CTI Career Search

Personal Care and Service: Schools and Careers

Personal Care And Service - Career Information

Personal Care And Service picture    Personal Care And Service image

Personal Care and Service Career Overview

Personal care and service careers cover a diverse and widely-ranging variety of professions. Job descriptions vary widely, as do educational requirements. The common denominator for those who enter careers in this field is a strong interest in providing a service to another person, usually on a one-on-one interactive basis. The job categorizations in this highly diverse area can be roughly grouped into four general areas: Personal grooming (cosmetologists, barbers, hairdressers), personal fitness (massage therapists, physical therapists), entertainment/travel (travel agents, transportation workers), and personal assistance (housekeepers, child care workers, personal chefs).

Personal grooming professionals focus on providing hair and/or skin care services to enhance the appearance of consumers. Jobs in this category include barbers, cosmetologists, hairdressers, manicurists, pedicurists, makeup artists, and skin care specialists. Personal fitness workers help people feel better by relieving pain, improving mobility, alleviating stress, and/or helping heal injuries. Entertainment/travel professionals assist clients in planning or facilitating their vacations or recreational activities. Personal assistants help busy individuals with household and personal errands.

Personal Care and Service Career Education

Most states require that barbers and cosmetologists complete a program in a state-licensed barber or cosmetology school. Full-time programs in barbering and cosmetology, which usually last nine months, can be found in postsecondary vocational schools and often lead to an associate degree. The same types of schools offer training programs for manicurists, pedicurists, and skin care specialists which require significantly less time. Training requirements for massage therapists vary widely by state and locality but most often a training program from a massage therapy school or college is a necessity. A physical therapist, on the other hand, needs at least a bachelor's degree, although a master's degree is highly preferable. Degree programs in physical therapy are offered at an increasingly large number of schools.

Most professions in the entertainment/travel industry do not carry stringent requirements in terms of formal education, although some colleges now offer bachelor’s or master’s degrees in travel and tourism. Some of the larger travel agencies require their agents to have a college degree of some type in liberal arts or business. Travel agent courses are also offered in public adult education programs, online, and in community colleges. The training and qualifications required of personal assistants vary widely. Highly specialized assistants (such as personal chefs) usually require a diploma from a specialty (e.g., culinary) program. Housekeepers usually do not need a degree or diploma; however, child care workers usually do, with the specific requirements varying by state. These requirements range from a high school diploma to a college degree in child development or early childhood education. State requirements are generally more demanding for workers at child care centers than for family child care providers. Child care workers in private settings who care for only a few children often are not regulated at all.

Schools for Personal Care And Service are listed in the column to the left.

Careers and Salary Data

This table shows summary data on occupations in the US. Clicking on any occupation name brings you to a page showing job prospects and salaries for that occupation in hundreds of metro areas across the country, with data updated through 2008.(Where data is denoted by an asterisk (*), summary info was not available.

The green bars in the table below indicate the relative salary levels and growth rates of each occupation, compared to the others. The levels are determined by sorting the occupations (by salary or growth rate, separately) and then dividing them into ten groups corresponding to the the ten possible green bar levels. So a single bar means the occupation is in the bottom 10% for that characteristic compared to others on this page.

Click each Occupation title for more details.

 

Personal Care and Service

OccupationJobsMedian Pay% Growth
2006-2016
Video
Barbers10,330     $24,050     1.1% 
Child Care Workers581,670     $18,970     17.8%
Funeral Directors25,680     $52,210     12.5%
Hairdressers and Cosmetologists355,990     $23,140     12.4%
Manicurists and Pedicurists51,590     $19,670     27.6%
Shampooers15,570     $17,300     13.3%
Theatrical Makeup Artists1,930     $26,270     39.8%

Schools for Personal Care and Service (including online schools)

These schools offer particularly quick info upon request, and we have written detailed profiles for each (click school names to see the profiles).

Request info from multiple schools, by clicking the Get Info links.

SchoolLocationsDegreesQuick Info
Alameda Beauty CollegeCACertificateGet Info
Ashworth CollegeOnlineDiplomaGet Info
Austin's School of Spa TechnologyNYCertificateGet Info
Avalon School of CosmetologyAZ, UTDiplomaGet Info
Baltimore School of MassageMDCourseworkGet Info
Blue Cliff CollegeLA, MSDiplomaGet Info
Daytona CollegeFLDiplomaGet Info
Empire Beauty SchoolsAZ, CO, GA, IL, IN, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, NC, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA, WIDiplomaGet Info
Everest CollegeONDiplomaGet Info
Federico Beauty InstituteCACertificateGet Info
Florida College of Natural HealthFLAssociate, DiplomaGet Info
Fortis CollegeAL, FLCertificate, Coursework, DiplomaGet Info
Independence College of CosmetologyMOCertificate, Coursework, DiplomaGet Info
IntelliTec CollegeCOCertificateGet Info
Jolie Hair and Beauty AcademyMACertificateGet Info
Keiser Career CollegeFLDiplomaGet Info
Lincoln College of TechnologyFL, NVCourseworkGet Info
Lincoln Technical InstituteRICourseworkGet Info
Marinello Schools of BeautyAZ, CA, NV, OR, UTCertificate, DiplomaGet Info
Milan InstituteCA, ID, TXDiplomaGet Info
Milan Institute of CosmetologyCA, NV, TXDiplomaGet Info
Minnesota School of BusinessMNAssociateGet Info
National American University CampusSD, TXAssociateGet Info
Rasmussen CollegeFL, IL, MN, ND, WICertificateGet Info
SkinScience InstituteUTCertificateGet Info
Southern Careers InstituteTXCertificateGet Info
Steiner Institute of EstheticsAZDiplomaGet Info
Steiner Institute of Esthetics at UCMTUTDiplomaGet Info
Steiner Institute of Esthetics at VASOMVADiplomaGet Info
Stratford Career InstituteOnlineDiplomaGet Info
Sullivan UniversityKYDiplomaGet Info
Sunstate AcademyFLDiplomaGet Info
The Hair Design SchoolNC, TNCertificateGet Info
Utah College of Massage TherapyUTCourseworkGet Info
Vatterott CollegeIA, IL, KS, MO, NE, OH, OK, TNDiplomaGet Info
Virginia School of MassageVADiplomaGet Info

Personal Care Schools by State

We have some additional detailed pages at the state level for Personal Care and Service.

Numbers in parentheses are counts of relevant campus-based schools in the state; online schools may also be available.

Copyright © QuinStreet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Click to verify BBB accreditation and to see a BBB report.    TRUSTe online privacy certification