Luuna
New member
Hello darlings!
I've been trolling this forum/website for a little while now, and I actually just got hired for MAC earlier today! SO! Here goes my story, hopefully it'll help someone else as it helped me!
I'd been doing makeup for a little while now, on myself and only just recently [past few months] began doing it on other people for practice. MAC has always been my brand of choice [is there any other??] and I only dreamed of working there. I'm currently a bartender-store trainer of a steakhouse so NO retail experience there. I'm 22, and been working there since I've been 19 so I didn't have a strong retail background at all.
My guests, who are amazing would always compliment my makeup and ask me how I did it. (My nickname is 'Eyebrows') so one day I decided to stop being such a punk and apply one Tuesday. I did my makeup as good as I possibly could and curled my hair, put on all black and went to my local mall. My mall has a MAC counter at Macy's and also a free-standing MAC store. I went to the counter first, resume in hand.
The lady working there, who I'd seen pleeeently of times before immediately looked up and tilted her head and said, "Handing in that resume today?" I smiled dumbly and nodded, she gave it a real quick glance, not because she was rude or anything but obviously she had seen tons of resumes over the years and mine said NOTHING concerning makeup besides my 'Objective.'
"Have you ever worked for a makeup counter before."
"Uhm, no."
"Have you ever been to a makeup school or had any formal training?"
"Uhm. No."
"Okay, well, you should also drop your resume off to the MAC store."
I felt totally dissatisfied, maybe I should have said more, but I smiled and said thank you and went to the MAC store. It was totally packed for a Tuesday morning, immediately a girl came up to me and asked if I needed help, when I responded I wanted to give my resume, she mentioned to the manager who was behind the counter.
"Hello, how are you, are you guys hiring?"
"Oh, well we aren't hiring right now but you can go ahead and leave your resume," he said. He was totally fierce. I gave him my resume, and feeling a bit defeated, I went home.
Two days later [Thursday] I'm at work in the middle of a training class and I get a call on my cell from a number I don't know. They leave a voicemail, and when I get an chance I check it and it's Esme calling from the MAC store trying to set up an interview for the following Wednesday! I was in the job bathroom screaming my head off after I called her back to confirm. I was wearing this really pretty copper pigment lid with an embark crease and hi-def cyan waterline that day that I thought would be perfect for my interview.
Nonetheless, flash forward Wednesday morning, it's POURRRING rain OUT, cats and dogs and horses and chickens and I washed my hair the night before. So my hair is lifeless, and cannot hold a curl because it's way too clean! The humidity in my house was totally wonky and my skin was just being difficult! I spent soo much time trying to fix it I didn't realize I was running late for my 2:45 interview! I get my mom to drop me off, thankfully but my umbrella broke on the way to the car and half my hair got soaked.
So. First interview, MAC cosmetics. SUPER crazy fallout from the pigment, makeup is laying crazy from humidity, hi def cyan looking very low def and ONE half of my hair is totally flat and the other side has a fuzzy almost-curl. I felt horrible. I actually cried on the way and my mom was yelling at me because I was acting crazy, but, I tried to hold it together.
When I got there, everyone was beautiful like .. more beautiful than I ever remember when I shopped there. There were a few girls waiting to be interviewed and they were gorgeous too and unaffected by the weather. I decided I would just talk my head off. Yes, that was my strategy, TALK MY HEAD OFF. Lol!
The interview went AMAZING, I was interviewed by Esme and Darrell [the guy who took my resume initially] and I was literally just talking my head off. I just reall tried to be myself, obviously had done a lot of reading about the company and knew EXACTLY what to expect thanks to you ladies/gentlemen and I just tried to sound as articulate and intelligent as possible while expressing my passion for makeup and tying how the job I currently have would prepare me for a job like this. I feel like the question we really connected on was this one, besides MAC, where do you normally like to shop?
I usually can read between the lines and decipher what a question is REALLY asking, and I thought maybe they were asking to see if I was fashionable but that was really, really obscure so I took a moment and answered as honestly as possible:
RITE AID. CVS. WALGREENS. DUANE READE. I looove the pharmacy! I love to look at all the makeup and hair products and nail polishes and teeth whitening and vitamins and magazines! I loved the pharmacy. And they craziest thing happened, Esme looked at me and her eyes got all wide and she just gasped and said, "ME TOO!" And we had a few girl moments and Darrell playfully rolled his eyes and said, "She is the pharmacy queen."
