For many trying to muddle through this tough economy, career fantasies have been downgraded from visions of pomp and circumstance to simply a dream of having a job that will weather the recession. Many are temporarily shelving the idea of professional fulfillment as they hang on tooth and nail to jobs that ensure a regular paycheck. But is there a better way? Cosmetology students and salon professionals seem to think so. Not only does a beauty career seem fairly recession-resistant these days, it promises a rewarding work day outside of the 9 to 5 norm—not to mention a lot of good hair days.

Many cosmetology students refer to their early days of playing beauty salon with Barbie dolls or younger siblings as being the impetus for their career. But for some students, it takes a little while longer to realize that what some might consider child’s play is really a precursor to a legitimate career aspiration.

Take Sara Hales, for example, a student at the Aveda Institute in Minneapolis, who completed her undergraduate degree in English and held several different jobs before realizing that an office environment just wasn’t her style. She liked fashion and thought she might have found her niche in retail, where she really enjoyed working with customers, but she wanted to take her skills in customer service to the next level. Enter the Aveda cosmetology program.

“It seemed like the perfect thing for me,” Sara says of her new career path. Not one to settle for a ho-hum office lifestyle, she chose cosmetology because the field would offer her “a lot of different avenues” when it came to career options down the road. Whether she plans to open her own business one of these days is still unclear, but she will be starting her career as an apprentice at a top salon after graduation.

Steven Bartling, another student at Aveda Institute-Minneapolis, was also attracted to the high level of customer interaction that a career in cosmetology promises. “The idea of being my own boss some day was very appealing,” he says, also noting that he liked the idea of having a trade that he could take with him wherever he chose to go. It’s a good call on his part, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a country-wide upswing in employment for nail technicians, estheticians, massage therapists, and other spa and beauty workers.

Erin Snyder Dixon of Newport News, Virginia, is a veteran of the beauty profession, having completed a cosmetology training program at her high school during the 1980s. She also earned her undergraduate degree in accounting, which prepped her well for salon ownership; today, she is the owner of the aptly named Extremities nail and body care spa salon in Newport News. Additionally, Dixon worked with other salon professionals over the years to establish licensure programs for esthetics, waxing, and other specializations.

“No matter how much time I spend in the salon, I try to make sure I stay on [the education] end of [cosmetology],” says Dixon. While she believes that spa and beauty schools do an excellent job of arming students with the initial set of skills that they need for passing cosmetology board exams, Dixon feels that there is always a need for continuing education that will help “bridge the gap” between what is learned in the classroom and what can be done for clients in a salon setting. It’s also why she, in addition to running her own salon and writing for beauty-based publications like Nails Magazine, goes into cosmetology schools to talk about the field of beauty and salon ownership.

It’s difficult to call any occupation recession-proof these days, but careers in cosmetology come pretty darn close, as Teri Cipowski, Director of Aveda Institute Minneapolis can attest.

“I cannot even imagine not researching and/or wanting a career in cosmetology, esthiology, or massage during these tough economic times,” she says. “It is the ultimate win/win career choice for people who love to give and to serve others.”

-Barbara Bellesi

This entry was posted on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 9:58 am and is filed under Careers . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.