Why Are You Always Hiring But Never Have the Right Stylists?
A salon owner named Marcus called me last month desperate. He'd posted the same job listing for three months. Got maybe five applications. Three showed up for interviews. One accepted the job. She quit after two weeks.
"I'm so tired of this," Marcus said. "I feel like I'm constantly hiring. But I never actually have a full team."
Marcus owns a salon in suburban New Jersey. Two thousand square feet. Eight chairs. Only five filled. He's been trying to hire for those empty three chairs for eight months.
"What am I doing wrong?" Marcus asked.
Everything. But not what he thought.
Marcus thought he needed better job posts. Better interview questions. Better screening. He was focused on the hiring process.
The hiring process wasn't the problem. His salon was the problem.
"Why would a good stylist want to work for you?" I asked Marcus.
He was confused. "I pay 50% commission. That's competitive."
"So does everyone else," I said. "What makes your salon different?"
Marcus didn't have an answer. Because his salon wasn't different. It was exactly like every other salon. Same commission structure. Same drama. Same lack of systems. Same chaos.
Good stylists don't apply to salons like that. They apply to salons that stand out.
Let me show you what actually works.
What Actually Makes Stylists Want to Work Somewhere?
Marcus thought compensation was everything. It's not.
I had another salon owner, Danielle, with the same problem. She'd been trying to hire for six months. Posted everywhere. Indeed. Facebook. Instagram. Local beauty schools.
"I'm offering 55% commission," Danielle told me. "That's higher than anyone else in my area. Why am I not getting applications?"
"Because good stylists don't care about 5% more commission," I explained. "They care about whether they'll make money, have support, and not hate coming to work."
Danielle's salon had a reputation. And not a good one. High turnover. Drama between stylists. Owner who was never there. Inconsistent policies.
"How do you know that?" Danielle asked, defensive.
"I called three of your former stylists," I said. "They all said the same thing. Toxic culture. No leadership. Constant chaos."
Danielle was shocked. But it was true. She'd focused on the money part. Ignored the culture part. Good stylists avoided her salon because of its reputation.
A third salon owner, Greg, had a different problem. Great culture. Low drama. But no growth opportunities.
"My stylists stay for two years and then leave," Greg said. "They all say the same thing. They like working here but there's nowhere to go."
Greg's salon had no education program. No mentorship. No path from assistant to senior stylist to educator or manager. His stylists hit a ceiling and left.
"You need to build career paths," I told Greg. "Not just jobs."
Different problems. But all the same root cause. The salon wasn't attractive to good stylists.
What Happened When Marcus Fixed His Salon?
Marcus and I worked together for six months. We didn't change his job postings. We changed his salon.
First, we fixed the drama. Marcus had let toxic stylists poison the culture for years. We set clear standards. Enforced them. Let go of two stylists who refused to follow them.
"Won't that make hiring harder?" Marcus worried. "Now I have five empty chairs."
"You already had three empty chairs and couldn't hire," I said. "At least now you have a culture worth joining."
Second, we built systems. Marcus's salon operated on chaos. No consistent policies. No training. No onboarding. Every stylist did their own thing.
We created clear systems. How clients get greeted. How services are performed. How conflicts get resolved. How new stylists are trained.
"This feels corporate," Marcus complained. "I thought stylists wanted freedom."
"They want freedom within structure," I explained. "Not freedom within chaos."
Third, we built a reputation. Marcus's current stylists started posting on social media about how much better the culture was. How much they'd grown. How supported they felt.
Those posts did more than any job listing ever could.
Three months after we started, Marcus got an application from a stylist who'd been following his team on Instagram.
"I've been watching your salon for months," the stylist said in her interview. "Everyone seems so happy. That's where I want to work."
Marcus hired her. She's still there 18 months later. And she referred two friends who also got hired.
"I haven't posted a job listing in a year," Marcus told me recently. "Stylists reach out to me now. Asking if I have openings."
That's what happens when you fix the salon instead of just fixing the job post.
What About Compensation Structure?
Danielle thought 55% commission would solve her hiring problem. It didn't.
"Why not?" Danielle asked, frustrated.
"Because commission doesn't matter if they can't build a book," I explained. "And they can't build a book in a toxic salon."
Danielle had high turnover. New stylists would start. See the drama. Leave before they built a clientele. The high commission didn't help them because they never stayed long enough to make money.
We fixed the culture first. Then looked at compensation.
"Actually, you should lower your commission," I told Danielle.
She was shocked. "That makes no sense."
"Offer 45% commission but add a guaranteed hourly base for the first 90 days," I suggested. "New stylists need security while they build. Not high commission on zero clients."
Danielle made the change. Started offering $15/hour base for 90 days, then moving to 45% commission after.
Her next hire stayed. And the one after that. And the one after that.
"They're not worried about money in month one anymore," Danielle said. "They know they'll get paid while they build."
Greg had a different compensation problem. He paid well. But offered no growth incentives.
"What if a stylist goes from $50,000 to $100,000 in revenue?" I asked Greg.
"Their commission goes up," Greg said. "They make more money."
"But the percentage is the same?" I asked.
"Yes," Greg said. "50% at any level."
