Bennie Pollard invites basic school students to tour his salon.

 

Recruiting and retaining topnotch stylists is a number-one priority for Bennie Pollard, owner of Hair by Bennie and Friends in Louisville, Kentucky. To attract talented students to his salon, Pollard hosts an open house and invites beauty school students to tour the salon and learn about career opportunities.

"It's important that each student understands that he or she can build his or her skills into a career beyond the chair, including platform artistry, photo shoots, runway work, product education, teaching and more," says Pollard. 

Visiting students also participate in breakout sessions which cover topics like growing your clientele, color techniques, photo work and special-event hair.

Although the open houses are key to recruitment, Pollard also employs other methods. A team from his salon visits local schools twice a month to give technical demonstrations and speak to students. School instructors are offered free continuing education hours through classes taught by Pollard's team. "If the instructors know how phenomenal the salon is, they will recommend us to their top students. It's as simple as that," says Pollard.

To learn more about Bennie and Friends and their recruiting and retaining programs, call 866-B-BRIGHT.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, Click here.