Crysande Hochst is a

professional aesthetician and make-up artist. You

can send your beauty

questions to crysande@ gmx.de or look us up

at www.crysande. com.

Ask about our courses

today or treat yourself to a

relaxing facial, manicure or pedicure. Call us today

at 692-5615, 689-1527

or 347-0147.

I recently ran an employment ad for new staff for my business. It listed the vacancies as follows: "Hairdresser, Female Massage Therapist, Nail Technician, Facial & Waxing Assistant and Administrative Assistant".

Every day when I checked my e-mail, I would get at least five resumes for the position of administrative assistant. I got only one application for a nail technician and one for the female massage therapist.

I urgently needed a facial and waxing assistant, so I phoned some of the applicants who applied for the administrative assistant position, described the job to them and asked if they would be interested in that position instead.

These were the candidates who were not qualified for the administrative position they applied for but claimed to have other talents such as great people and organisational skills.

They were not interested in doing facials at all. This really had me baffled. Then I began to wonder if there was a stigma attached to working in the beauty industry.

I can understand where this comes from.

Traditionally, the girls who could not make it academically were sent to do beauty culture or a trade. Our society still places a higher value on those who succeed in the traditional education model where you do O-Levels, A-Levels (now CAPE) and then go on to university to become a doctor, lawyer or manager.

I want to say in this column today, why not a career in the beauty industry?

Everyone cannot become doctors and lawyers. Doctors and lawyers need to look and feel good too; so tell me, who is going to do this for them if we have a society of only academics.

We need to recognise the skills required to be a success in this field are equal to achieving success in traditional academics.

The skills needed to do facials, waxing, pedicures, acrylic nails, airbrush, massages, hair and make-up, trust me, are not easy skills to acquire.

It requires years of study and practice, just as if you were preparing for English or Mathematics exams.

Trying to find qualified staff who can actually do these services is quite difficult. We sometimes interview ten persons to find one good one or one trainable one. We had a candidate who came to do a pedicure practical interview and used a metal cuticle pusher to scrape nail polish off of a model's toe. Of course, causing excruciating pain to the person. Apparently, she had never heard of nail polish remover.

Do not underestimate these talents.

I can tell my personal story of having gone the traditional route of O-Levels, A-Levels and university and finishing with a Business Management degree specialising in Marketing. I graduated with first-class honours and went on to the corporate world where I worked for ten years in sales, marketing and public relations. I found myself, nine years later, being extremely bored with my job.

This boredom led me to pursue a course in make-up artistry as a new challenge. This decision changed my life.

Since I was a pure academic and had never done anything with my hands, I really struggled. But I loved make-up and I persevered. I found my beauty studies actually helped me to improve at my day job.

You need to have great focus and concentration to perform a make-up service or nail service on someone. You should not be distracted; you need to focus on that one person. This increased my levels of concentration at my marketing job. I had always been a person with a short attention span but after pursuing studies in the beauty field, that changed.

Probably working with my hands activated some part of my brain which lay sleeping. My memory improved, my ability to organise and multitask improved, along with my ability to focus.

After completing advanced studies in make-up artistry, I wanted more. I learned waxing and then facials and so on. I just kept getting deeper and deeper into aesthetics and loving it more and more.

Eventually, I resigned from my management job at a multinational company that came with a good salary, company car and company cellphone to go full time in beauty. I have never looked back.

I now love what I do and am excited to go to work each day. Each day is a new challenge and a new face. I laugh all day at work, and it is so rewarding to transform people and make them happy every day.

When I worked in the corporate world, I would change jobs every two years, looking for a new challenge. With this job, I am never bored. I feel like I am actually using my degree for the first time in running my business.

I am also making more money than when I was working at the multinational company although let me stress here, I am not doing it for the money.

Ever hear the saying, "Do what you love and the money will follow"? It is true.

I am not saying that it is easy; the hours are longer and it is physically demanding since you are on your feet for most of the day. But it is immensely rewarding.

Over the years, I have found others who have found themselves in the same situation and have asked my advice, and this is what I tell them.

So please, consider this; why not a career in the beauty business?