Steiner brings golden opportunities to local beauty and wellness industry |20 November 2017
With a projected 44% increase in cruise passengers for 2017 compared to 2009, the global cruise industry is showing signs of becoming the fastest growing sector in the tourism industry.
In a bid to recruit enthusiastic beauty therapists to join this booming industry, Nadine Brits - the recruitment manager at the renowned Steiner “The Onboard Spa”- in collaboration with the Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA), organised an informative conference for Seychellois trained beauty therapists as well as current and former students of STA.
Steiner is one of the leading spa operators on luxury cruise lines such as the Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Disney Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Costa Cruises and SilverSea, among others.
The multi-billion company partners with 20 cruise lines in total and provides beauty and spa services including acupunctures, hairdressing, beauty and massage therapies as well as fitness services on over 150 cruise ships.
According to Mamoona Alma, a lecturer at the academy, the conference was made possible thanks to a simple Facebook post which Ms Brits had posted on the infamous Gossip Corner.
A few messages and three weeks later Ms Brits on Friday found herself explaining the career opportunities offered by Steiner in front of a group of approximately forty interested candidates at the STA campus in La Misère.
“You will be gaining experiences that are like gold. And even if you decide you’re done with Steiner and you do not want to work on ships anymore, having Steiner on your CV will make everyone want to employ you,” Ms Brits told her audience.
She further added that joining the Steiner spa and wellness cruise family requires a candidate to undergo a job interview, followed by medical tests and a three-week training course at the Steiner Academy in the United Kingdom (UK).
Ms Brit stated that successful candidates are then flown to their embarking ports to begin their nine-month contract aboard cruise ships that have been carefully selected for them based on their personalities.
The audience was enthralled with the perks offered by these cruise ships which include the opportunity to travel around the world, meeting clients and colleagues from different cultures, free amenities, and being able to “swim with dolphins in the Caribbean and shop in New York City”.
But the main attraction was the salary which Ms Brits confirmed could reach up to R50,000 per month depending on commissions and tips, and no less than US $800 (R11,000).
After the conference 20-year-old Emi Yanamoto, a first year Beauty and Wellness student at the academy, said she was thrilled to have participated in the conference and hopes to apply once she completes her studies.
Wivine Malulu, esthetician by profession and who studied beauty therapy in South Africa said she had known of Steiner’s world class reputation ever since she attended one of their talks in South Africa.
Ms Malulu told the Seychelles NATION that she would not hesitate to join Steiner prior to starting her own business.
But according to the STA’s general manager, Peter Moncherry, discussions are ongoing in order to finalise collaboration between STA and Steiner.
“We are going to discuss the memorandum of understanding and hopefully by next year in March we will be able to sign it.”
Mr Moncherry concluded that this opportunity is a golden one for his students, and comes at a time when the academy’s beauty and wellness students are being overlooked by some local spas and hotels in favour of expatriates.
When the memorandum is signed, Seychelles will become the 41st country in which Steiner recruits from.