Structure your questions consistently across candidates
Asking the same core questions of every candidate for a role makes candidates easier to compare fairly, and reduces the risk of an inconsistent, bias-prone process.
Categories of questions worth including
- Experience and technical background — specific past work, not just years of experience.
- Situational questions — "how would you handle a client who's unhappy with a color result?" reveals more than a generic "tell me about yourself."
- Availability and logistics — schedule fit, commute, start date.
- Culture fit — but ask about specific behaviors and preferences, not vague personality traits.
For technical roles, a practical skills evaluation (a mock service, reviewing a portfolio in detail) reveals more than interview answers alone — pair your conversation with some form of skills assessment where practical.
Involve relevant team members
Having a senior stylist or technician involved in evaluating a technical candidate's skill, alongside the owner/manager's culture-fit assessment, often produces a better-informed hiring decision than a single perspective.
Avoid questions about protected characteristics (age, family status, disability, and others depending on applicable law) — even when not intentionally discriminatory, certain questions can create legal risk. When in doubt, keep questions strictly job-related.
After the interview
Take notes immediately while impressions are fresh, using the same criteria across candidates — this makes a later comparison between candidates far more objective than relying on memory alone.
Frequently asked questions
How many interview rounds are appropriate for a beauty business role? For most positions, one or two rounds (including any practical assessment) is typically sufficient — lengthy, multi-round processes can lose good candidates to faster-moving competitors.
Should I check references? Yes, where possible — a quick reference check, particularly with a past employer in the same industry, can surface useful information a good interview alone might miss.