My thoughts on mentoring…..

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The other day, I read an interesting thread on a professional skincare forum about mentoring. A professional esthetician posed a question and her concerns about mentoring. Her daughter’s friend is a newly licensed esty and (anxious to work) asked if she could “do anything” to help out in order to learn more about the industry. They reside in a small town already saturated with estheticians, and she is feeling protective of her business and “all the years she’s put into her education and twenty-year career”, so she asked for input from other working estheticians on how to handle the matter.

I was surprised by the responses to her post and there were several, all overwhelmingly in agreement that she do one or all of the following:

• have the newbie sign a waiver of some sort
• teach her but charge an hourly fee and make her bring her own models and supplies
• train her for the hours/days you don’t work and charge her a percentage

While I think it’s somewhat difficult for an unemployed esthetician to pay for mentoring when they’re probably not making any money as it is, hence the reason she offered to “do anything”, what surprised me most of all, was the mean-girl approach to the question. The responses were negative and defensive, so I had to chime in with my two-cents:

I’m new to the board & a newly licensed esthetician. I’m currently mentoring at a local medical spa, as that is the field I’m eager to break into but my education didn’t cover the area in great detail and required an extra 5k for an additional three weeks schooling at a medical esthetics partnership school across town. The medical spa isn’t charging me anything for the opportunity and I’m learning about laser hair removal, skin resurfacing, IPL, peels, etc. I’m not the only newly licensed esthetician mentoring there as they have also allowed current students and recent graduates to mentor as well. The lead esthetician has seven years experience and an extensive background in anatomy, physics and chemistry. She’s not worried by any means about us taking any of her clients nor should she, she’s a wealth of knowledge and experience and has her own unique way of doing things. As someone with 15 years experience in customer service, project management, corporate employee development and social media marketing, I have offered my services to the spa in exchange & I love paying it forward. I find it comes back to me tenfold. And I find it helps you grow both professionally and emotionally, it can be quite rewarding. Oftentimes, we think we’re “protecting” our brand by not helping others but it can actually be more stifling than beneficial. Besides, if someone is mentoring, they shouldn’t be touching your clients or actually doing your job but learning and observing. If fear prevents you from extending yourself that much, then I would advise against doing it but also self-assess your talents and abilities to determine why you feel what you bring to the table is valued so little that anyone can take it & run…… this business of touch goes far beyond a business. Just a thought.

I’ve had no responses to my post as the conversation has come to a stand-still, so either I killed the “us against them” mentality in the forum or no one else has anything to add. It really surprised me that a twenty-year esthetics veteran would be so threatened by the prospect of mentoring.

As my corporate career progressed and more opportunities/responsibilities came to me, I was called upon many times to train and mentor new and existing employees and ultimately entire departments consisting of 50+ employees, and not once did I withhold my knowledge and experience for fear they would somehow exceed my ability or negatively impact my progression. If anything, their success only exemplified my skills thereby further advancing my exposure and performance reliability. If they sparkled, I shined, as the solid rapport built by the interaction resulted in their praising me for teaching them what they know. Reputations are often built on word-of-mouth advertising and I benefited from that many times.

Being on the defensive is not how you build a lasting impression in corporate america or any profession for that matter. And if you’ve been at your job for twenty years, you’ve certainly amassed a wealth of knowledge, clientele and skills that can’t be absorbed by an industry newbie in the time it takes to mentor her, just doesn’t make sense.

So, that’s my take on the mentoring angle. If you can find a secure and reputable environment willing to mentor you, go for it! And hopefully, you will be in the position to pay it forward one day, remember, it’s hard being new at anything.

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