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Learn to Earn
Training and educational programs in the arts and trades growing in popularity
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BNH
6/1/2000
By: Michele Beck
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Ann Swaller used to work in quality control at Textron Lycoming. Today, however, she is co-owner of Bodywise, a skin-care salon in Milford.
Bodywise offers clients facials, makeup, massage and various body treatments - “therapeutic all the way,” according to Swaller. She loves what she does and is pleased with how the salon is doing. “It has really worked out,” she says.
Swaller got the help she needed to make her start in a new, more satisfying career by completing a training program in her field of choice. She is a graduate of the Institute of Aesthetic Arts & Sciences in Southbury, an accredited school that provides training in skin care, nail care, body therapy and makeup.
Swaller is one of thousands of men and women who are now pursuing lucrative, rewarding careers in a multitude of fields in the fine and practical arts, thanks to the dozens of accredited training and educational programs offered in this area and elsewhere around the state. The programs offered range from the more familiar - such as hairdressing schools - to schools offering training in such diverse fields as dog-grooming, bartending, cartooning and manicuring.
Historically, many vocational schools have reported increased enrollment at times of economic downturns, as they offered a relatively fast path to dependable employment. High placement rates are still a hallmark of such schools. Nearly everyone interviewed for this article said they have more calls for their graduates than they can fill.
Now, however, most such schools are continuing to experience increased enrollment despite the booming economy. Apparently, more and more people, like Ann Swaller, are turning to such programs simply in order to be able to work at something they truly enjoy.
“The beauty business is a boom,” says Kathryn Shingara, director of the Institute of Aesthetic Arts & Sciences.
“The job market is perfect,” says Cindi Hedge, of Gal Mar Academy of Hairdressing in Hamden. “There is a job for every graduate.”
The boon comes despite Connecticut's changing and somewhat inconsistent credentialing requirements. The hairdressing trade falls under the auspices of the state's Department of Health, which requires prospective hairdressers to complete a daunting 1,500 hours of training and pass an exam before they can be licensed to practice.
Hedge says that at Gal Mar, in business over 20 years, the number of applicants remains steady, with the school graduating between 80 and 90 students a year from their one-year full-time and 18-month part-time programs. So, too, does the placement rate. “There's always hairdressing jobs,” Hedge says.
Meanwhile, licensing has just been introduced for manicurists, due to go into effect in October of this year. The requirements of 150 hours of training plus passing a state exam will raise considerably the standards for manicurists. Previously, 40- or 50-hour training courses were the norm.
According to Carmen Echevarria, head of Carmen's Academy of Nails in Waterbury, many women went into the field in their 40s or 50s, because it was something they could train for easily and do out of their home. Meanwhile, full-service salons have had difficulty finding well-trained professional manicurists.
Echevarria herself has been lobbying for licensing in her field for a decade, and is thrilled about the change. “There's a lot more to doing nails than just throwing products on someone's tips,” she says. “You need proper training to do the trade well, yet people weren't recognizing us as a real trade. If the requirement is 150 hours, then only people who are serious will enter the field.”
Although Echevarria has some concern that the number of those applying to Carmen's Academy of Nails will at first fall off with the advent of licensing and the stiffer requirements, she is confident that eventually, her school and the business as a whole will be better for it.
Skin care is the one beauty discipline that has yet to be licensed by the state. There are, however, schools accredited by the state's Department of Education that offer thorough training in the field.
One such is the Institute of Aesthetic Arts & Sciences, founded in 1987 and offering intensive 20-week training courses that encompass clinical studies, techniques, and hands-on experience. Director Kathryn Shingara notes that the school's credentials are recognized when graduates apply for licenses in states that do have such requirements (which include the neighboring states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York).
Shingara points out that the demand for trained aestheticians (skin care specialists) has never been better. “The skin care industry is growing faster than any other part of the beauty industry,” she says. “I have more people looking for help than I have graduates to send them.”
For those interested in the field of canine beauty, there is the Edwardian School of Dog Grooming in New Canaan. In business for more than 20 years and accredited by the state's Department of Education, the school offers ten-week full-time courses comprising more than 300 hours of training in such areas as brushing, bathing, nail cutting, different breeds and fancy poodle cuts.
While dog-grooming parlors must be licensed in Connecticut, the operators do not need to be. All graduates of the Edwardian School receive a certificate, however. Manager Greg Smith says there is a constant call for the school's graduates - one that has escalated in recent years.
“People are more into their dogs being the family dog now, so they are taking better care of them,” he says. “Dog-grooming is an unsaturated market.”
Another branch of the practical arts that has been booming in recent years is that of the food service and hospitality industry. There has been a concomitant increase in interest in schools offering training in the culinary arts and bartending.
The Connecticut Culinary Institute in Farmington, the state's only accredited culinary school, was founded in 1987. “When we started, there were very few cooking schools in the nation,” says Director Tad Graham-Handley. “Now they're springing up like mushrooms after a spring rain.”
Graham-Handley says applications at the Connecticut Culinary Institute are “up tremendously.” He also notes that the demand for culinary school graduates far outstrips the supply. “There are ten jobs for every student graduating,” he says.
The school graduates approximately 220 students annually. Graduates have completed a program that takes eight months on a full-time basis, and at least a year part-time. Instruction is about 25 percent lecture and 75 percent hands-on. “We just cook all day,” says Graham-Handley.
Graduates also come out of the school with a QFSO (Qualified Food Service Operator) credential. While the state does not require cooks to be licensed, this credential definitely adds to graduates' marketability. In order for a food service operation to receive its sanitation certification, it must have at least one QFSO on hand.
