Job requirements Hairdresser in Canada

Employment requirements

This is what you typically need for the job.

• Trade certification for barbers is compulsory in Ontario and available, but voluntary, in the Yukon.
• Hairstylists
• Completion of secondary school education is required.
• Several years of experience may replace formal education and training.
• Employers may require applicants to provide a hairstyling demonstration before being hired.
• Barbers
• Red Seal endorsement is also available to barbers, as qualified hairstylists, upon successful completion of the interprovincial Red Seal examination.
• Completion of a seven-month to one-year apprenticeship or other barber program is usually required.
• On-the-job training may be substituted for formal education.
• Completion of a one- or two-year hairstyling apprenticeship program or completion of a college or other program in hairstyling combined with on-the-job training is usually required.
• Trade certification for hairstylists is compulsory in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and available, but voluntary, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, British Columbia, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
• Red Seal endorsement is also available to qualified hairstylists upon successful completion of the interprovincial Red Seal examination.
• Completion of secondary school education is required.
• In New Brunswick, licensing by the Cosmetology Association of New Brunswick is mandatory to use the titles “Hairstylist” or “hairdresser”.

Source National Occupational Classification

Professional certification and licensing