Beauty salon administrator - duties and requirements

Maintaining a beauty salon requires more than just having friendly staff and well-trained technicians. The administrator of a salon is a vital member of the team who works behind the scenes to ensure that everything runs smoothly. The main responsibility of this position is to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible, including scheduling, responding to client inquiries, and managing daily operations.

Knowing what’s required can be crucial for anyone taking on the role of beauty salon administrator. It goes beyond simply being able to handle money and use scheduling software, even though those skills are crucial. Strong interpersonal and organizational abilities, as well as the capacity to handle staff and client relationships with ease, are other essentials for an efficient administrator.

We’ll go into the fundamental abilities and information that each administrator of a beauty salon needs to possess in this post. This guide will assist you in understanding what it takes to keep a salon thriving and clients satisfied, whether it’s handling booking systems, responding to customer feedback, or making sure the salon maintains its high standards.

Skill/Knowledge	Description
Customer Service	Handle clients with care, listen to their needs, and provide a pleasant experience.
Appointment Scheduling	Manage bookings efficiently, handle rescheduling, and ensure the schedule runs smoothly.
Product Knowledge	Know about the products used in manicures and pedicures to answer questions and recommend options.
Basic Nail Care	Understand basic nail care techniques to assist with queries and offer advice.
Cash Handling	Process payments accurately and manage the cash register or point-of-sale system.
Inventory Management	Keep track of supplies, reorder products when necessary, and maintain stock levels.
Cleanliness Standards	Ensure the salon is clean and sanitary to provide a safe environment for clients.
Conflict Resolution	Address and resolve any issues or complaints from clients professionally.
Team Coordination	Work well with salon staff, help with their needs, and keep everyone informed about the schedule and tasks.

Contents

Administrator – who is it
When a salon needs an administrator
How to find

Education
Gender
Work experience

Job description
General provisions
Job responsibilities

Rights
Responsibility
Frequently asked questions

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Administrator – who is it

An administrator works for a beauty salon and is responsible for overseeing internal operations. This employee’s qualifications have the potential to increase or decrease the establishment’s revenue.

He must, first and foremost, possess human traits:

friendliness;

politeness;
organization;
stress resistance.

In the salon industry, the ability to communicate effectively and handle conflict is also a crucial factor in evaluating a specialist.

Even though the work seems straightforward, the employee has a lot of responsibilities and a long list of things to complete:

maintaining a high level of service;
regulating sales of goods and services;
customer service – signing up for the next procedure, payment, issuing cash receipts;

registration of clients by phone or during a personal visit;
consultation on the services and products of the salon;
analysis of visitors" reactions to the services and products paid for in the salon;

display of goods in accordance with the rules of merchandising. This applies to beauty salons that sell related products – shampoos, creams, oils;
organization of the work of the masters.

And that’s just a basic rundown of what the administrator does. The following may be added to this list, depending on the salon and the owner:

management of social networks;
writing and conducting advertising campaigns;
organization of leisure for waiting visitors, for example, serve coffee, turn on a movie, support a conversation;

maintaining cash records;
conducting audits.

Employees in both the economy and premium segments are required to complete the aforementioned tasks. Furthermore, while everything is well-organized and customer-focused in luxury salons, staff members in economy and middle-class establishments frequently disregard or are unaware of their duties.

Not all inefficiencies are a sign of lack of professionalism. This is often determined by the working environment:

lack of motivation. If the administrator receives a fixed salary regardless of specific indicators, for example, the number of promotional procedures or units of goods, he simply has no reason to strain himself. Think about bonuses and incentives for achievements at the end of the month;
poor relationships in the team. In the salon business, 80% of success depends on the atmosphere in the team. If the masters and the administrator have conflicts, everyone will have low performance.

When a salon needs an administrator

A beauty salon without a staff member working the front desk is becoming the norm, and each year it becomes more commonplace. In an effort to increase profits, owners cut back on staff, but they must deal with:

decreasing demand for services – people are reluctant to go to places where there is no one to orient them, or even just show them where the restroom is or where to hang their coat;

violation of internal regulations – the administrator is the shift supervisor and controls the work of the masters, their arrival at work, compliance with the staffing schedule. When there is no such employee, the masters begin life according to their own “schedule”, which often conflicts with the staffing schedule;
an increase in the number of dissatisfied clients – the master cannot nag and resolve conflicts at the same time, another employee should do this. And if there is no such employee, the dissatisfied client leaves. In the best case – home, and in the worst – to Rospotrebnadzor.

Even with these serious drawbacks, there are instances in which the administrator is actually not required:

if the clients “belong” to the master. If the work of the salon is based on the clients of the manicurist, make-up artist or hairdresser, there is no point in having an administrator. This entails additional financial and time costs. After all, if the master leaves, the clients will leave after him;
if less than 3 masters work per shift. This is not profitable again from an economic point of view, but the service even with 2 masters without an administrator will be below average.

