Mum of twins, mental health advocate and trailblazer in the makeup industry, Jenny Rhodes Mclean is a Makeup and Hair artist, Superviser & now Designer - with over a decade of experience. In-between her work on the sensational period drama 'Bridgerton', and Netflix hits 'Black Earth Rising' and 'Cursed' Jenny still finds time to revolutionise the industry by implementing Swing Shifts and creating a flexible working project - An initiative intent on building a community that supports those in need of more work life balance .On top of all that, Jenny shares her experience and wisdom weekly on her Instagram by answering any inquiries trainees and makeup artist have about the industry.This week on Trainee Tuesday Jenny discusses the transistion from trainee to junior hair and makeup artist. How do you know when you're ready to make the move. What to consider when you feel ready to transistion and how to logisitcally make the move. _________________Stepping up from trainee to junior can be a hard transition…I’m sure there are lots of differing opinions & to be honest I don’t think there is a simple or easy answer as to when people are ready. But my main advice would be, don’t try and jump up too soon, be the best trainee you can be first. Don’t just look at the role, look at the job. You’re creating a career path. Before you turn down trainee roles have a think about the specifics of the job & if you’re skilled in those areas… - Could you increase your skill set by saying yes? - Are you interested in working for that specific team? - Would the job look impressive on your CV ? Communicate - before you turn a role down, you’ve obviously been asked for a reason, could you explain to the HOD or supervisor that you feel ready to step up? Is there room for a junior position? If not - would you still consider a trainee role if hands on experience was on the table? If you think you’re ready, you must have a certain amount of confidence in your skills, communication is also a skill - obviously there is a time, place & tone… but there is something to be said for, “ If you don’t ask - you don’t get.” Something I’ve heard a lot, is trainees getting stuck with lots of admin and they don’t progress… All teams run in different ways & there is no right or wrong way, but there are some team structures that can be more friendly for trainees wanting to apply their new skills. -Look for teams with make-up co-ordinators, because they often do the heavy lifting when it comes to admin, which means you won’t have to. -Ask your friends and colleges who they’ve worked for & how much they’ve been able to get their hands dirty.-If you are absolutely sure, you’re ready to only take on Junior roles & you don’t want to look back, you could search for crowd room opportunities to build junior credits on your CV. When I’m looking to bump someone up, it’s not just about how long they’ve been doing the job. I take alot of other things into account - emotional maturity, life experience, how rounded their skill set is & their on set confidence. I’ve had a run of very long jobs & so to help with role fatigue, productivity and communication - we tried to do a performance review for juniors and trainees after every block. I scheduled 30 mins where we sat down & checked in our new team players, how they were doing and opened up a dialogue for progression, improvement & support if needed. If you have worked for an approachable team there is nothing wrong with asking for feedback, either at the end of a block, after the job is finished or during if you feel appropriate. “What could I improve on to be considered a junior for this team in the future?” What ever the answer is : Do more of that :) xIf you have a question for Jenny and would like it to be featured on Trainee Tuesdays, be sure to follow her instagram @Jennyrhodesmclean