Job Discussion Forums

Henry_Cowell · Joined: 27 May 2005 Posts: 3352 Location: Berkeley

chola,

In which countries are there hairdressers who need and want to improve their English skills so that they can serve English-speaking customers?

In English-speaking countries such as the UK, Australia, NZ and the U.S.? In what cities? Do the hairdressers need English instruction? Of what sort?

In countries where English is not the native language? Where are the hairdressers' English-speaking customers from, and how many such customers are there? Do the customers speak only English, or do they speak the local language?

After you decide the location and linguistic context/needs, you can then begin thinking about how to attract students.

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:32 pm Post subject:

That would depend on what you build, I guess.

Honestly, the problem I think you'll see where hairdressing is concerned is that it's a pretty monolingual field in most countries. As most people cut/style the locals' hair, they don't need a lot of English to do it. One idea might be to market yourself directly to salons located in or near tourist hotels and areas, but I suspect that while this might be an interesting sideline, in most places it would be unlikely to develop into full time work.

Where theatre is concerned, again, it depends on whether or not they need it- where are you exactly, or where would you like to be?

Regards,
Justin

merlin · Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 6:53 am Post subject:

Sheep-Goats · Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 527

Sheep-Goats · Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 527

poolcleaner · Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 1

The market for hairdressing ESL is small in Thailand but it's definitely there.
It's one of many niche markets that exist and if you could bundle them all together you make make a few baht.

I've just finished a 2 day in-house job with one of Bangkok's larger salon chains and the need for English was quite evident. Unfortunately, my knowledge of salon techniques and products isn't that crash-hot (would you believe my wife has her own salon!!) and I would have loved to have been able to call on an expert for assistance.

A well organised and flexible (and probably young, modern etc.) group of ESLers who can tap into the fast developing business sector could probably clean up in Bangkok!

The basic level of English is still at taxi driver standard and the 'Hi-so' type bosses out there are frustrated by their employee's lack of communication skills.
Top end hotels and restaurants, mainline tourist bars, upmarket stores and shops, salons, boutiques etc. are all possibilities for an intensive select English course.

chola · Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 12:42 pm Post subject: esp-hairdressing

Thanks one and all for your many replies. I'm sorry not to have responded earlier; I've just received notificaion that new responses have been posted.

Anyway.....I was thinking that since I'll be in a large Mexican city, and since i probably won't have full-time work, at least not right away, that perhaps I could eek out some kind of a small sideline at larger hotels with international salons.....where clients would be foreign english speakers. But, then again, maybe those hotels already have bilingual staff....it's just an idea/thought that, obviously, requires alot of investigation and legwork to get up and running....ditto on efl for film production/film crew../theatre.

Muchissimas gracias a todo!