cosmetology instructor

learning and development leader

shift leader

instructor

barber

Paul Mitchell Schools

I worked at this location for several years, attended as FP before that. 

If you want to work for a PM School, esp a PM the School, it helps to have gone thru the curriculum. The material in the Honors/Dean's List program is very germane to a lot of the practical materials that you'll need to have to be successful as a Learning Leader.
This is a very fast-moving job, there's never a dull moment, and the staff that you work with are usually amazing and a joy to work with. If you enjoy creating presentations and playing outside the box, if you want to meet absolutely everyone in the industry, have opportunities to travel and learn from some of the best in the beauty industry, this is a terrific job for all of that! 
Certifications take time and effort, so this was hard on my family life, and the 1-3 hours of prep you are allowed each week are not even close to sufficient, you'll work on presentations before and after work, and on weekends too probably. There will also be demands on your personal time to devote to teams and after-hours events, etc. PM is big on charity, so get ready to be actively involved in building a better world while helping newbies into their new and fabulous career in the beauty business.
I grew as a professional and a person more in the years I spent here than in the 35+ that came before, I easily worked harder than I ever have in my life, and I learned so so much. I made lifelong friends at PM, and still live by the Be Nice! book. 
If they had paid me sufficiently for the demands of the job and the work product that I brought, I'd still be there.
There is no better culture than what you'll find in the Paul Mitchell life, it's just tough to justify the salary. The money comes from certifying and joining the Advance Academy. These are the professionals who set the standards of excellence for the brand. They judge certifications, and travel the country teaching Learning Leaders how to use the PM systems to teach beauty basics and better living through positive reinforcement and engagement with the world. They're paid very well, but it costs money to get there.
If you're ready to sacrifice a few years, you'll have such a blast, and if you're really good there's opportunity like crazy.
Future Professionals are a mixed bag as you'd expect, and reflect their local communities, and they'll touch your heart forever. Many go into the beauty biz because they're "following their bliss" and doing what they love having walked away from something else where they may have been managers, and experts, and knew well how to do their day to day, they're in the same group as working makeup artists who are seeking greater credentials, or kids who just graduated high school and have no idea what they're doing, parents, grandparents, all kinds of people who have all signed on for the magic of the Paul Mitchell experience with their education and delivering that magic is exhausting and beyond rewarding. The magic will go with you wherever you go, just be careful of burnout, and plan to continue working PT at least in your field bc the money is not good.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The only genuinely good part of working here is the students. Supporting them, mentoring them, and knowing you’re making a real difference in their lives is meaningful work. Unfortunately, that is where the positives end. No matter how much effort, care, or skill you bring to the role, instructors are consistently overworked, undervalued, and underappreciated. The emotional labor is immense, expectations are high, and support from leadership is minimal. Passion for teaching is relied on to justify burnout, rather than being respected or protected.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part is the constant expectation to work unpaid hours. Instructors are expected to spend 8+ hours per week lesson planning on personal time, while being paid well below industry standards for the responsibilities required. Staff are closely monitored via Ring cameras throughout their entire shifts, yet receive no benefits and minimal flexibility for illness or routine appointments. Chronic understaffing creates pressure not to call out, even when sick. Advancement is limited, as leadership roles are largely filled through personal connections rather than performance, leaving little room for growth or long-term sustainability.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is extremely tense and high-stress. Staff are not permitted to sit, have little to no privacy during breaks, and are constantly monitored, creating a culture of surveillance rather than trust. Favoritism among both staff and students is common and very apparent, which damages morale and professionalism. Management is cold and unsupportive, prioritizing metrics and revenue over people. There is a strong culture of fear, including the use of scare tactics with students around money and licensing, which leads to daily emotional distress for both students and staff.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day starts with a 15–20 minute morning meeting where the tone is unpredictable and often sets a negative mood for the rest of the day. Much of the time is spent policing dress code and managing students’ emotional states rather than actually teaching. Instructors are held responsible for student behavior and expected to control adults who frequently push back with “I’m paying to be here.” By mid-morning, the day already feels defeating. Lunch breaks offer no real separation, as students continue to approach staff even off campus. Instructors are expected to be simultaneously teaching and monitoring texts and emails, and are reprimanded for missing messages during class. The day typically ends with exhaustion and public criticism during evening meetings, where mistakes are highlighted in front of colleagues.

