Before you march down a career path into the grooming industry you must make vitally important decisions which will affect your entire career. The all important question for career seekers entering the industry is, “What is your plan for grooming education?” Our best assistance is to share the common options.
 

Some career seekers take the easiest path. They need a job quickly and accept minimal education. That's understandable. It's important they don't forget continuing education opportunities online, onsite at seminars and workshops and home study material such as DVDs. Other career seekers secure the best educational opportunities beforehand and plan on more continuing education. Most career seekers fall somewhere between these two extremes.

What's important for you to know now is this, every career seeker requires continuing education for years ahead. Therefore you have immediate need for educational opportunities to get started, and several years of continuing to achieve the level of excellence you demand for yourself and the owners and pets you serve.

Cost is a large factor when choosing an educational path. Unfortunately, inadequate funds leads many career seekers to acquire extensive, quality education. It often shows. Experienced pet groomers watching you groom can easily decipher how much education and experience you have behind you.

Pet grooming schools may sound expensive, and without cash or credit, seem all the more expensive. However, are they really "expensive?" Most programs cost about $8 to $20 an hour. A 4 year college education costs substantially more, even tens of thousands of dollars more. Do you know that many 4 year college graduates earns lower incomes than  pet groomers with experience and productivity skills? It's true.

We've talked with veterinarians hiring groomers for the first time. Their alarm was obvious. How do they explain to new vets graduating from veterinary schools that their income may be less than the hired groomers?

Are pet grooming schools really "expensive?" No. To spend $4,000 to $8,000 for career education leading to $40,000 or more annual incomes with experience, and perhaps $1,000,000 or more in 20 year career is rather cheap in comparison to 4 year college. Think of the time too! Four years in college versus weeks in a grooming school! What a small investment to earn a million dollars in a 20 year career. "Expensive" is not the correct word.

If you accept an apprenticeship your biggest investment is time. There are risks with apprenticeships. Just as there no commonly adopted formats for educating pet groomers by state licensed schools, there is even less formalization with apprenticeships. Your apprenticeship is only as good as the groomer teaching you. We've known hundreds of groomers that did enter with rare apprenticeships and most needed plenty of continuing education. It's a viable route, but there are no guarantees what you will learn. Keep that in mind.

We suggest you write an educational plan now. In fact, we're going to help you write one in the next section of this chapter.

Click the Next bone to start your educational plan.