How to hire a master for your salon: start with a description

When they need a master, many salons start with an ad that says "we need a good master" and then spend weeks sorting through random candidates. It's faster to write down, in a few lines, who exactly you're looking for. That description helps with the ad, the conversation and the final decision.

Answer these questions:

  • Which services the master will do, and which ones your clients ask for most.
  • Which days and hours you need covered: evenings, weekends or the whole week.
  • What level: an experienced master who may bring their own clients, or a beginner you're ready to train.
  • How you'll pay, even roughly, so the first conversation doesn't surprise the candidate or you.

Where to look

Good masters rarely stay out of work for long, so look in several places at once:

  • ask your team, since masters often know who is looking right now;
  • post on your own pages, because among your clients and followers there's always someone who knows a master;
  • look at masters' social media pages, where you can see their style straight away;
  • contact training centres if you're ready to take on a beginner and help them grow.

Make the ad concrete: services, days, neighbourhood and how to apply. A general "join our friendly team" tells a candidate nothing.

Look at the work, not the words

A master's best CV is their work. Ask for photos from the last few months, not just the best ones. Ask how long each service takes them. If the answer is very different from your salon's timings, you want to know now, not on the first busy day. More on this in how long services really take.

A trial day

After the photos, the best test is one real job: on a model or a client you know, in your salon, with your materials. Agree in advance which service it will be, how long it should take and whether the trial day is paid, so there's no misunderstanding later.

Pay attention to more than the result:

  • how the master prepares the workstation and cleans it afterwards;
  • how they talk to the client, and whether they ask what the client wants;
  • whether they finish within the agreed time;
  • what the model says at the end, when the master isn't in the room.

A conversation that shows character

Skill with the hands shows in a day. How someone works in a team doesn't. In a short conversation, ask about real situations:

  • What do you do when a client is fifteen minutes late and you have another booking after them?
  • How do you handle a client who is unhappy with the result?
  • Why do you want to change where you work?
  • What schedule suits you for the next few months?

Answers with concrete examples tell you more than general promises. If you have a team, let the candidate meet at least one or two of the masters. They'll be working side by side, and their opinion matters.

Put the terms in writing

Once you've decided, agree on the main terms and write them down: how pay works, working days and hours, the start date, who provides materials, and how clients with no preferred master are shared. More on that last point in sharing clients and shifts fairly. For contracts and taxes, talk to an accountant or a lawyer.

Writing it down isn't a sign of distrust. It protects both sides when, three months later, someone remembers the conversation differently.

Prepare the first day

Hiring is only half the job. Before the start date, prepare the service list with prices and durations, the first month's schedule, a good photo and a few sentences about the master so clients can choose them. The rest is in the plan for a new master's first weeks.