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cosmetologist

What is it?

A Cosmetologist is a licensed beauty professional trained to provide a wide array of treatments for the hair, skin, and nails. While many cosmetologists choose to specialize in hair care and styling, their overall education covers everything from advanced coloring techniques and haircuts to manicures, facials, and makeup application.

They combine artistic vision with technical science to help clients look and feel their best. Here is a look at what their daily work entails and the attributes needed to excel in the industry.

 

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

A cosmetologist’s day is fast-paced, highly physical, and relies heavily on scheduling and customer service. Standard daily responsibilities include:

  • Performing Hair Services: Designing, cutting, styling, coloring, highlighting, and chemically treating (straightening or perming) hair based on a client’s request and hair type.

  • Conducting In-Depth Consultations: Sitting down with clients before a service to analyze their hair, skin, or nail condition, discuss their aesthetic goals, manage expectations, and recommend the best course of action.

  • Providing Nail and Skin Care: Performing basic manicures, pedicures, nail extensions, facials, eyebrow shaping (waxing/tweezing), and makeup application.

  • Maintaining Safety and Sanitation: Rigorously cleaning and disinfecting tools (shears, combs, bowls), workstations, and chairs between every client to meet strict state board health and safety regulations.

  • Retail and Product Recommendation: Educating clients on proper at-home maintenance and recommending specific professional shampoos, styling products, or skincare regimes.

  • Managing Business Operations: For many stylists, the day includes booking appointments, processing payments, managing a digital portfolio/social media to attract new clients, and tracking product inventory.

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Length of Training

32 Weeks/8 Months

Type of Training

In Person

* Salary Range

$36,000-$93,000

(entry level – experienced)

A dermatologist explores a woman's face with a magnifying lamp as she lies on a treatment table, wearing a white robe with a flower in her hair—showcasing the expertise found in cosmetology careers.

Is it Right For You?

Thriving as a cosmetologist requires a balance of creative artistry, physical stamina, and strong interpersonal psychology.

 

Core Qualities

 

  • Strong Social and Interpersonal Skills: A massive part of a cosmetologist’s day is talking to people. Great beauty professionals are excellent listeners who can make clients feel comfortable, heard, and pampered.

  • Stamina and Physical Endurance: This is a demanding job that requires standing on your feet for 8 to 10 hours a day, keeping your hands elevated, and performing repetitive motions with scissors and blow dryers.

  • An Eye for Trends and Artistry: A great cosmetologist understands facial shapes, bone structures, and skin tones, allowing them to customize a look that flatters the individual rather than just copying a photo.

  • Confidence and Composure: Hair and beauty chemistry can be unpredictable. If a color doesn’t lift exactly as expected, a top-tier cosmetologist stays calm, reassures the client, and uses their knowledge to correct it seamlessly.

Professional Skills 

 

  • Technical Precision and Chemistry: Mixing hair color, lighteners, and chemical relaxers requires a solid understanding of chemical reactions, hair porosity, and pH balances to achieve results without damaging the client’s hair or skin.

  • Active Listening: Clients don’t always know the technical terms for what they want. A skilled cosmetologist knows how to ask the right questions to decode “just a trim” or “a natural blonde” to avoid costly misunderstandings.

  • Time Management: Staying on schedule is crucial. A good stylist knows exactly how to pace a haircut, speed up a blowout, or double-book a haircut while another client’s color is processing under the dryer.

  • Adaptability and Lifelong Learning: The beauty industry evolves rapidly. Success requires constantly taking continuing education classes to master new techniques, tools, and viral trends.

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A group of graduates in caps and gowns celebrating outdoors. Text on the image reads "Over $12 million in scholarships being awarded." These scholarships are paving the way for promising careers.
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Stephanie underwood - Chief financial Officer

Stephanie Underwood serves as Chief Financial Officer at Great Jobs KC, where she leads the organization’s financial strategy in support of its mission to create economic mobility through education and workforce opportunities. With more than 17 years of experience in nonprofit finance, Stephanie brings deep expertise in financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and compliance. She is passionate about using her career as a platform to serve and support mission-driven organizations, helping them maximize impact through strong financial stewardship.

Prior to joining Great Jobs KC, Stephanie served as Chief Financial Officer for Griffith Centers, a behavioral and mental health organization, where she oversaw financial operations for a multi-million-dollar organization spanning residential, educational, and community-based programs. She also spent nearly a decade as Vice President of Accounting Services at NFP Partners, providing CFO-level leadership to nonprofit organizations across the country, with a focus on strategic growth, audit readiness, and governance.

Outside of her professional role, Stephanie volunteers her time at her church and serves on the board of a local nonprofit. She is known for her collaborative leadership style and her commitment to aligning financial strategy with mission impact. She holds a Master of Science in Accounting and is proud to be a first-generation college graduate.

 

 

 

Adult Learner College Scholarship

The Adult Learner Scholarship application is closed. Please click GET STARTED to be added to communication reminders on when to apply during the next open cycle.

Program offers:

  • Up to $25,000 paid directly to the college over the course of up to six years.
  • Once awarded, the Scholar can enroll full or part-time the fall semester following awarding.
  • Scholarship can be used at any of our college partners. See our current list of partners HERE.
  • Scholarship can be used towards an associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or a credit-bearing credential. 

Eligibility Requirements: 

  • Be a high school graduate or GED holder (24 years or older).
  • Live in one of the six eligible counties. (Kansas: Wyandotte, Johnson; Missouri: Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte)
  • Be income eligible. (FASFA Student Aid Index of 12,000 or less)
  • Have not previously earned a bachelor’s degree.
  • Have not previously been awarded a KC Scholars Scholarship (Traditional or Adult Learner).
  • Is not currently enrolled in a Great Jobs KC Skills Training Program.
  • US Citizenship/Residency is not required to apply.

If you need more information on program details, please find our FAQs HERE

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Jimmy Swift - Chief Operating Officer

As the Chief Operating Officer, Jimmy Swift is responsible for overseeing our core programs, our adult workforce development program, Great Jobs KC tuition-free job training, and our KC Scholars Scholarship Program, which includes 11th Grade Traditional Scholarships and Adult Learner Scholarships. 

Jimmy has a career in education that spans more than 25 years and is built around supporting and improving the performance of career training programs and leading the operations of degree-granting institutions. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in management and has served as Campus President, Vice President of Career Services, and Executive Director of various career schools.  

Most recently, Jimmy served as the Vice President of PLA University at Phalen Leadership Academies, bringing access to job skill training to the parents and families of the Scholars served by Phalen Leadership schools across the country.  Beyond his higher education experience, Jimmy serves as the Executive Board Chairman for Project Safety Net NY, a nonprofit community-based agency delivering a broad range of health, education, and prevention services to the New York Community. As the Chief Operating Officer for Great Jobs KC, he and his team are poised to make a substantial impact on the economic stability and future of Kansas City.

Great Jobs KC
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