them to experience the space, without feeling too overwhelmed. Missing out on or skipping over your induction and onboarding time often leads to treatment mistakes and off brand conversations and outcomes for your clients.
If you’re looking for an Onboarding Template to make this process more simple for you, you can download ours here.
7. Align your values and find employees that fit
If you’re scratching your head thinking ‘what the heck are values?’ right now, then it’s time to get out the butchers paper! Values are principles that guide you through every single decision making process you will make in business – including the decision on who to hire. For example, our values at Beaute Industrie are Connection, Culture, Community and Conversation, therefore when a brand comes to us and wants to partner, we sit in the space of these values and ask our team whether they think the brand also reflects these similar values. If the brand doesn’t, then its a no from us today, where as if the brand does align, then you’ll likely see them across our platforms and events. This same activity should be carried out when you’re hiring. Ask your applicants what their personal values are – what means the most to them and let your values align.
Angelina Veljanoski of Skin Angel agrees adding; “Firstly I believe It’s important to create a clinic aesthetic and environment that attracts like minded therapists you wish to have to build a long term relationship with. Second to that as always a great recommendation from my industry collages”
So there you have it, our seven secrets on finding good therapists and keeping them. If you’ve got any additional suggestions on what has worked well for you in the past, we will continue the conversation in our Beaute Industrie Facebook Community