It was just me being honest and we had a really nice moment! So the interview went great and I left. Twenty minutes later, I'm STILL in the mall, waiting for my mom to come and pick me up and I get a call. It's Esme and she wants me to go to the MAC Pro store on Friday @ 2:30 for my second interview/demo! I have to bring my brushes and a model! I was sooo excited! Everything had been happening so fast!
I immediately call my friend Brianna because besides the fact that's she like 5'11" of PURE gorgeous chocolate, she has a lot of similar features as me. She's totally stoked and agrees immediately. For the next two days I'm INGESTING specktra and getting prepared for every curveball possible.
When we get there, I recognize only one other girl from the mall and we get started shortly after. They lead us into a small room and there is like, at least 12 girls and their models there. On the far wall foundation, a few brushes, blush, eyeliner, everything. The regional trainer, Jessica explains that we will had 30 minutes to create a winged eye and a red lip, whatever else we did with the face was our choice. I immediately wanted to do a neutral eye with a brown crease for the sake of time, and because I didn't want one aspect of the face [eyes] to fight the attention of the required attention getter [lips].
She would give us five minutes to collect any product that we needed and went over a few sanitation procedures which I was already familiar with [thanks you wonderful people!]. It was pandemonium! It was the NBA Playoffs the way some of those girls were sticking D! I could barely get any of my products, I missed one vital thing, an eyebrow pencil, and her foundation and her concealer totally matched which kinda sucked because I love a lighter concealer under the eyes and to highlight the brow. But, I made do.
I started working, put bamboo all over her lid and was talking to her the whole way through like she was at counter. I had all my brushes cleaned already so I just had at it. I talked to her about B2M, Viva Glam, Kids Helping Kids because it was about to be the Holiday Season soon and asked her questions and made her look in the mirror every so often to show her what I was doing so she could replicate the look @ home.
I put embark in her crease and deepened it with a bit of carbon, liner her eyes with Smolder and her lower lash line with the smolder and smudged some embark there. Simple, on her cheeks I used a pink, can't remember what it was, but it make her look so soft and youthful. I used the liquid liner over the Smolder to create the wing and explained to her I used used a kohl under a liquid to intensify the blackness of the line.
I used my 187 to stipple SFFluid and explained why it was my favorite brush ever. I completed my look about three minutes before the time was up and then, Jessica went around, along with other MUAs to critique our work. Jessica looked at me first, asked me how I think I did and I kept it totally honest.
I told her I thought I could have done better, the liquid eyeliner was slightly crooked on one eye and I said something about her eyebrows [because I couldn't get a spiked, I filled in her brows with some eyeshadow, and they were okay, but I love thick brows].
She was so nice and sweet and told me that she agreed about the liner and disagreed about the brows and thought going lighter on the top half of her face brought the attention to such a strong lip. She told me she loved the texture of the skin and thought I had an ease while talking to her.
I was really nervous and I thanked her for her critique and she told me I could clean up. As I was getting the supplies together I noticed that they were asking some girls to fix things, and they didn't ask me. I wondered if it was a good or a bad thing, maybe I had so much wrong they didn't know where to begin and thought it best to just send me home. Lol!
But it was supppper fun and I was hoping for a call ..
Days went by. Everything had been happening so fast up until that point I had nooo understanding why they weren't calling me! I was hoping that even if I DIDN'T get it, they would call me and tell me I didn't to take me out of my misery. I reaaally didn't have a lot of hope.
So a week goes by and nothing .. I called twice and I was told I would be called back and had just about given up, and here I am .. a week and a half later laying in bed when my phone rings! They want to offer me a permanent 15hr/wk position!!!
OMGGGGG! I JUST SCREEEAAAMED [once off the phone of course] lol!
And in a little less than twelve hours I'm going in to fill out the paperwork! Yessss!
Thank you soooo much ladies! I couldn't have done it without your posts and tips and heads-up!! I hope I can help you someone like you guys helped me!!
