The future of recruitment in the Luxury Beauty Industry

The future of recruitment in the luxury beauty industry changed radically over the course of the pandemic, but now that the UK is opening up again, people are returning to the shops and luxury beauty retail is back with a vengeance. This is positive news for anyone looking for a job in the industry, so we brought a camera into the office and asked our resident expert about the current trends in beauty as well as in luxury beauty retail.

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My name is Heidi Omar, and I’m the Managing Director at Artisan People.

Tell me about your background within the luxury beauty industry?

I began my beauty career actually on the shop floor as a beauty consultant. I was very hungry for success, very ambitious, and I was very driven, very motivated to get to the next position. So I grew within the industry – I became an account manager, business manager, finally went on to be a field manager for various brands such as Dior, Clinique and Estée Lauder companies, and then finally got to National Sales Manager for Estée Lauder companies, before I decided to come into the wonderful world of recruitment.

I always worked with Jo and Tim [Founder Directors at Artisan]. They were my ‘go to’ agency when I was working for brands, because of their professionalism but also their passion for the beauty industry. So I joined Artisan People three years ago as Commercial Director, and then got promoted last year to Managing Director.

Which brands have Artisan People worked with?

We work with a lot of the major players in the beauty industry, including Estée Lauder companies, Chanel, Dior, LVMH and L’Oréal brands, but also some pop up brands, some niche brands, and a lot of start ups, actually, recently.

How would you describe the current Luxury Beauty Industry landscape?

Wow… so we’ve survived, we’re here, it’s 2021. Congratulations everybody!

But before I talk about now, I just thought it’d be good to reflect on 2020, when we all stayed at home, we all ditched our eye shadow palettes and our lipsticks. We burnt beautiful candles and created spas in our home, and actually our home became our office.

But through the pandemic, we worked tirelessly at Artisan People to continue to recruit great people, so that we could come back bigger, better and even stronger. We’ve got some amazing people on our team, we’ve managed to hold our team together, which is incredible.

But the landscape has changed.

In terms of shopping experiences. I think the consumers will expect more – that became our mantra actually in 2020, “Expect More”. And we were prepared to deliver more.

Obviously, people shopped online and will continue to shop online. But I think the consumers now going into a department store, it’s going to be more of a destination, especially now that hospitality has opened, but there will be an expectation to have a memorable shopping experience.

What are the current trends in the beauty industry?

Current trends… Wow, I think the digital world has gone boom. Technology is at an all time high, even in-store. Skin care has seen a massive increase, because people have been pampering themselves at home. Eyes are going to be a big trend, obviously because people are wearing masks. But I really do think glamour’s going to come back, dressing up is going to come back, and lipsticks will make a return.

Has the growth of online retail during the pandemic changed the luxury beauty industry at retail level forever?

I think definitely currently, and obviously in 2020, you could only shop online. And I think online will continue to grow. But I also think there is a consumer – a customer such as myself – that will want an experience in-store, and I think a memorable shopping experience will be an expectation.

And our recruitment and our training will reflect that. We’ve evolved our training. We’ve been very innovative during the lockdown, coming up with better staffing solutions for our brands. Consistency, I think, is going to be a key part of great staffing. Also, we launched the Artisan Training Foundation, and we also take all of our candidates through what we call Artisan Talent School. Only the best will pass. And we’ve evolved that to make sure that our team are ready to hit the shop floor.

Why do major beauty brands recruit make up artists for in-store retail?

Going back in time, to be a make up artist, you have to have some level of training. There are so many self taught MUAs now, that come out shining, and they can be as amazingly talented as somebody that’s actually gone through official training.

Do you have to be a trained MUA to get a job in beauty retail? 

Any qualification might help. However, people are now self taught. My niece, for example, can do a fantastic smokey eye, better than I ever could, and I was a trained artist. But we can give people the opportunity at Artisan People to join up with the team, get your foot in the door, set you up with the brands, and you can get all the experience you’ll ever need.

What do you predict will be the key trends and changes in the beauty industry over the next year?

I believe that the trends for the future are:

• Skin care will continue to grow.
• Mask-friendly make up will continue to grow.
• Vegan brands are on the up, and natural brands are on the up.

Which means that at Artisan People, we will change and adapt our training programme to meet the needs of the future business trends.