What is the best part of working at the company?
This company is the worse school to work for . They lack communication ,training and respect for its employees!  They are hypocrites show favoritism, and only know how to give negative feedback and do nothing to help their employees grow into being better learning leaders. management is by far the worst I’ve ever seen. it is a complete joke and you will be miserable working here for someone who doesn’t appreciate your hard work ethic. They take full advantage of their employees and are never grateful for the sacrifices that they make. The aesthetics program is seen as the stepchild program and is treated with no respect and not cared for the spa and equipment is always broken and there’s never enough staff management is never to be found, but then tries to micromanage when they are feeling pressured from their boss. They speak to everyone, including their students as if they are their children and are very disrespectful. do not work for this company if you want your mental health to decline.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management makes working here the worst experience you could ever have. they do nothing to help you be better and everything to make you feel like you are the worst. they put you down, but never trying to raise you up

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The employees there are wonderful just not the management. They make the work environment, very negative

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
a typical day at Paulmitchell is lecturing and Spa management and student management and classroom management of at least 30 students at once with no help expecting to do everything at once by yourself

Pros
- Good starting point for people wanting to start a career in post-secondary education (operations/administration side), or cosmetology (teaching/education side) - The company has some very good systems in place in some core business areas that are worth learning and practicing, and will provide a sound basis for the rest of your career. - The company has a very strong company "culture" profile, both in terms of values and processes, which makes it *on paper* a good company to learn from/work for, if you are new to the game.

Cons
- The company seems to make a point in contradicting every single one of its purported values in its day-to-day operations. 
- Communication with the higher levels of the structure is usually coarse (both in form and content), and unpleasant. Very poor communicators when it comes to complex processes. Poor planners. Sometimes outwardly amateurish. 
- The company is extremely inbred, closed to the outside world, very resistant to change, judgmental, slow-learners, top-heavy, aggressive, dismissive of staff and students, set in their ways.
- Workload is *heavy* and not commensurate with pay (both in volume & level of expertise required). Benefits are weak to non-existent (also very poorly administered). 
- Room for promotion is very limited, and promotions are independent from talent, qualifications or results.(unless you are management's family or romantic relationship) 
- Processes are paper-heavy and inefficient. Initiative & innovation are *discouraged* . 
- Pressure to deliver is intense and the toolbox provided is clearly inadequate. In that regard the company cannot find a midpoint between insulting micro-management, and "you're on your own baby" approach.

Don't do it.

My education leader was the kind of person where it’s her way or no way. She openly talks badly about instructors and students. Was continuously disrespectful to me in front of students and faculty and undermined me. She would constantly change curriculum, back track, and then change it again. They will let anyone attend despite them not being fit for the program and constantly disrupting other students’ education. I went to administration over and over and over and begged for help and the support they offered me was inadequate at best. They refused to kick problem students out, but kicked out decent students for lesser offenses. The school as a whole does not follow practically any policy, but continues to “coach” instructors about the need to adhere to policy. There’s no structure, period. Every one down there is a “mean girl”. There’s cliques, constant drama, obvious favoritism. When I got to work there, would always be something wrong that would interfere with me doing my job adequately. Certain staff members would never take accountability for their actions and pinned their shortcomings on lower members of faculty. I would not recommend any instructor to work at this location, it’s not worth the effort. 

