 Hey guys, welcome back to my channel or welcome if you're new. If you don't know me, my name's Sam. I am a licensed hairdresser. So I was working in a salon doing hair consistently for a few years and then about eight months ago I moved from Pennsylvania down to Wilmington, North Carolina. I did switch over my cosmetology license to North Carolina, but I decided when I moved here that I wanted to take a little bit of a break, kind of take a step back from the hair industry, focus more on social media stuff and just kind of, I don't know, I was feeling burnt out and just not ready to jump right back in to being in a salon and taking clients when I moved here. But today I actually have an interview at a salon and I thought, let me take you along with me and share some of my tips prepping for the interview. I get questions a lot about how should you prepare? What should you expect? What should you wear? What questions should you ask? All of that kind of stuff. So first things first, I need to get ready obviously because I'm still just hanging out in my pajamas. So I need you to wear hair and our makeup. I would suggest when you're going for an interview in the beauty industry, obviously, like if you're the type that you normally do like a full glam makeup on a regular basis, do that. Do whatever you feel comfortable with, do whatever is normal to you. If you are typically not the type of person to wear makeup, I would maybe just do like a little something even if it's like light and natural, but just try to obviously look your best, look the part of someone in the beauty industry. And of course, if you're going to interview in a hair salon, the hair is probably the most important thing. So you really wanna make sure that your hair is looking good, that it is nice and styled. So I'm just gonna do my usual hair and makeup really quick and then we will talk outfits. Hair is done, makeup is done. Now, I need to pick out what I'm gonna wear. So I know a lot of people when they go to interview at a salon, they just automatically think that they should wear all black. But I would say do your research. If you've never been to the salon in person before, definitely look on their social media. Try to see if you find any photos of the stylist working in the salon and see what do they wear. What is the dress code there? Most salons back in the day used to have a very all black strict dress code. But nowadays, I feel like especially with more modern salons, that is not the case anymore. And you'll find that the stylists are able to dress in whatever colors they want and just kinda show off their personal style. So I would see how the stylists dress there and then have your outfit kind of mimic that in a way. So that way, when you're walking in for your interview, you already look the part and you already look like you fit into the salon. If all the stylists at this salon are typically wearing colorful, cutesy outfits or they wear a lot of light colors and you show up in a plain all black outfit, you're not gonna look like you fit in there. You know what I mean? So I think the best option is to just, like I said, dress the part. So I'm kind of thinking of wearing a skirt. I have this midi skirt, which I think is really cute with a bodysuit maybe tucked into it. Or I have these cute dress pants that I could maybe wear again with a bodysuit tucked in or with like a little crop top. So that it's like kind of dressy and like professional but still cute and like stylish. So I'm gonna try both of these outfits on and just kind of play around until I find something that feels right and that I feel comfortable and confident in. So I'll be right back. Okay, it took me a while to figure this out. As you can see by all the clothes on the bed behind me, but I think I finally got the outfit down. It's pretty simple, but I wanted to make sure that I was wearing something that really just felt like me and really like represented my style and was something that I realistically would wear. So I have the square neck bodysuit from Zara, these H&M jeans, this thrifted men's blazer and my H&M men's fanny pack and then these mules from Aldo. So that is the fit. And I just layered a couple necklaces. I'm feeling good. I think this is it. I'm feeling like put together, professional, but like not too dressed up. And I feel like based on the pictures on their Instagram page, I don't feel out of place. I feel good. Now I'm gonna put on some perfume. Super important. I always like to make sure that I smell really good. I never leave the house, even if I'm just going to work out. Like I refuse to leave the house without putting perfume on first. And this portion of the video is sponsored by dossier. Thank you so much to them for working with me. dossier makes perfumes inspired by name brand designer fragrances. And what has become my signature scent is the Amberie Saffron by them, which is a dupe for the Baccarat Rouge 540, which is full price, very expensive. It's like a few hundred dollars. And this one from dossier is 49, I believe. By eliminating celebrity marketing and retail markups and the fancy packaging and all of that stuff, they are able to offer the exact same high quality scents for a fraction of the price, 70 to 90% less in a lot of cases. Their perfumes start at $29. And they have tons of different perfumes on there inspired by popular high-end brands like Tom Ford, YSL, Jo Malone. And this one is my absolute favorite because everywhere I go, this stands out. Like it's so strong, it lasts all day. And I always get compliments when I wear it and people always ask me what I have on. I feel like when you go for an interview, you have to assume they're gonna be interviewing several people, obviously not just you. So you wanna stand out in the best ways that you can. Your scent can leave a lasting impression on someone. Like if you walk in and you go to shake their hand and they immediately are like, ooh, you smell so good, what is that smell? You know, like I just feel like it plants a little seed and then they will remember you when they're going back through, like looking at all of the applicants. So if you guys wanna try out dossier, I have a discount code that will save you 10% off. It's SAM10, I'll have a link and that code in the description for you to use. dossier now also has a reward system. So every purchase you make, you can accumulate points. So make sure that you select catch at the last step of checkout so that you can start accumulating your points and rack up those rewards. Again, I'll have all the information in the description. Thank you so much dossier for working with me again on this video. So once you are all ready to go and looking put together, I do suggest bringing a resume with you. Even if they say that it's not required, I think that it's always good to just kind of leave them with something that has your contact information on it. So that way, again, when they're like going back through all the other applicants and they're trying to choose who they wanna hire, you will be like top of mind because they will physically have something in front of them with your name on it to remind them. And in case they forget about anything that you talked about during the interview as far as like your work experience and all of that goes, they will have your resume to reference. I think it's one of those things where like it never hurts to have it on you. It can only help and be viewed as a good thing. I also would prepare a couple questions that you have. I know a lot of people when they're going into an interview, they are just like so focused on the answers that they have to give and the questions that are gonna be asked of them. But don't forget, usually at the end of the interview, the interviewer will ask you, okay, do you have any questions for me? And I think A, having questions looks good because it