Apprenticeship

April 09, 2021

You don’t need a degree…but it may help.

We’re currently recruiting our next intake of apprentices. If you know any young candidates that would like to join us in this exciting, creative and glamorous industry please pass our details on to: summer@vanclarke.com

We take training and development very seriously. Nine of our past apprentices have either won or been nominated for Junior of the Year at The British Hairdressing Business Awards. The salon has won or been nominated for the coveted Training Award five times. 

It’s so heartening to see our recent teams of apprentices graduate and continue their development with us as talented professional stylists and colourists.

We're proud to recruit a diverse range of apprentices with varying backgrounds. Our youngest was just fifteen years old without a qualification to her name and our oldest, thirty something with a university degree. The blank canvas of the young teenager can be easier to shape, but then the social maturity and self-awareness of the older apprentice can ease the connection with our worldly and discerning clients. However the teenage apprentice can also hit 21 well versed in the world of work, debt free and £150,000 ahead of the degree student.

Though some do have degrees it’s never been a condition of apprenticeship. All we look for is a willing attitude, an openness to learning and discovery, an engaging personality and a desire to realize their best selves; to be, do and have something greater and better. Through service to others, they learn self-awareness and how to be in this world.

Our apprentices learn a wide variety of skills because really great hairdressers have to be multi-disciplined to reach the top of the profession. They’ll need to develop….

• The diplomatic and social skills of an international statesman. (Mrs Jones can be way more difficult than President Putin)
• The winning attitude, drive and self discipline of an Olympic medalist.
• The feel for balance and spatial awareness of an architect.
• The performance skills of an actor.
• The understanding of a psychologist.
• The empathy of a close friend.
• The creative skills of a master artist.
• The deft hand of a surgeon.
• The eye of a design guru.
• A whole host of business skills. 

Maybe great hairdressers use more skills than you thought? We have a strong in-house programme of technical and life-skill learning, so students needn't have college day release.

Hairdressing careers regularly top the polls of happiness at work because it's a psychologically healthy way to work. It’s social - we spend our time helping others look and feel better about themselves. It’s creative – so we get a chance to express ourselves though the medium of your hair. We get instant feedback on our work all day long - here’s no hiding and no hierarchy of middle-managers. We are only as good as our last performance and will lose clients if we don’t deliver - there’s a lot of integrity in the client - stylist relationship. This endless process of learning develops sensitivity and diplomacy.

We are lucky to work in a healthy luxurious environment with lots of daylight and natural materials. It gives me enormous pleasure to see the ongoing development, the confidence and talent that shines through our recent apprentices; Joel, Saori, Diana, Millie, Mitchell, Summer, Rosie, Simona and Hollie.

If you know someone that would like to join us please email summer@vanclarke.com

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