Luuna
I've been trolling this forum/website for a little while now, and I actually just got hired for MAC earlier today! SO! Here goes my story, hopefully it'll help someone else as it helped me!
I'd been doing makeup for a little while now, on myself and only just recently [past few months] began doing it on other people for practice. MAC has always been my brand of choice [is there any other??] and I only dreamed of working there. I'm currently a bartender-store trainer of a steakhouse so NO retail experience there. I'm 22, and been working there since I've been 19 so I didn't have a strong retail background at all.
My guests, who are amazing would always compliment my makeup and ask me how I did it. (My nickname is 'Eyebrows') so one day I decided to stop being such a punk and apply one Tuesday. I did my makeup as good as I possibly could and curled my hair, put on all black and went to my local mall. My mall has a MAC counter at Macy's and also a free-standing MAC store. I went to the counter first, resume in hand.
The lady working there, who I'd seen pleeeently of times before immediately looked up and tilted her head and said, "Handing in that resume today?" I smiled dumbly and nodded, she gave it a real quick glance, not because she was rude or anything but obviously she had seen tons of resumes over the years and mine said NOTHING concerning makeup besides my 'Objective.'
"Have you ever worked for a makeup counter before."
"Uhm, no."
"Have you ever been to a makeup school or had any formal training?"
"Uhm. No."
"Okay, well, you should also drop your resume off to the MAC store."
I felt totally dissatisfied, maybe I should have said more, but I smiled and said thank you and went to the MAC store. It was totally packed for a Tuesday morning, immediately a girl came up to me and asked if I needed help, when I responded I wanted to give my resume, she mentioned to the manager who was behind the counter.
"Hello, how are you, are you guys hiring?"
"Oh, well we aren't hiring right now but you can go ahead and leave your resume," he said. He was totally fierce. I gave him my resume, and feeling a bit defeated, I went home.
Two days later [Thursday] I'm at work in the middle of a training class and I get a call on my cell from a number I don't know. They leave a voicemail, and when I get an chance I check it and it's Esme calling from the MAC store trying to set up an interview for the following Wednesday! I was in the job bathroom screaming my head off after I called her back to confirm. I was wearing this really pretty copper pigment lid with an embark crease and hi-def cyan waterline that day that I thought would be perfect for my interview.
Nonetheless, flash forward Wednesday morning, it's POURRRING rain OUT, cats and dogs and horses and chickens and I washed my hair the night before. So my hair is lifeless, and cannot hold a curl because it's way too clean! The humidity in my house was totally wonky and my skin was just being difficult! I spent soo much time trying to fix it I didn't realize I was running late for my 2:45 interview! I get my mom to drop me off, thankfully but my umbrella broke on the way to the car and half my hair got soaked.
So. First interview, MAC cosmetics. SUPER crazy fallout from the pigment, makeup is laying crazy from humidity, hi def cyan looking very low def and ONE half of my hair is totally flat and the other side has a fuzzy almost-curl. I felt horrible. I actually cried on the way and my mom was yelling at me because I was acting crazy, but, I tried to hold it together.
When I got there, everyone was beautiful like .. more beautiful than I ever remember when I shopped there. There were a few girls waiting to be interviewed and they were gorgeous too and unaffected by the weather. I decided I would just talk my head off. Yes, that was my strategy, TALK MY HEAD OFF. Lol!
The interview went AMAZING, I was interviewed by Esme and Darrell [the guy who took my resume initially] and I was literally just talking my head off. I just reall tried to be myself, obviously had done a lot of reading about the company and knew EXACTLY what to expect thanks to you ladies/gentlemen and I just tried to sound as articulate and intelligent as possible while expressing my passion for makeup and tying how the job I currently have would prepare me for a job like this. I feel like the question we really connected on was this one, besides MAC, where do you normally like to shop?
I usually can read between the lines and decipher what a question is REALLY asking, and I thought maybe they were asking to see if I was fashionable but that was really, really obscure so I took a moment and answered as honestly as possible:
RITE AID. CVS. WALGREENS. DUANE READE. I looove the pharmacy! I love to look at all the makeup and hair products and nail polishes and teeth whitening and vitamins and magazines! I loved the pharmacy. And they craziest thing happened, Esme looked at me and her eyes got all wide and she just gasped and said, "ME TOO!" And we had a few girl moments and Darrell playfully rolled his eyes and said, "She is the pharmacy queen."