looks like you truly are like really interested in this job and like you have questions, like there's information you wanna know, you're invested in it. And B, I mean, like it really is good to have all the information so that you know that you're making the right choice if you do get chosen for this job. You wanna make sure that it's the right fit for you. So before you even go into the interview, I would just write down a list of some questions that you have like, what hours are they looking for you to work? Are you gonna be in control of your own schedule? If you need to request time off or something like that, like how does that process work? What's their policy as far as like taking time off? Cause I know some salons are a lot more lenient than others. Also think about asking like, how are you gonna get paid? Especially if you're looking to work as a stylist, are they a commission salon? Are they Booth rental? Do they take walk-ins? Once the stylists are done with their clients for the day, do they usually go home or are they expected to stay for a certain amount of time? Are there gonna be assistants there helping you? Is there gonna be a receptionist there helping you? What is their policy as far as like double booking clients? There's so many different questions that you can ask. Everyone's gonna have like their own concerns and their own questions. And I would say if you've worked in a salon before and there were like any issues or things about that salon that you didn't love, I would ask those kind of questions to see is the salon gonna be different? Is it gonna be a better fit for you? After you have your list of questions ready, I would then go on the salon's social media pages. I would go on their website. I would try to do as much research as possible. See if you can get answers to your questions based on what information is available online. Because if you go in and you're asking a question that is right there on their website, it's not gonna be a good look. It's gonna seem like you didn't do your research. You don't really know very much about this salon. So make sure you're doing your research. Make sure you know some basic information at least about the salon. You know, like I said, looking to see like what do the stylists look like there? What does the owner look like? What's the owner's name? Who are like the head stylist and what are their names? Just like some basic information just so it shows that like you did your research and you're really interested in this salon in particular because you don't wanna give off the vibe of like, oh, I'm just desperate for a job and this is like my fifth interview of the day. And you know what I mean? Like I'm just going around trying to desperately find a job and I don't really necessarily care like where I get hired. You really wanna show that like you are specifically interested in this salon because you feel like you would be a good fit here. I also would make sure that you have your portfolio ready to show them. Most people nowadays we, you know have our Instagram page as our portfolio. So I would have that ready to pull up or whatever photos you have on your phone. But I do think like social media is such a big thing nowadays especially in the salon world. So I would show them your Instagram page they may even ask to see or ask if you're on social media. So if you are, I would definitely, you know show them that show them what your social media looks like. So that way they can not only see what your work looks like but how are you at taking photos and like how many followers do you have? Not that that stuff is like the end all be all and super, super important, but it definitely helps. It's definitely a perk I would say. I would think like as a salon owner if a stylist is coming into me and I'm seeing that they know how to use social media and they have like a pretty decent following and their photos look really good and their work is really good. I'm gonna be like, oh, well I definitely want them on my team because they're good at social media marketing. So they're gonna be able to bring more clients into the salon and help grow our salons presence online on social media. Make sure that you're just like going in there feeling really confident. Honestly, I think that confidence and the way that you present yourself goes such a long way. You can have two different applicants and maybe one is technically a little bit more qualified for the job, but if the other one is like really personable cause think about it. Like when you're working in a salon you're in the service industry, you're dealing with people. So I think that it's better to have somebody that's more personable and that's like super confident and just really likable than somebody that's like not as confident and a little bit like awkward and shy and kind of like that. You know what I mean? You wanna make sure that you're bringing the right kind of energy and your personality is like fitting with the overall branding and like aesthetic of the salon. It's super hot in my car. So I'm gonna wait till the air condition kicks in and it cools down before I put my jacket on. But my other tip is make sure you are giving yourself enough time so that you are arriving to your interview early, being on time is late, being early is on time. Because obviously it's a good look if you are there early, you do not wanna risk being late. You never know what could happen. There could be traffic, like some kind of issue or like when you get there maybe you can't find parking right away or whatever the case is. So always give yourself extra time. I've been to this salon before so I already know the parking situation. They have a parking lot, it should be fine. My GPS is telling me that I'm gonna get there like 15 minutes before the scheduled interview time. So that's perfect, that'll give me some time to like put my jacket back on and like check everything in the mirror before I head in. So I am gonna head to the interview now. I will check in after it's over and let you know how it goes and let you know like what questions she asked me and all that kind of stuff. So you have an idea of what you can possibly expect from your own interview. So wish me luck, I will see you soon. I'm back from the interview. It went really, really well. I got the job and I think I'm gonna take it. And it was pretty casual. I feel like unless you're looking to work in like a super, super upscale type of salon most of the time, like every salon I've ever interviewed at it's always been like a pretty chill laid back kind of interview. So we just kind of talked about everything. We got to know each other a little bit. We talked about like some personal stuff and I did ask a few questions like throughout as we were talking, but by the end all of the questions that I had going into it were already answered. So I feel like I got all the information that I needed and it was just super easy. Like we just had a conversation and then she ended up just giving me a tour and showing me the salon. There was none of that typical like so what are your strengths and weaknesses like that kind of thing. So yeah, I mean you never really know like what to expect exactly. It's gonna vary of course salon to salon depending on the type of salon that it is and what position you're going for. But yeah, you know, like I think just being confident, showing up early, looking your best and just doing your best and just being friendly and just trying to like put your personality out there is really all that you can do. So I hope that this video was helpful and kind of like put you a little bit at ease if you are kind of stressing the situation. Don't forget to check the description for my link and discount code to dossier. Again, thank you to them for working with me and thank you guys for watching. I will see you in my next video. Bye.