apprenticeships

not exactly sure where to post this, but i was curious as to how apprenticeships usually work and how you would go about finding one?

This is a great question.  A lot of the answer depends upon where you are looking for an apprenticeship.  Is it in the US or overseas?  In New York you can often find apprenticeships at the larger salons.  In some cases to work in a large salon you actually have to start as an apprentice.

I'm in between looking for an apprenticeship or just going to school. I'm in the Michigan in the US. I just recently was competing for an apprenticeship with someone else, and all I really did was wash towels and do dishes I wasn't chosen for the job. Is that normally how they go?

Well it depends.  Usually companies will give their apprentices the lowest jobs to see how they do and then decide if they are the type of people they would want to hire and bring into the company.

Ken Paves, a famous celebrity hairstylist was hired to be an apprentice at a very famous hair salon in Miami, Florida.  The first several months he was there the famous owner of the famous salon completely ignored him and didn't talk to him once.  He was pretty much ignored so Ken went out and started recruiting models for his hair work. 

He volunteered at model shoots and fashion shoots and runway shows.  From there the models started coming to him at the famous salon.  One day all these gorgeous models were visiting Ken and the famous owner of the salon came over and said to Ken - how did you get all these models as clients? 

From there Ken was welcomed as part of the team and his career was on fire.  From that famous hairstylist he met Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Lopez.

We have had apprentices at HairBoutique.com and they have mostly been a bust because they want to start at the top which none of the other employees appreciate. 

So bottom line?  If you want to get into a great company and you get a job as an apprentice you have to make yourself very valuable to the company.  If that means loading the dishwasher, throwing out the trash or answering phones, it shows you want to be a team player.  From there you can work your way into the company and become part of the team.

Great questions.  I hope that helped.

PS.  Ken had to pay his way to the famous salon in Miami from Detroit.  Also, he was not given any salary at all.  No living expenses.  He also competed to be an apprentice at the salon with literally hundreds of applicants.  It took him many months to win the position which was unpaid.

But considering where he is today.....well the rest is history. 

I heard that right now any type of job, paid or not paid will help in the future since many companies do not wish to hire people who have not been working in awhile.  So an apprenticeship seems like a good way to go.

adele662011-09-21 10:36:02