It was just me being honest and we had a really nice moment! So the interview went great and I left. Twenty minutes later, I'm STILL in the mall, waiting for my mom to come and pick me up and I get a call. It's Esme and she wants me to go to the MAC Pro store on Friday @ 2:30 for my second interview/demo! I have to bring my brushes and a model! I was sooo excited! Everything had been happening so fast!
I immediately call my friend Brianna because besides the fact that's she like 5'11" of PURE gorgeous chocolate, she has a lot of similar features as me. She's totally stoked and agrees immediately. For the next two days I'm INGESTING specktra and getting prepared for every curveball possible.
When we get there, I recognize only one other girl from the mall and we get started shortly after. They lead us into a small room and there is like, at least 12 girls and their models there. On the far wall foundation, a few brushes, blush, eyeliner, everything. The regional trainer, Jessica explains that we will had 30 minutes to create a winged eye and a red lip, whatever else we did with the face was our choice. I immediately wanted to do a neutral eye with a brown crease for the sake of time, and because I didn't want one aspect of the face [eyes] to fight the attention of the required attention getter [lips].
She would give us five minutes to collect any product that we needed and went over a few sanitation procedures which I was already familiar with [thanks you wonderful people!]. It was pandemonium! It was the NBA Playoffs the way some of those girls were sticking D! I could barely get any of my products, I missed one vital thing, an eyebrow pencil, and her foundation and her concealer totally matched which kinda sucked because I love a lighter concealer under the eyes and to highlight the brow. But, I made do.
I started working, put bamboo all over her lid and was talking to her the whole way through like she was at counter. I had all my brushes cleaned already so I just had at it. I talked to her about B2M, Viva Glam, Kids Helping Kids because it was about to be the Holiday Season soon and asked her questions and made her look in the mirror every so often to show her what I was doing so she could replicate the look @ home.
I put embark in her crease and deepened it with a bit of carbon, liner her eyes with Smolder and her lower lash line with the smolder and smudged some embark there. Simple, on her cheeks I used a pink, can't remember what it was, but it make her look so soft and youthful. I used the liquid liner over the Smolder to create the wing and explained to her I used used a kohl under a liquid to intensify the blackness of the line.
I used my 187 to stipple SFFluid and explained why it was my favorite brush ever. I completed my look about three minutes before the time was up and then, Jessica went around, along with other MUAs to critique our work. Jessica looked at me first, asked me how I think I did and I kept it totally honest.
I told her I thought I could have done better, the liquid eyeliner was slightly crooked on one eye and I said something about her eyebrows [because I couldn't get a spiked, I filled in her brows with some eyeshadow, and they were okay, but I love thick brows].
She was so nice and sweet and told me that she agreed about the liner and disagreed about the brows and thought going lighter on the top half of her face brought the attention to such a strong lip. She told me she loved the texture of the skin and thought I had an ease while talking to her.
I was really nervous and I thanked her for her critique and she told me I could clean up. As I was getting the supplies together I noticed that they were asking some girls to fix things, and they didn't ask me. I wondered if it was a good or a bad thing, maybe I had so much wrong they didn't know where to begin and thought it best to just send me home. Lol!
But it was supppper fun and I was hoping for a call ..
Days went by. Everything had been happening so fast up until that point I had nooo understanding why they weren't calling me! I was hoping that even if I DIDN'T get it, they would call me and tell me I didn't to take me out of my misery. I reaaally didn't have a lot of hope.
So a week goes by and nothing .. I called twice and I was told I would be called back and had just about given up, and here I am .. a week and a half later laying in bed when my phone rings! They want to offer me a permanent 15hr/wk position!!!
OMGGGGG! I JUST SCREEEAAAMED [once off the phone of course] lol!
And in a little less than twelve hours I'm going in to fill out the paperwork! Yessss!
Thank you soooo much ladies! I couldn't have done it without your posts and tips and heads-up!! I hope I can help you someone like you guys helped me!!
Luuna