"So there's no reward for growth except making more money?" I said. "No recognition? No title change? No new opportunities?"
Greg hadn't thought about it that way.
We created a tiered system. Junior stylists at 45%. Senior stylists (hitting certain revenue and rebooking targets) at 50%. Master stylists (top performers) at 52% plus opportunities to mentor and teach.
"Now there's a path," I told Greg. "Not just a job."
Greg's retention improved immediately. Stylists had something to work toward beyond just more money.
What Questions Actually Matter in Interviews?
Marcus used to ask terrible interview questions.
"Tell me about yourself."
"Where do you see yourself in five years?"
"What's your greatest weakness?"
Generic questions got generic answers. Told him nothing about whether the stylist would fit.
We changed his interview process completely.
"Tell me about a time you had conflict with a coworker and how you handled it," became Marcus's first question.
The answers were revealing. Some stylists blamed everyone else. Some took ownership. Some showed maturity. Some showed toxicity.
"I had one candidate who said every conflict was someone else's fault," Marcus told me. "Former manager. Coworkers. Clients. Never her."
"Did you hire her?" I asked.
"I almost did because she was technically skilled," Marcus said. "But then I remembered what you said. Skills can be taught. Attitude can't. I passed."
Good decision. That stylist would have poisoned his newly improved culture.
Danielle learned to ask about client experience.
"Describe a time you went above and beyond for a client," became her standard question.
"I had a candidate who couldn't think of a single example," Danielle said. "She just kept saying she does her job well."
"That told you everything," I said.
"It did," Danielle agreed. "She sees clients as transactions. Not relationships. That's not our culture."
Greg added questions about growth.
"What's the last thing you learned related to your craft?"
"How do you stay current with trends and techniques?"
Candidates who couldn't answer those questions didn't care about growth. Greg's salon was built on education. Those stylists wouldn't fit.
"I used to hire based on resume," Greg said. "Now I hire based on fit. Huge difference."
What Actually Happens in the First 90 Days?
Marcus used to do terrible onboarding. New stylist would start. Get shown around the salon. Maybe shadow someone for a day. Then thrown on the floor.
Half quit within three months.
"They're not getting enough support," I told Marcus.
We built a proper 90-day onboarding plan.
Week one: Culture training. Meeting the team. Learning systems. No clients yet. Just learning the salon.
Weeks 2-4: Shadowing. Assisting. Observing how things work. Still no solo clients.
Weeks 5-8: Taking clients with support. A mentor nearby. Debriefs after each service.
Weeks 9-12: Full book. But weekly check-ins with mentor. Support available.
"This is too slow," Marcus complained. "I need them producing revenue."
"You need them staying," I corrected. "Fast onboarding gets fast departures."
The first stylist through the new onboarding process stayed. The second stayed. The third stayed.
"My retention is better than it's ever been," Marcus told me after a year.
Danielle added a buddy system to her onboarding.
"Every new stylist gets paired with a veteran," Danielle explained. "The veteran gets a small bonus for mentoring. The new stylist gets built-in support."
Her new stylists stopped feeling isolated and lost.
Greg created a 30-60-90 goal system.
First 30 days: Master the booking system. Learn product knowledge. Hit 50% rebooking rate.
First 60 days: Build to 60% rebooking. Get first client review. Complete continuing education course.
First 90 days: Build to 70% rebooking. Reach specific revenue target. Present what they've learned to the team.
"Clear goals give them direction," Greg said. "They're not guessing what success looks like."
All three saw the same result. Better onboarding meant better retention.
What Actually Matters?
After working with dozens of salon owners on hiring, here's what I've learned:
You can't recruit your way out of a bad salon. Marcus posted for 8 months with 5 filled chairs. Fixed salon culture/systems, now stylists reach out asking for openings. Danielle offered 55% commission in toxic culture = no applications. Fixed culture first = new hires staying.
Compensation matters but culture matters more. Danielle's 55% didn't attract anyone. 45% with guaranteed base + good culture attracted and retained. Greg's 50% flat = people left. Tiered system with growth path = people stayed.
Interview questions reveal attitude not just skills. Marcus's generic questions told him nothing. "Tell me about conflict" revealed blamers vs. owners. Danielle's "above and beyond" question revealed transactional vs. relational mindsets. Greg's "last thing learned" revealed growth mindset.
First 90 days determine long-term retention. Marcus's "throw them on the floor" approach = half quit in 3 months. Structured 90-day onboarding = all stayed. Danielle's buddy system = new stylists not isolated. Greg's clear goals = new stylists know what success looks like.
Good stylists choose salons with reputation for culture not compensation. Marcus's Instagram posts from happy team = stylist followed for months before applying. Better than any job listing.
Marcus hasn't posted a job in a year. Stylists reach out to him. 18-month retention on new hires. Three chairs filled from referrals.
Danielle went from 6 months no hires to full team in 4 months. New compensation structure + fixed culture = retention.
Greg's career path system stopped 2-year exodus. Stylists now staying 4+ years. Building toward master stylist level.
All of them said the same thing: "I thought I needed to hire better. I actually needed to build better."
Ready to stop constantly hiring and start actually retaining?
