Beauty retail companies are committed to giving employees ongoing training. This usually covers:
- health and safety
- specific product knowledge
- make-up application skills
- customer service
Knowledge of the above areas is enough to make a well-rounded beauty consultant but some people may want to develop their careers further. Within the cosmetics retail industry, other positions possible to progress to include:
- retail manager
- national and international make-up artist
- beauty therapist
- administrator
- company trainer
In order to get promoted to some of these positions, a few years of experience on the shop floor is required. When looking for people to promote, all companies seek certain basic qualities in beauty consultants.
- A proven track record in sales: Being a good sales person does not have to mean being an unscrupulous hard-seller. However, staying in the job long enough to have the confidence and expertise to be good at sales is essential. Without outstanding figures, it is hard to get promoted in beauty retail, even for jobs away from the shop floor. This is because selling products is at the heart of the cosmetics retail business.
- Reliability is essential in maintaining a good record with a beauty company. Punctuality, good attendance and following through tasks are considered essential because people mostly work in small teams. Having a member who does not pull his or her weight can be very stressful for other staff, who simply have to work harder in order to keep things running.
- If aiming for ultimate promotion to an education or management role, it helps to have excellent people skills.
If you would like to get promoted and can bring some extra experience to the company, you will find that you can progress further and quicker.
Further and Higher Education in Retail
The average customer might not realize that many people selling cosmetics have attained very high levels of academic achievement: Beauty consultant jobs offer flexible hours and provide a basic wage for anyone waiting to get in to another career. They suit anyone with an interest in fashion and beauty and an aversion to office work.
However, some people settle into the industry really well, despite having studied a different subject at college and having a good formal education can help with promotion away from basic sales jobs. A college education can provide a fast-track to a management position because such roles benefit from a high standard of written language and numeracy. The independence and self-motivation that much degree level study teaches, will also help to get you noticed in a large team.
Vocational Training for Beauty Retail
Training in beauty therapy, make-up or business management will all help to get promoted quickly in to various roles. Vocational courses teach more practical skills compared to theoretical and research based university programs. This is ideal for cosmetics retail, where practical experience comes first. The more academic elements of a research degree are often lost when it comes to making a success of make-up sales but working as a beauty consultant, it will not feel as if vocational training is wasted.
A certificate in hairdressing or beauty therapy can lead to roles in large spas and salons with a company that you are already established with. Many skin care companies, in particular, have regular sales counters in department stores as well as beauty rooms in independent spas. These qualifications will also be helpful in getting in to product training and events roles.
Short Make-up Courses and Professional Workshops
Make-up artists working in retail do not need to study for a qualification, if wishing to stay working for a cosmetics company. This is a useful area of work for those interested in beauty but with little formal education. Beauty companies will offer good training to bright and attentive members of staff and while not being quite enough for professional freelance make-up work outside of retail, this training can help to build confidence within make-up sales roles. However, attending short courses or professional workshops outside your company will be beneficial if looking for promotion to a national make-up artist role.
Having additional make-up skills, learned outside of the standard sales oriented ones taught in retail will help to build confidence and raise your make-up profile within the company. Useful make-up workshops to consider include camouflage techniques, photographic and bridal make-up and lash application.
Further Learning About Beauty
The beauty industry is not all about expensive luxuries and pressure to conform. Working for a charity such as Look Good Feel Better can help you to perform other roles within the company you work for. Many customers come in to beauty stores seeking solutions to quite serious problems, and for others a make-up session can be part fun and part therapy. Make-up and beauty products do effect the way we look but they are also about human touch, grooming and nurturing. Understanding the importance of this in society will help you to become a highly skilled beauty consultant.
This kind of experience will give you a better inside knowledge of the beauty industry while enabling you to help people in a fulfilling way. Anyone who loves cosmetics and wishes to work in a beauty role long-term would benefit from this understanding of one of the lesser publicised but extremely strong foundations of the beauty industry.
Shefali Choudhury - Writer and visual artist, Suite Beauty topic editor, Shefali spent 10 years in professional makeup artistry from beauty to blood ...
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