In the event that you choose to work without an administrator, be ready for daily calls from the masters. You are the team’s leader if no one else steps up to fill this position.

How to find

Selecting an administrator is advised to be done by the owner, even if there is, for instance, a human resources department. Since an administrator plays a significant role in the company, the person selecting an employee should show the utmost consideration for his professionalism.

Education

Thirty-three certificates and a pile of diplomas have long since stopped speaking about the applicant’s professionalism or level of education. No, a college degree and extra coursework are obviously beneficial, but they shouldn’t be the deciding factors when choosing applicants.

It’s okay if a prospective worker possesses:

a completed course on resolving conflict situations;
courses, trainings or education in the field of sales.

However, to reiterate, this is not the primary factor to be considered when choosing an employee.

Gender

It is forbidden to discriminate against employees based on their gender, race, or any other attribute, as stated in Article 3 of the Russian Federation Labor Code. The RF Government Resolution of 25.02.2000 N 162 lists some exceptions, but none of them involve workers from beauty salons.

An entrenched stereotype states that a girl should be the administrator of a beauty salon. In addition, the Moscow-based "Persona" network of beauty parlors guarantees that the income generated by the salon is higher when a male employee works there than when a female employee works there. Naturally, this is just an observation rather than a rule, and it has nothing to do with the administrator’s gender; as long as the worker performs their job well, the salon’s success will only increase.

By the way, psychology supports men in this regard as well. The majority of the salon’s patrons are female. Psychologically speaking, they listen to and trust men more. However, this is merely a statement of fact.

Work experience

I know this will make you angry, but an employee’s work history really doesn’t reveal much about them.

Experience working in a comparable role is not useful information. Of course, you can contact the applicant’s previous employer to inquire about their accomplishments, but there’s a 99 percent chance that nobody will be honest with you.

Naturally, the question of how to select an administrator then comes up:

talk to the person in person. In 20 minutes of conversation, you can understand more about a person than after reading his 5-page resume. Paying attention to the presentation, manner of communication, literacy. A simple conversation will tell you about his stress resistance – an interview is stressful, and about ingenuity, and about goodwill;

conduct a short test on the ability to resolve conflict situations. Give a hypothetical situation and ask a potential employee to find ways to resolve it;
offer the applicant to sell you face cream or cuticle oil.

Job description

At last, you have located a worker who possesses the required attributes. You must accurately draft a job description that takes into account all the nuances if you want his work to be efficient and the tasks to be coordinated and clear.

There are four sections in the job description:

general provisions;

job responsibilities;
rights;
responsibility.

General provisions

Details regarding the administrator role, the subordination guidelines, and the required knowledge for the staff member. As an illustration:

The administrator needs to be aware of:

about internal orders, instructions and other regulatory documents issued by the director;

about the structure of the salon, the rights and responsibilities of employees, as well as their staffing schedules;
about the types of services offered by the salon, the intricacies of their implementation, prices;
about the basics of marketing, advertising, economics and labor organization;

about the principles of psychology, ethics, aesthetics;
about the basics of merchandising, the rules for window dressing;
about the internal regulations;

about changes made to legislative documents related to the direct activities of the administrator, masters and the beauty salon as a whole – SanPiN, Labor Code.

The acts, customs, and laws that the employee is required to abide by at work are also listed here. Together with internal ones like the job description and work schedule, you can also mention:

Labor Code of the Russian Federation;

SanPiN 2.1.2.2631-10;
Consumer Protection Law.

This section also contains additional, pertinent material that does not belong in other sections. For instance, the employee’s educational requirements.

Job responsibilities

All of the responsibilities given to the beauty salon employee are covered in detail in this section.

Depending on the responsibilities your administrator has, this list may be longer. For instance, some employers include porch cleaning. We advise against taking their lead because the "face of the salon" using a crowbar to chip ice off the porch speaks volumes about the caliber of the salon, its proprietor, and its level of service.

Consider all the details and list even the most obvious responsibilities, like returning calls and responding to messages on social media, before presenting the job description to an employee for signature.

In this section, do not use the phrase "performs other instructions of the manager." There are precedents in judicial practice that suggest that attempting to discipline an employee for disobeying these "other" instructions could land you in court and possibly result in your termination. The truth is that the employer has the authority to require that the worker carry out his responsibilities only in accordance with the terms stated in the employment contract and to the extent permitted by his qualifications.

To put it plainly, an administrator cannot work as a manicurist and claim that they have "other assignments" under their job description. If you are unable to anticipate every potential responsibility that may arise during the work process when drafting the instructions, include a clause that reads something like this:

"…perform other assignments as assigned by the manager within the parameters of their authority in compliance with labor laws." To avoid breaking the law in this situation, you could, for instance, tell a worker to send an SMS regarding the designated procedure or place the products on display.

Rights

A list of every right an employee has when acting in their capacity as a professional. These are some general expressions, like:

familiarize yourself with orders and changes made to staffing documents related to his activities;

make suggestions for improving the work and quality of services provided;
make decisions on resolving and preventing conflict situations.

