Stefania Rossi launches service to tackle recruitment crisis

PB-Award-winning salon owner Stefania Rossi is launching a recruitment academy called Hidden

Talent, which will train therapists then match them to the right employer. Rossi, who runs Utopia Beauty, the Essex-based salon that won PB’s Employer of the Year in 2016, said the service will use the skills she’s gleaned in her previous roles. “I used to recruit for top five-star establishments like The Dorchester and Claridges, then I spent 15 years in the learning and skills councils, delivering apprenticeships, before I opened my own salon” she said. The idea behind Hidden Talent is to draw out therapists’ strengths and help them to present themselves in the best way to employers. Rossi will provide free training via video, one-to-one meetings and online advice.

“Employers are talking about a recruitment crisis. Yes, there is a shortage of good therapists out there, but sometimes it’s more a case of therapists coming across badly, even though they’re fantastic once they’re on the salon floor,” she said. “I’ll be coaching then videoing candidates before I send them to the employer.”