Your experience here is largely determined by your management team and their leadership style. To be fair, this job revealed how easily well-intentioned changes can eventually shift workplace dynamics in a negative direction when there isn’t careful regard for team members. There was a noticeable amount of micromanagement and a lack of social awareness, which is key to a successful team environment. Overtime,  Leadership appeared to place less emphasis on the relationship-building and communication skills necessary to foster a team culture where everyone feels acknowledged and respected. It felt as though employees conformed and hesitated to speak up out of caution for being reprimanded in raising valid concerns. Unfortunately, when concerns about treatment or communication were raised, the response often focused on repercussions rather than understanding or support, which contradicts the company’s stated culture. This role is best suited as a starting point for gaining general office experience (with limited expectations). Turnover was high, with employees both leaving and being let go repeatedly.

The systems and culture of Paul Mitchell the school are great if implemented correctly and by solid dependable leadership but the schools are continually increasing tuition costs for an over saturated market, all the while underpaying staff. Instructors are hired at extremely low pay for the responsibilities they are expected to tackle. Students are allowed to get away with treating staff like garbage with little to no consequences in an effort to keep them in the schools to reap the financial gain. A large majority of students don't want to do any work, refuse to take clients, are disrespectful and rude to instructors when asked to do school assignments, and act like kindergarteners when they are in specialty classes(sitting, eating, cursing, arriving late, and leaving early.) School directors and owners are habitually not in their own schools while the focus of sales, fundraising, and enrollment falls on the backs of underpaid staff and instructors. Instructors are required to train monthly and certify 4 times a year with no financial incentive. 
The schools can be a fun and creative environment to work in if systems are put into place but it starts from the top.

I loved being a learning leader. As a hairstylist with 15+ years of behind the chair experience, it was nice to take a break and give back to the industry. Teaching adults is not without challenges, but watching students grow from the first day thru graduation was amazing. What wasn’t amazing was the management/ owner at Paul Mitchell the School Portland. Pretty sure I resigned 3 times during my employment, mostly because the work life balance wasn’t sustainable. The learning leaders were on salary but expected to work 50-60 hours a week, with no notice. Meetings were called 5 minutes before close and would drag on pointlessly. Paychecks were held on paydays until the inevitable end of day meeting was over. Low inventory, inadequate teaching supplies, unhappy students, and shady business practices. Some learning leaders were treated worse than others and you really had to fight for your worth. They started to hire new Learning Leaders from out of state because their local reputation had gotten so bad. Hope some major changes come to what could be an amazing Learning Institution. 

Company inbred, resistant to change, does not welcome suggestions or change, especially in the face of consistent failure of existing systems. Constantly having to step in for deficient management and blamed for outcomes.
Severe organization, process and priority issues. No accountability. No compass.
Medieval management, Intense backstabbing. Low morale. A culture of fakers. This place is where higher education ideals come to die.
Communication style curt, unfocused, imprecise, rough at the edges if not stunningly unprofessional. Work environment manipulative, unforgiving and aggressive. Contempt for staff and students is obvious. Asked to write nice reviews online, like their Facebook, etc, Your online activity is monitored & can be used against you.
Actual skill level required without relation with paycheck. Workload  preposterous.
Benefits weak to inexistent, poorly administered. 
No promotion if you are not family/friend/romantic relationship.
 
NICE ping pong table, though.

Arrive 20-30 minutes almost every day.  Get organized for the day.   Morning meeting, greet students then admissions morning meeting.  Then start in my list of to do.   Calling company's to confirm events for Design Team.  If a walk in tour comes then I will give  a tour.  Also keep in contact with local salons on who is hiring, so I can contact graduates to be placed in those salons.    Prepare for Reverse Career Fair events for graduates and students.  Promote and help with any other events that are going on with the school, such as back to school supply drive, fundraising and fashion shows.  
I also do resume classes and interview classes to prepare the students for after graduation.   I love the people I work with.  Sometimes some of management can have  a bad attitude towards other employees and the students.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Cosmetology instructor 94 salaries reported	$20.79 per hour
Learning and development leader 32 salaries reported	$21.55 per hour
Shift leader 19 salaries reported	$21.18 per hour
Instructor 24 salaries reported	$22.48 per hour
Barber 34 salaries reported	$21.56 per hour

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