SHOWCASE YOUR CREATIVITY OPPORTUNITIES IN HAIRDRESSING

writer PETER WHITE photographer LOGAN WEST

Making people look and feel fabulous is what NEWTON COOK loves most about working in the hairdressing industry.

Newton (31) is the education and creative director for Rodney Wayne and is based in Auckland.

“I lead our national artistic team to create our annual campaigns and I’m in charge of coordinating the education of our teams nationwide. I work with our partners to make sure our teams are well trained and up-skilled in everything they need to know,” says Newton.

“Sometimes, I also work with fashion magazines and do photo shoots for their quarterly releases.”

There is a shortage of young people starting apprenticeships in the hair industry currently. Newton says there are great opportunities to begin a career with Rodney Wayne.

“We all start at the same level. With the Rodney Wayne system, we have a structure or a pathway that you follow to get to a position like me or a regional position within the brand.”

Young people begin an apprenticeship through HITO (New Zealand Hair and Beauty Industry Training Organisation). Once a week, apprentices have sessions with HITO or a training academy to go through the unit standards.

“In the salon, we would support them to train them in whatever unit standard they are up to and also making sure they are keeping up with whatever was relevant consumer-wise within the salon.”

Newton attended Western Springs College in Auckland. He loved his time there and is proud to have been a school leader. In Year 13, he took creative subjects he really enjoyed like Music, Dance, Performing Arts, along with English, PE and Maths. He says what Rodney Wayne is looking for from school leavers is a great attitude and being willing and open to learn.

“When you come into the salon, we teach you all the skills and give you all the tools that you need to succeed, but if you don’t have a good attitude then sometimes it is harder to get to where you need to be or where you want to be.

■ NEWTON COOK IS THE EDUCATION AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR AT RODNEY WAYNE AND IS BASED IN AUCKLAND

■ HE SAYS THERE IS A SHORTAGE OF YOUNG PEOPLE STARTING APPRENTICESHIPS IN THE HAIR INDUSTRY, WHICH ARE COMPLETED THROUGH HITO

■ NEWTON RECOMMENDS THE HAIR INDUSTRY SAYING THERE ARE MANY ROLE OPTIONS, A LOT OF VARIETY AND OPPORTUNITIES, AND A STRUCTURED CAREER PATHWAY TO FOLLOW AT RODNEY WAYNE

“We will teach you everything you need to know hairdressing-wise. We offer courses with outside providers like EMA to teach [apprentices] how to communicate with different types of people. We take care of that sort of stuff, but you have to have a great attitude.”

Newton says the hair industry is a really good industry to get involved in and offers so many different career options.

“The great thing about hairdressing is you can do it from anywhere. Everyone needs their hair cut and there are a lot of people who want their hair coloured. It is definitely not a dying industry that a robot could come in and take over!

“It is always interesting because you are meeting different people and it has a lot of variety as there are lots of opportunities. You could decide to just work in a salon or go ahead into the more creative industry and work on film sets, TV sets or be a creative stylist at fashion week.”