A SPECIALIST beauty recruitment agency based in Co Down is launching in Britain this month and America next year as its membership grows to more than 8,500.
BeautifulJobs.ie, which matches up job seekers with companies in the hair and beauty sector, is currently registering around 200 new members a week to its growing database, which boasts some of the top names in Ireland.
Founder and owner Maria Morgan, who also offers a professional CV and career development service, says growth since 2008 has been such that she and her small team of three employees are now moving to new offices at Railway Avenue in the town in October.
"At the same time, we are extending into the UK market and we have already been approached by some UK-based hair and beauty companies who want to use our services," she said.
"Currently, we have some clients in Northern Ireland, but they are mostly based in the Republic, from counties Dublin and Tipperary, to Cavan, Limerick and Donegal."
With more than 10 years' experience in both the recruitment and beauty industry, the mother of three boys – all under the age of six – has also been helping an Irish laser company open its fifth clinic in London.
"It is a very exciting time for BeautifulJobs as more people are getting to hear about us and wanting to get on board – both job seekers and high profile companies including Body Shop, Image Skincare and successful Irish 'skin nerd' Jennifer Rock," she said.
"Our website for the UK market is currently being developed, so we are concentrating on that, but the aim is also to grow our brand internationally and launch in the US next year."
Having worked in recruitment and in management and sales for a number of beauty companies, Maria became aware of a gap in the market for a specialised 24-hour, online company dedicated to servicing the needs of both.
"It was something in my mind for a while, but it initially started as a hobby at home in 2008 when I started off quite casually, just sort of judging the market," she explained.
"There were other specialist recruitment companies in existence, especially for retail, but there was no-one concentrating on the hair and beauty sector.
"Business was slow at first, but then it began to get busier as people got to know our brand and our reputation grew by word-of-mouth. It turned into a full-time job for me two years ago and, since then, we haven't looked back."
In addition to online recruitment advertising, Maria offers CV and career development assistance, alongside brand marketing and HR and recruitment consultancy services for hotels and day spas, beauty and hair salons, nail bars, department stores and pharmacies.
"We do things a little bit different than the normal recruitment agency," she added.
"While building the business to benefit the employer, we put huge focus on the job seeker, giving them the tools to apply for jobs and professional advice to help then them win the job.
"We’ve recently introduced a free CV builder to help create a professionally designed CV, step by step, with an area for photo galleries to showcase work – which is ideal for make- up artists, hair stylists and therapists who want to show 'before' and 'after' images."
Psychometric testing is also offered to all job seekers, which is a formal way of measuring a person's key indicators with regard to personality, skills and behavioural style.
Although the focus now is on "building the team" and launching the UK website in November, Maria said connections had been made in US and the company would be "building on that" with the aim to launch in America in 2018.
