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Lynne Walker McNees
MENTOR
noun
men·tor / men tôr, men t r/
an experienced and trusted adviser
WE TALK A LOT ABOUT THE POWER OF A MENTOR—I recently applied to
become a mentor through the American Corporate Partners (ACP) program.
ACP is a non-profit organization that pairs business professionals with
returning veterans and/or active-duty spouses looking to build their careers
through one-on-one mentoring, networking and advice. I really thought this
would afford me an opportunity to step outside of the spa world, but—in an
ironic twist—I ended up right in the center of it, helping tackle one of our
industry’s most pressing issues: our workforce shortage.
I was fortunate enough to be partnered with an active-duty spouse who
met her husband when he was stationed in Jordan—she was a licensed
esthetician. When her husband’s deployment was up and he was stationed
back in the United States, her esthetics license didn’t transfer, and she was
forced to start working within the operational side of a local day spa. She
enjoys it and has grown tremendously, but she misses the hands-on work she
remains passionate about.
As an industry, we are all familiar with the challenge of finding qualified
therapists, yet we don’t always make it easy to employ these talented
professionals. Spouses are deployed; people move; natural disasters happen;
there are peak times in spas around the world. People are mobile, but their
licenses aren’t. We need to create a more nimble licensing environment.
How can we expect to attract young talent to join the industry when they
can’t cross state lines without having to re-test or invest in going back to
school? This is just one of the reasons we have a workforce shortage.
Thankfully, these are issues we can overcome. I know that collectively, as a
spa family, we can remove these obstacles and create new opportunities for
our workforces—whether that’s building a strong company culture or
establishing a new, more diverse talent pipeline. The ISPA Talent Symposium
will offer an opportunity to come together and address all of these topics head-
on. Please join us—let’s figure this out together to move our industry forward!
CHECK OUT ACP-USA.ORG TO
VOLUNTEER. YOU MAY GET AS LUCKY
AS I DID AND MAKE A NEW FRIEND!
—LYNNE McNEES, ISPA PRESIDENT
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MARCH 2020