Recently the school also added a specialized pastry and baking program. This program can be completed in ten weeks full-time, or 17 weeks part-time. The baking program has proven especially attractive to women students.
Graham-Handley notes that the school's diverse student body - which encompasses everyone from new high school graduates to career changers with advanced degrees - is now divided pretty evenly between men and women.
Training to be a bartender is also growing in popularity. The state has several accredited mixology schools. The National Bartenders School in Norwalk is one of a national chain of 15 schools founded by current president Kevin Cahill.
A former restaurant and club owner, Cahill founded the school because he had discovered he had to personally train almost every bartender he hired.
“Everyone I hired lied and told me they had done this before,” he says. The school's program is 40 hours long, and can be completed in one week full-time, or two weeks attending part-time. All instruction takes place in a full facility cocktail lounge setting, and includes training in accurate pouring, product knowledge, the latest cocktails, and laws pertaining to bartenders.
While bartenders in Connecticut do not need to be licensed, all graduates, after passing the school's final exam, receive a certificate. Out of 100,000 students graduated from the school's various branches since its founding 16 years ago, Cahill estimates that 90,000 have gone out and been successful in the field. He notes that starting pay for bartenders ranges between $155 and $300 a night, including tips.
Most of the above-mentioned schools have dealt with fields that are clearly “practical arts.” How about the fine arts - music, art and writing - and the career paths that draw directly on these? How and where does one get trained in these, and how readily available are jobs?
In addition to many music programs at its regular colleges and universities, Connecticut does have one highly regarded musical conservatory: the Hartford Camerata Conservatory, founded more than a century ago.
The conservatory is a two-year college-level diploma school. This means that while credits earned there can be transferred to other four-year colleges, the school itself, because it offers only music and dance courses, does not grant an associate's degree.
“We are for the student looking for a full immersion experience,” says Director of Programs Elsa Arnett-Conley. Conservatory students are taught by professionally active faculty in small classes and in one-on-one settings. They can take courses in music, dance, music theater and record production (the school has its own in-house recording studio).
Applications to the conservatory are on the rise, Arnett-Conley reports. So, too, are employment opportunities for graduates. While many students go on to continue their studies at four-year colleges, about 20 percent do go immediately into the music or dance profession.
“The opportunities for employment are absolutely out there,” says Arnett-Conley. “As baby boomers are using their leisure time to patronize the arts, the arts area is becoming more important in people's lives.” She adds that having graduated from the Hartford Conservatory is a “distinct advantage” when seeking employment.
Men and women whose talents lie in the visual arts can receive training for a career in commercial art at the Shoreline School of Art & Music in Branford. In business for over 20 years, the school offers two-year certificate programs in illustration, advertising and design, as well as a combined program. (In addition to its career track programs, the school also offers numerous enrichment courses in painting and drawing and instrumental and vocal music.)
Course work covers such areas as color, perspective, newspaper and magazine ads, cartooning - and such computer programs as PhotoShop, Illustrator and Quark XPress.
“Most of the art students do very well,” says Director of Art Judith Milgram. “We concentrate on portfolio development, and graduates leave with a very nice portfolio.” Milgram says that graduates typically find jobs in advertising agencies, poster design companies, and the like - or go out on their own.
\Many with a talent for performing are attracted to careers in radio or television broadcasting. Training for such careers is available at the 36-year-old Connecticut School of Broadcasting in Farmington, as well as at its Stratford branch.
The school offers a basic course that covers disk- jockeying, working in front of a camera, all aspects of production and Internet broadcasting. The basic course takes seven weeks to complete attending full-time, or 16 weeks part-time. Students can also follow the basic course with additional courses in their special area of interest for no extra charge. All courses are taught by practicing professionals.
The school has three state-of-the-art radio studios, a TV studio and a new AVID video-editing system (the same one used on ESPN).
Graduates receive a certificate, which Vice President Jim Robinson notes is well-respected by radio and TV outlets around the state. “Any station that saw you were a CSB grad would know you had the training for an entry-level position,” he notes.
The practical applications of the art of the written word - journalism and public relations - are the only ones for which training can only be acquired at a college or graduate school. In Connecticut there are currently only two colleges offering undergraduate degrees in journalism: the University of Connecticut/Storrs and Southern Connecticut State University. Statewide there is just one graduate program in journalism - the relatively new program at Quinnipiac.
The program at Southern offers students four tracks: news editorial, magazines, broadcasting and public relations. While historically the school has been more oriented towards the newspaper business, this is changing, says Journalism Department Chair Jerry Dunklee, who notes that the school's broadcasting program has been growing in recent years.
The employment prospects for journalism graduates of the Southern program are excellent, Dunklee points out. While the national average for graduates of mass communications/journalism programs getting a job in their field within the first year is only 50 percent, among Southern graduates the rate is 70 percent. (It must be remembered that a sizeable percentage of graduates do not even seek a job in their field, but instead elect to go on to graduate school or, by choice, enter a different field.) “Every week I get calls for graduates,” Dunklee says.
The master's program at Quinnipiac currently enrolls about 35 students, just five short of its goal of 40, according to program director Paul Stanley. “We're getting a lot of mid-career people, which is very exciting,” he adds. The program is still too young (only three years old) to have reliable figures on placement rates, but Stanley notes that, “The people who are looking for jobs have found them.”
All told, the opportunities are abundant for anyone interested in pursuing a career in a field that allows them to express their creative side in some way - and the training that can pave the way is equally available. BNH
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