Apprenticeship
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Sunday December 9th, 2007 @ 10:05 PM
Filed under: Piercing
I am 18 and live in Arizona.
I would like to pursue a career in body piercing.
How can I go about getting an apprenticeship that is free and not a ridiculous amount of money?
I already hang around a tattoo shop most of the time, but they don’t have a full time piercer there.
Any suggestions or information?
Thanks for your time!
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
Welcome to the over-saturated world of wanting to be a piercer….No, seriously, its REALLY over-saturated.
Sadly because of this over-saturation there is a wide range of piercers with a variety of skill levels. From the piercer who just shouldn’t be piercing, right up to the highly skilled professional.
Always remember this statement: “Nothing is free”
Often apprenticeship views will vary from piercer to piercer. For example my view on apprenticeships are as follows:
1) Apprenticeship is a minimum 2 years (training and then working along side me).
2) Apprentice Candidate MUST take First-Aid/CPR training and keep it up to date.
3) Apprentice Candidate MUST take Bloodborne Pathogens/Infection Control.
4) Apprentice Candidate MUST have or be willing to take a basic Human Anatomy and Physiology course.
5) Apprentice Candidate MUST have or be willing to take a basic Business Management/Accounting course.
Now I could even delve further and request my apprentice take classes involving metal working,etc, but that’s a bit overkill. Some will even say my statement of Human Anatomy and Business Management is overkill as well. However I strongly disagree as these two very important subjects that will help develop an apprentice into a long-term body piercing professional. Not just someone who is going to be doing this job part time, as they will stand out above and beyond other piercers.
The same is said for First-Aid/CPR as well as Bloodborne Pathogens/Infection Control training…Without them you will be a liability for any customers that enter a piercing studio.
By obtaining these goals you will stand out better than anyone else who might be potentially attempting to seek an apprenticeship. It will show you are goal oriented and really interested in this business. It’s one thing to live the lifestyle but its another to be on the business side of things and offering the service.
Now this isn’t a reply to put you off the concept of becoming a piercer, quite the opposite really, we need more ethical quality artists in the business. But what it is, is an idealistic push towards the future and what we SHOULD be doing. And what better way for us to make this much needed change, then by focusing on our apprenticeships. Because if we push stricter training methods, we will produce a much more trained and efficient piercer.
Another goal for seeking apprenticeships is to not just find any shop that will take you in. Ultimately every person seeking apprenticeship should source our the best shops that use the highest quality materials (ie: Implant Grade Steel or Titanium, Internally Threaded or Threadless,etc) as well as have a very consistent portfolio of each artist working there,etc.
Hopefully that helps you, if you have any further questions feel free to ask.
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4 Responses to “Apprenticeship”
For some reason you have to register to ask a question, but BME won’t send me a password so hopefully someone will respond to this…
Would a piercer be more willing to give an apprenticeship to a nurse since they know about anatomy, needles, and practically everything else named in this response. or would they have the same opportunity as everyone else?
Kim on December 11th, 2007 at 6:05 pmWhy do people expect apprenticeships to be free? I’m in graduate school and am going to be all finished in May. I am going to have $20,000 in student loans (which is really low for both a bachelors and masters degree) when I am finished. I see no reason why body piercers expect free training to learn the skills necessary to succeed in a profession, because anyone who goes to college or a trade school will be paying as well. If you find a qualified piercer who charges you for an apprenticeship, I would just look at it as furthering your education and learning a trade. If the person can teach you what you need to know to be successful, why would you complain about paying a reasonable amount for it? You’d pay for education and training in just about any other field.
Sarah on December 13th, 2007 at 1:23 amnot always this is where one must figure out priorities.
Often many people start off as piercers and head into Nursing.
Also I hate to say it some nurses are trained very poorly compared to other places. Consider where I am at in Darwin NT Australia. There is a big huge debate going on right now about the improper training of nurses,etc. In fact I pierced a nurse who came up to Darwin from Melbourne and she walked away from the hospital job she had, because they “didn’t know their asses from a hole in the wall” according to her.
Also and many piercers can confirm this…Often there have been many times when piercers go visit doctors offices to give blood, do tests,etc and in fact have to remind nurses of proper aseptic protocols.
Ultimately it falls on this…Is the person just wanting to train to be a part-time piercer, or something less sincere to the business,etc.
However if a nurse or someone who HAS these credentials they’ll be able to pass that part of my review of if I should apprentice them or not…From there though there’s other sides to consider.
A person could know nothing about that but really want to be a piercer.
Or a person CAN know about all of that, but not really want to be a piercer.
So a proper review of the person and all their attributes must be sorted out and a judgment call must be made.
Warren Hiller on December 13th, 2007 at 2:06 amThe issue with this Sarah is the lack of standardized training amongst piercers…There’s good piercers, bad piercers, great piercers and people who aren’t piercers in this industry…
FYI: I paid $2000CDN for my apprenticeship and although this person had a fair comprehension of body piercing, the classt wasn’t honestly anywhere near the $2000CDN price range that was slapped onto it.
The BEST concept I’ve ever heard of was via a friend who owns and operates a number of studios. It is based on a promotion style of work ethic. You start off as counter-staff and are trained as such. Then you work your way up to processing tools. From there you shadow a piercer and watch. Then you set up for the piercer and watch. Then you begin your piercing apprenticeship.
All this time you are brought on as an Employee and are paid as such. Pay increases from what I recall are based on the promotions you earn.
Until we can all just simply work together and along with the governments,etc towards creating some form of standardized training…it will just never work out in anyones favours.
final note…If the shop DOES require you to pay money up front, or even if its free…Investigate the studio to ensure that shop is 100% legit and only using top quality jewelry and hold a strong ethical and moral stance towards our industry…That way you don’t end up one week into your apprenticeship and told to go into the procedure room alone and do some persons genital piercing,etc.
Warren Hiller on December 13th, 2007 at 8:26 pmLeave a Comment