It's a snip - short barber course solves staff crisis

By SIMON HENDERY

Neville and Jacqui Spence say for years they worked themselves into a lather searching in vain for trained staff to run their barber shops.

Now the Auckland couple, who run Mr Barber stores in the central city and Epsom, have come up with a solution to their staffing dilemma - they plan to train their own.

With final Qualifications Authority approval expected soon, the Spences will next month open what they believe is Australasia's first barbering-specific training school.

Budding barbers will spend 12 weeks at the Elliott St school learning to cut, trim, lather and shave their way towards the National Certificate in Barbering. "We've advertised for staff for our barber shops a number of times over the past six years to replace barbers and we couldn't get anybody," Mrs Spence said.

The couple plan to hire students from the course to work in their two shops and have been asked by other barbers to refer graduates to them.

Ten students have signed up for the first course, at a cost of $6000, plus GST. The couple say they have had dozens of inquiries about future courses, some from as far away as Europe and the United States.

The barbering school course is a snip compared to completing a longer hairdressing training programme which covers some of the finer aspects of coiffeuring, such as perming and setting.

But Mr Spence, who has cut hair for 35 years, said good barbers with skills he will teach on the course could earn up to $1000 a week.

"Quite often with women's hairdressing the last thing you learn how to do is cut hair. But with barbering that's the first thing you learn."

As well as attending classes, students will need about 1000 hours' work experience to complete the course. The Spences plan to offer discounted haircuts at the school to ensure there are enough heads available for their students to practise on.

The couple have spent several months fitting out the school and finalising the curriculum with the Qualifications Authority and the Hairdressing Industry Training Organisation.

However, Newmarket barber Gary McCrystal said he had concerns the course would not provide the depth of experience offered by a barbering apprenticeship, which can take three or four years.

While there are about 6000 hairdressing apprentices working in New Zealand, there are only about 15 apprentice barbers.

Mr McCrystal's business partner, Allan Stubbing, said the Spences' course would give students only an introduction to barbering.

"[To succeed as a barber] you've got to have a clientele for a start, and a bit more experience working with people who can cut hair."

Rob Mountford, business development manager of Servilles salon chain and hairdressing academy, said the company regularly got inquiries from students wanting to study barbering. The company plans to offer a course.