Understanding Apprenticeships

THE FUTURE SUSTAINABILITY OF OUR INDUSTRY AND YOUR SALON.

By Sandy Chong, Australian Hairdressing Council, and Keira Maloney, HeadHunter Recruitment

Every salon owner’s challenge is finding staff who are productive, talented and complement your salon culture. In times such as now, finding staff feels impossible, whilst our industry is suffering from a dire skills shortage.

Hairdressing, in fact, has been on the skills shortage list for more than 20 years. Salons are desperate to employ more seniors and many approach other salons’ staff, offering more money and many unrealistic promises. Poaching staff from another salon does not fill a skills shortage. So, what can we do as a business and industry right now?

The AHC has been lobbying on behalf of the industry to Home Affairs to view hairdressing as a priority industry when it comes to immigration, plus consider hairdressing to be on a medium- and long-term skills list with a pathway to residency. A change of Government means re-lobbying our cause.

Until this happens, we must look at Apprenticeships and invest in the future of our business and the industry. There are many options when it comes to Apprenticeships or training in the industry. Let’s look at some of our options and explain how the systems work.

First, Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) are the only colleges that can give a hairdressing student a qualification. In Hairdressing, our qualification is called a Certificate 111. Outside of a RTO, many individuals or businesses hold courses in the industry, but they cannot teach a Government recognised qualification. RTOs are TAFE or privately owned colleges.

SBATs are School Based Apprentice Trainees who are in year 11 and 12. SBATs study the Hairdressing Certificate 111 as part of their high school certificate, so there is a commitment to complete their studies and training. SBATs still attend school, however their school week is spent with 1 full day working in a salon and another at the RTO. Their time spent at the RTO is UNPAID, however the day spent at the salon is paid at 25% above the 1st year wage. In other words, if they work 8 hours, you pay them for 10 hours. SBATs could also work extra hours on a Saturday or during school holidays.

At the completion of their training in Year 11 and Year 12, SBATs are a 2nd year Apprentice, and their Apprenticeship continues with you for the next two years. SBATs can be found at most schools. Speak to a careers officer at your local schools and let them know you are interested. The best relationships with SBATs are to make sure you communicate your expectations with the career’s advisor, the parents and the SBAT.

Whether a SBAT or a full-time Apprentice, their role in your salon is to LEARN. They are not employed as your cleaner. We lose 65% of our apprentices in their first year. Most of the feedback from these displaced apprentices is that all they did was clean, and no training

was provided. It’s time to see apprentices as your future senior stylists and not your cleaner. In my own salon, 8 of my 9 senior stylists completed their apprenticeship with us. The other is from the UK on a Visa and has been with me three years and is waiting on her PR (Permanent Residency).

Hairdressing Apprenticeships are currently up 14% due to the investment in incentives for the Boosting Apprenticeship Support Scheme, which finished on 30 June 2022. However, our industry needs 4,500 new apprentices each year to fill our skills gap. 3,658 new apprentices were registered in 2021.

Incentives for a business when employing a full-time, part-time, mature apprentice or SBAT will be dependent on the dates your apprentice was registered. When you hire an apprentice, contact your local Apprentice support organisation to formalise the signing up and be notified of all incentives you and the apprentice are entitled to. These may be MEGT, Apprentice Support Australia, VERTO, Sarina Russo or Busy at Work.

Any apprentice who is “on trial” must be paid for their hours worked in your salon, whether it’s for four hours or four days. No time can be unpaid unless it is agreed Work Experience with a school. Work Experience would require paperwork from the school to ensure the student was covered by insurance whilst working at your salon.

Apprentices that are 21 years of age when they are registered as a 1st year are eligible for the Mature Apprentice Wage. If an apprentice turns 21 AFTER they are registered, then they are not eligible for the mature age wage. Mature age apprentices may be a higher cost to employ, however they are generally more committed to learning and training and are keen to be skilled as soon as possible.

The other option is TRAINEES. These are students who are attending a RTO and completing a part-time or full-time, self-funded course. To gain hands-on experience, Trainees need to work in a salon either as a volunteer or as a paid employee. Requirements of these courses may include up to 250 volunteer hours in a salon. A Trainee’s rate of pay is not based on age but is based on attending under 1,000 hours at college or over 1,000 hours. Please note, a student doing this course is a TRAINEE and is NOT attending a TRAINEESHIP - they are very different courses.

Employing a Trainee can be very successful for a salon and the student. The cost to the trainee to attend their course can be $15,000 - $20,000. This shows they are committed to learn and gain experience and often suits a mature employee. They will be qualified within 18 months to two years. Once they finish their course, they will be a Graduate. The pay for a Graduate is 90% of a Level 3, qualified stylist rate. There is no Government incentive paid to a salon to employ a Trainee or Graduate.

INTERVIEWING APPRENTICES

While some would argue that you can never get a complete understanding of a person’s true character until they are working in your business, there are specific interview strategies that can help you understand the suitability of the candidate you are speaking to. Here are HeadHunter’s top tips for interviewing Apprentices or SBATs.

1. Be prepared

Job interview questions for apprentices are going to vastly different to those for an experienced hairdresser or someone that has been in the workforce for a long time. So, it’s important that you are well prepared with what you want to ask rather than going on the fly. Some basic examples could be:

· What is it that sparked your interest in a Hairdressing career?

· What is it about our salon that appealed to you?

· What does it mean to you to be a part of a ‘team’?

· What do you think it will take to be a successful Hairdresser?

2. Get them thinking

Include some behavioural questions to learn about how they manage situations:

· Tell me about a goal you reached and how you achieved it?

· What is a challenging experience you have faced, and how did you overcome it?

· Describe what you think your day-to-day tasks and responsibilities might be in this position, and how you will manage them?

· Share how you stay motivated when doing repetitive tasks, day in, day out?

3. Don’t just listen, watch.

Keep an eye on their body language and eye contact. They will likely be incredibly nervous, and it will show, but that’s okay. What you’re looking for is whether they are trying to connect with you - and this is a very important skill for them to bring to a position where they will likely be interacting with clients all day.

4. Give them the 4-1-1

Give a very realistic break down of what their apprenticeship is going to look like, both short term, and long term. What will their first few weeks be like? What can they expect to learn in their first year? What will their day-to-day responsibilities be? What are your expectations of them as an employee? Break it down, don’t glamourise it too much, and give a realistic insight into what to expect.

5. Pop Quiz

Once you have given the breakdown, quiz them on what they have just heard in order to: a) Find out if they were paying attention and b) Gauge if the role was what they expected or not.

• Based on what I have described, what excites you about this role the most?

• What excites you the least?

• Is what I have described in line with what you expected the role would be like?

6. Try to cut them a LITTLE slack

For many Apprentices, especially SBATs, this is possibly their first experience with entering the workforce. Make sure you provide them with some constructive feedback and positive reinforcement, regardless of what the outcome may be.

By Sandy Chong, Australian Hairdressing Council, and Keira Maloney, HeadHunter Recruitment