By Andrew Bellini, Tricoci University in Glendale Heights
On June 6, we hosted a career fair at the Glendale Heights location. The school reached out to salons in Chicago area and invited them to come meet all of the students. These efforts were very successful; students got a chance to talk with salon representatives about cosmetology careers. We also got to hear history about the different salons, how they operate, what they are looking for, and it made us think about what we want to strive to achieve in our careers.
The career fair had representation from nine salons: The Hair Cuttery, Roosters, ASHA, Mario Tricoci, Colorific, Linea, Great Clips, Lady Janes and Sport Clips came to show us what they have to offer. We were divided up into nine groups of students and each group had one of our educators. The fair started around 9:15 a.m. Each group was set to start at a room where we could meet with a salon for about 10 to 15 minutes, then we would move on to the next one. The school had handed out a worksheet with good questions to ask on top of what we had prepared. For example, does your salon offer CEU classes? What’s the most popular service you offer? And, how long is the probationary period? Then we got to hear what the salons have to offer, their training programs and how their salon is run.
I really enjoyed hearing what the salons had to offer regarding cosmetology careers, the benefits, training, continued education and how they run their business. Plus, we all got to see if the salon was going to be a fit for us, their expectations, as well as the outlook on their own culture. With the help of having an educator with us, we asked in-depth questions regarding the benefits and opportunities. My educator was Ms. Lisa. She has experience in interviewing and being a licensed stylist, so she was able to guide us with the right and wrong type of questions to ask. The meeting of all nine salons gave everyone a chance to see if it was a place that they would want to work.
At the end of the rotation, we were offered a chance to go back to any of the salons to ask additional questions and hand out our resume so that we could get our names out there. The most rewarding part was seeing how impressed all the salon representatives were with our school and the students. They had nothing but great comments about our graduated classmates. With that said, it made us all feel good about all the work we put in every day at achieving our goals of becoming a licensed cosmetologist.
Overall, I would say that it was a great experience to learn about salons. It really got our minds thinking about if we wanted a departmentalized salon, a salon where you cut and color, or even salons that offer extreme customer service. The career fair was another way that Tricoci University prepares you for a future in cosmetology, along with helping us get ready for after we graduate and become licensed. Tricoci University has kept its word, we are being trained and helped with our goals for our future careers.