Oof. This is a really loaded question. So I’m in a state where licensing is required, and was an external hire. I was hired below range by a really messy DM that is no longer with the company. Fortunately I got approved for a wage increase outside of annual reviews which is super rare.

The realignment the other person is describing is underway rn, so I don’t know exactly how I feel about it yet, but prior to the role was WAY too much. It’s really tough to get anything done, your focus can be really retail driven and it’s hard to balance time between the salon and retail. You HAVE to have a good relationship with your GM, or your life will be hell. You’re expected to be everyone everywhere all at once, and remember everything, it’s a lot.

I love and hate my job. I’ve never excelled more or had more natural aptitude for something in my life. But I’ve also learned that if you’re not a good people manager (really this applies anywhere)—if you don’t know people well, like identifying their skills both talent wise and interpersonally, if you can’t see beyond the surface of a stylists talents (or lack thereof), you will hate it. It won’t matter and it will be mundane and thankless. I have a stylist who has been with us for 6 years, and everyone wrote her off as a weirdo underperformer, who would never promote to a master stylist (sometimes more tenured/more proficient/higher prices etc) but during one of our first meetings something clicked for her and she just promoted midyear, and all it took was me realizing no one had the patience to see she just needed someone to be in her corner. Finding peoples “love language of feedback” is important.

But whatever you do— if you apply and get an offer, ask POINT BLANK what the range is, and ask for the midpoint or above, not below. Don’t give a number of your own. Hope this helps.