Responsibility

Details regarding the offense for which the worker is being disciplined, such as:

for failure to perform or partial performance of job responsibilities;
for violations in the field of administrative, civil or labor legislation;

for causing material damage, including theft.

You can include more sections in the instructions, like guidelines for behavior in conflict situations and ethical standards, as needed. However, to avoid misphrasing and breaking any current legal requirements, seek legal advice or the advice of an experienced HR specialist before making any changes to the basic job description.

Don’t forget to designate a space for the employee’s signature, along with spaces for seals, dates, and signatures, at the conclusion of the job description.

Two copies of the job description are signed: one for the employee and the other for you or the human resources division.

An example of a beauty salon administrator’s job description

Frequently asked questions

Is it required for administrators to receive training or upgrade their credentials?

Like a cosmetologist or manicurist, an administrator needs to constantly advance. An employee can learn new skills through trainings, seminars, and courses, such as handling conflict resolution or keeping up with cash reporting. Yes, training is necessary. For instance, the 5-day courses offered by the Estetik-Consulting school in St. Petersburg and the educational center "Salon-Management" in Moscow are designed for administrators in the beauty industry. Distance learning courses in the form of webinars or video lessons are available to residents of other cities.

What distinguishes a manager from an administrator?

The distinction in the tasks completed by these two positions. The administration of work is the "here and now" organization of daily tasks and current problems. Long-term planning, design, and problem-solving on a global scale comprise management. Within the organization’s hierarchy, the manager holds the position of deputy director, to whom the administrator reports.

What distinguishes an assistant administrator from an administrator?

In large salons with eight to ten masters per shift, two administrative positions are introduced simultaneously. Since the employee in question is unable to attend to every client, an assistant has been hired to help. While the administrator is in charge of directly presenting goods and services and resolving conflict, the assistant handles small tasks like serving coffee, taking clients to the master, and solving some minor issues.

An administrator doess more than simply field calls and write checks. This person represents the salon, creates the initial impression, and serves as the primary "buffer" in disputes. If you find this person with the same diligence as hiring experts, the salon business will succeed and turn a profit.

Have you ever sought employment or served as an administrator in a beauty salon? Please share your comments with us about this experience!

Beyond just taking care of reservations and supervising employees, a beauty salon administrator is essential to the seamless running of a salon. They must have strong customer service skills, be able to handle client concerns professionally and sympathetically, and manage the salon’s finances. Strong organizational and communication abilities are crucial because they oversee everything from marketing and regulatory compliance to scheduling and inventory management. To put it simply, an excellent administrator makes sure the salon runs smoothly, fosters a positive environment for both clients and staff, and makes sure the business succeeds.

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2 comments on “What a beauty salon administrator needs to know and be able to do”

Natalia

Hello, I have almost 15 years of experience as a manager.
At the moment, a question has arisen…
Can 2 administrators per shift (13 hour shift) provide "five-star service" ?….
(14 masters) if his “responsibilities” include: -salon administration;
– school: consulting students on existing courses, processing prepayments, searching for models for students, etc.d
– also a shop at the salon: consultation of salon clients on products and, accordingly, sales.
At the same time, admins do not have the right to lunch for more than 10 minutes, he should not leave the reception.
At the same time:
– the admin completely implements the new software,
– must CONNECT online registration,
– do purchases for the salon
– client registration
-meeting and settling clients
-salon presentation
-calls
-reporting and statistics

Editorial team

Hello, Natalia!
It"s hard to say, but if you want to know our opinion, we believe that they won"t be able to. Firstly, it"s unlikely that it would be possible to find a person who would be able to serve clients at a high level for 13 hours without a lunch break (this is also a violation of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Secondly, when an employee is given too many responsibilities, some of them will definitely be performed poorly. In our opinion, if we are talking about a high level of service, then all the efforts of the administrators should be directed at ensuring this service. All other tasks not related to customer service are more reasonable to transfer to an additional employee.

There’s more to running a beauty salon than just taking appointments and taking phone calls. It takes a combination of strong organizational abilities, knowledge of providing excellent customer service, and familiarity with salon operations. An administrator needs to be skilled at managing everyday responsibilities effectively and establishing a friendly environment for clients.

In this role, communication is essential. A good administrator must listen to employees as well as clients, respond quickly to issues, and facilitate positive interactions. They also need to be adept at solving problems because staff or schedule problems can happen at any time.

It’s essential to understand salon services and products. Comprehending the salon’s offerings enables the administrator to furnish clients with precise information and assist in suggesting products. This advances the objectives of the company while also improving the client experience.

An administrator should also be proficient in performing routine financial and administrative duties, such as handling invoices, keeping track of inventory, and managing budgets. These duties guarantee the salon’s smooth operation and ongoing financial stability.

In the end, a successful administrator of a beauty salon manages several responsibilities, such as creating a positive environment and overseeing daily operations. They are essential to the success of the salon and the happiness of its patrons when they have the proper abilities and attitude.