One of the biggest decisions in your life that you are going to have to make is or was what your profession will be. What are you going to do to make yourself happy and earn money at the same time? When one is a little child, the only jobs that they will want to do are those that make your parents and the people around you happy.
In my childhood, the women in my family always loved for me to play with their hair, leading me to think of becoming a hair stylist. Parents are always encouraging their children in whatever they decide to do, but would you if you knew how hard it was going to be to become that person, and that they would go through all that hard work for very little? Would you discourage instead of encourage? Being and becoming a cosmetologist is extremely challenging and time consuming. A person wouldn’t really think that there is that much to learn and keep up with just simply doing hair, but it’s not just hair anymore that we are doing as a cosmetologist. According to Cosmetology Careers Unlimited Inc.
, the cosmetology industry is shockingly an over $52 billion dollar a year industry. The profession is virtually recession proof; your hair and nails will always grow. The American society is extremely concerned about their looks and style, therefore always needing a qualified up-to-date person to help fulfill their needs. The job market for cosmetologists has grown rapidly. In 1999 there were 50,000 positions that were unfilled.
Salon owners are having a problem finding qualified people to hire. Cosmetologists just aren’t graduating from their programs fast enough to keep up with the demand (Cosmetology Careers Unlimited). Owners are looking at those applicants who are straight out of college a lot more closely rather than “older, experienced” professionals because they are fresh out of school not needing any new training. When one chooses to go to cosmetology school, they are pretty much guaranteed a job because of the large number of job openings.
There are different ways that a student can go with a cosmetology degree. Reported in NACCAS News, in January of 1999, there were 1,286,000 professionals employed in the nations 296,863 beauty salons, barber shops, skin care salons, and nail salons. The typical salon is a small full service salon with five stations; two to three are full-time professionals and one part time professional. Salon owners report an average of 174 clients per week.
This is a very flexible industry, letting one go from cutting hair to applying facial masks. An interested individual can expect to find that 60% of salon employees work full time, 29% are part time workers averaging 20 to 33 hours per week, and 11% are low time workers averaging less than 20 hours a week. Whether the professional is a full time, part time, or a low time employee, the average set salary is $18. 50 per hour and quickly rising (NACCAS News). In the cosmetology profession whether a cosmetologist is coloring hair or clipping toenails, they will get tips for their good work.
By law, you are expected to report your tips that you receive daily. The IRS has worked out a great system with the businesses called the TRDA (tip rate determination agreement) (NACCAS News). If the businesses and employees comply with the TRDA, then the IRS will not do “tip-checks” and will go by what you report. When there is someone who does not comply, this individual will get thrown into the courts and will be persecuted.
The courts will go through a thorough examination of the tips received by the individual, and if found unlawful, the person will have to pay as much as twice their received tips in a fine. Lesson learned just by hearing about it some professionals say, but the truth is just keep a good record of your tips to support yourself. One of the options when a student is choosing which way to go with his/her cosmetology degree is to work for a major chain salon where they pay more. Chain salons will service more clients per week and their median ticket price is $20. 00.
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