Esthetician Job Application: How to Stand Out (part 1)

In addition to my career in esthetics, I also manage a condo in Poipu Kauai that my family has owned for over three decades. I am on the Board of Directors there and we just completed the lengthy process of hiring a person to replace our outgoing General Manager. It has been my job as Secretary of the Board to sort through the applications and decide which candidates to send through to the official interview process. We received over 100 online applications from all over the country so it was an enormous job.

I also have many years of experience from my days as a spa owner. At that time, I employed reception staff, massage therapists and Estheticians. I was in a college town so most of the reception staff was composed of college students. I loved them all but not a week went by when someone wasn't late due to a hangover or oversleeping because of late night studying for an upcoming exam. 

Back then, Resumes arrived via snail mail or in person and no two were alike. Because they were hard copy, we actually held them in our hands which allowed us to learn quite a bit about someone based upon the document they had created. But in the online application process of today, employers do not have the benefit of being able to at least minimally assess an applicant’s personality, creativity or professionalism. Today's online applications are presented exactly the same way, with the information given in exactly the same order, same font, same size, etc. Printing is not necessary, and employers can simply ignore applications they are not interested in. And because of this popular online format, it is nearly impossible for an applicant to stand out. 

To complicate matters further, Esthetics is a personal service business which means the information an employer needs to know about an applicant goes far beyond esthetics education and training. Let’s face it, any licensed Esthetician knows how to give a facial. And quite frankly, because so much is posted on the internet, even our clients know how to give a facial. Those special "personal service" characteristics that an employer may be looking for are not discernable within the context of the typical online application form.

I know what you are probably thinking, “Yeah, but when they talk to me on the phone or meet me in person, they will discover those characteristics in me.” But if that’s what you’re thinking, then you are missing my point which is:  You probably won’t make it that far.

Here are four basic rules which I will break down for you further within the 3 parts of this Blog. 

DOs and DON’Ts:

DON’T: Do not rely solely on the website’s online application form.

DO: Do create your own Resume. (There are so many options online for creating a Resume, so there’s no excuse for skipping this easy step.)

DO: Do create a Cover Letter to introduce your Resume.

DON’T: Do not submit a Resume without a cover letter attached. 

THINK LIKE THE EMPLOYER

I am now going to ask you to step out of the role of an Esthetician who is seeking a job and instead, think like the employer who will be deciding whom to hire:

If you have applied for a job via any of the online job search sites, you know that the online form is a fill-in-the-blank process. Everything is black and white and in the same order. For an employer, it’s monotonous to go through all those applications which look exactly the same; it shows nothing about the candidate’s personality, presentability, friendliness, creativity, or level of professionalism. What the typical employer will do is look first at the information provided under “experience” and if there is something there that interests them, they will review the rest of the application form and they may put it in a “maybe” folder. However, as more applications come in, if those look better than yours, then your application may never make it into the “yes” folder. Or, if your application is not as good as others that have already been received, your application may go directly into the recycle bin.

Let’s assume the employer has 15 applications from Estheticians who have similar licensing and only nominal differences in experience. What can you think of that would make the employer reach for your application first? How can you make your application different? What would make your application (and you) stand out?

Smart employers know from experience that sometimes talent is overrated, and the best Esthetician on paper is not necessarily the best fit for the company. I know this from personal experience as a consultant. Impressive Resume...horrible attitude. (Makes me wonder why those who clearly hate working with people think they will enjoy being an Esthetician. But that's a topic for an entirely different blog!)

A great personality, a team player, and a positive attitude may be what the employer is looking for. And that’s where the Cover Letter comes in. The Cover Letter will give them a sense of who you are beyond your Esthetician license and experience.

NEXT BLOG (Part 2): The Cover Letter