Getting a job with M.A.C Cosmetics | Pt. 2 Meet The Team

Hello Guys! 
Welcome to the second part of my Getting a Job with M.A.C Cosmetics series – If you missed the first part, and fancy reading about The Interview Process, you can catch up with this here.

I had such a great response to yesterday’s post, I am so happy I have been able to help a few of you. If you have any further questions please feel free to drop me an email or a tweet! 
Today’s post is going to be all about what happens when you get the job, if you’ve been successful what do you do next? 
Well this is what I did… 
I DID A HAPPY DANCE ALL AROUND MY LIVING ROOM! It was awesome, I wish you all could have been there. 
My next thought was: Sh*t I haven’t got anything black. 
My First Day
I had been given a Christmas Temp position whilst working at Harvey Nichols Beauty Bazaar  in  Liverpool and I needed to go through the store induction. Niall, a floor manager, also a legend, got this done with me very painlessly and quickly. I then had a chat and a store walk through with my manager: Amanda. 
If you ever go into this store please say hello to Amanda, and all of the lovely girls on the M.A.C counter (actually, every girl and chap in this store are wonderful). 
I was so nervous about Meeting The Team
M.A.C unfortunately has this stereotype hung over it’s head like a humongous, black cloud, that the girls who work on their counters are awful human beans, half barbie, half devil. Whenever I have walked into a store in the past, I instantly felt intimidated and it would take me half my time to approach anyone for help. 
So you can imagine how I felt walking up to meet the girls on my first day. I did consider wearing a nappy. Yes, the thought did indeed cross my mind. 
I can happily, and proudly say, that every single one of the girls I had the pleasure of working with were just amazing. I miss all of them and would like to thank them all for making my M.A.C experience such a fun one. 

Amanda, Gemma, Jenna, Rosanna, Sadie, Alice, Jade, Emma, Rachel, Amy, Beth and Stacey. I LOVE YOU ALL LADIES. 
It is so VERY rare to get on with an entire team of girls, you expect bitchy-ness to be part and parcel. I did not experience anything of the sort in the entire 12 weeks I was there, and it was the first job, in a very long time, I actually woke up, excited to get to work. 
I thought it would be helpful to share with you my Top “Survival” Tips to get you through your nerves and help you settle into your new job on a beauty counter. 
  • Be yourself! Don’t go in there being someone you are not, as it will soon wear off and people will not warm to you if you are being “fake“.
  • Be nervous! It’s ok to be nervous and shy! 
  • You are NOT expected to know the ins and outs of every single product!
  • Be a sponge -listen, listen and listen. I learnt so much in such a short space of time.
  • Smile – customer service is your first prerogative
  • You are a professional – keep this in mind
  • Sell your hiney off! Targets are key to ANY business, not just a beauty counter.
  • Have fun!  
Targets was one thing I was worried about, I love selling don’t get me wrong, but I always worry about hitting targets. The best thing I learnt from Amanda, was to sell to someone as if they were your friend. You tell your friends to buy everything you use right: “Oh, you MUST have this, it is just incredible.” Pretend your customer is your friend. 
On another note, you pick up so many different techniques when being around other make-up artists, I still can’t believe how much I learnt…
Trademark M.A.C Techniques
Lip Primer – Lip Liner – Lipstick – Gloss 
The lip primer will change your life, nail using lip liner and it will be your friend forever, I want every M.A.C Lipstick there is and don’t get me started on Boy Bait lipgloss – its totes amaze. 
The M.A.C Winged Eye Liner
Ok, so I am STILL not majorly confident with eye liner, especially the trademark wing, but one of the girl’s, Amy, showed me the most amazing way to get it PERFECT. I will feature this in another blog post! 
M.A.C Fix + 
If you haven’t used this, you need it in your kit – you can use it with anything and everything. I don’t want to give too much away as I have a M.A.C Haul post coming soon and this bad boy features in that. Jade showed me a way of applying pigments by spraying Fix+ to the make-up brush first – the difference is sick – the good kind. 
and many more… 
Honestly, before I even applied for this job I had been known for saying “I would NEVER work on one of THEM counters”. I didn’t want to be known as a stereotypical M.A.C girl. Working at this store tipped my opinion entirely topsy turvey, and if I could still work for them as well as the job I am in now, I would in a heart beat. 
Seriously guys, if you can go and visit this store, book in for a lesson or a make-over and take advantage of what these girls have to offer. You will not walk away disappointed. 
P.S If you do go in, get Amanda a cheeky Disney DVD. I think that was the only reason I was hired because we both love Disney. Truly. 

If you have any questions about getting into this industry, onto a counter, anything about M.A.C in particular then leave me a comment or tweet and I will get back to you. 

01 Comment

  • torie wilkinson

    Hey Zoe
    What level where you at when you joined MAC? ive just finished at my makeup school and have a face to face interview soon, just waiting for the date (taking ages) but worried im not going to be up the MAC standard.. what did you really concentrate on when prepping for your makeup interview?
    xx