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Manicurists and Pedicurists

Clean and shape customers' fingernails and toenails. May polish or decorate nails.
Related: Barbers  Hairdressers, Hairstylists, & Cosmetologists  Painting, Coating, & Decorating Workers  Shampooers  Skincare Specialists 
Industries: Service 

  • Summary

  • Details

    • Work Activities

    • Prepare customers' nails in soapy water, using swabs, files, and orange sticks.
    • Maintain supply inventories and records of client services.
    • Assess the condition of clients' hands, remove dead skin, and massage hands.
    • Polish nails, using powdered polish and buffer.
    • Clean and sanitize tools and work environment.
    • Assess the condition of clients' hands, remove dead skin, and massage hands.
    • Promote and sell nail care products.
    • Use rotary abrasive wheels to shape and smooth nails or artificial extensions.
    • Extend nails using powder, solvent, and paper forms attached to tips of customers' fingers to support and shape artificial nails.
    • Advise clients on nail care and use of products and colors.
    • Decorate clients' nails by piercing or attaching ornaments or designs.
    • Whiten underside of nails with white paste or pencils.
    • Schedule client appointments and accept payments.
    • Remove previously applied nail polish, using liquid remover and swabs.
    • Treat nails to repair or improve strength and resilience by wrapping.
    • Roughen surfaces of fingernails, using abrasive wheel.
    • Apply undercoat and clear or colored polish onto nails with brush.
    • Shape and smooth ends of nails, using scissors, files, or emery boards.
    • Promote and sell nail care products.
    • Maintain supply inventories and records of client services.
    • Prepare nail cuticles with water and oil, using cuticle knives to push back cuticles and scissors or nippers to trim cuticles.

    Skills

    • Management of Financial Resources
      • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
    • Equipment Selection
      • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
    • Repairing
      • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
    • Installation
      • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
    • Programming
      • Writing computer programs.
    • Systems Evaluation
      • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
    • Complex Problem Solving
      • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
    • Persuasion
      • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
    • Instructing
      • Teaching people how to do something.
    • Operations Analysis
      • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
    • Learning Strategies
      • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
    • Active Learning
      • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
    • Social Perceptiveness
      • Understanding people's reactions.
    • Monitoring
      • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
    • Troubleshooting
      • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
    • Management of Material Resources
      • Managing equipment and materials.
    • Science
      • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
    • Writing
      • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
    • Critical Thinking
      • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
    • Negotiation
      • Bringing people together to solve differences.
    • Service Orientation
      • Looking for ways to help people.
    • Operation and Control
      • Using equipment or systems.
    • Judgment and Decision Making
      • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
    • Speaking
      • Talking to others.
    • Reading Comprehension
      • Reading work-related information.
    • Time Management
      • Managing your time and the time of other people.
    • Equipment Maintenance
      • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
    • Quality Control Analysis
      • Testing how well a product or service works.
    • Systems Analysis
      • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
    • Active Listening
      • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
    • Mathematics
      • Using math to solve problems.
    • Coordination
      • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
    • Technology Design
      • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
    • Management of Personnel Resources
      • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
    • Operations Monitoring
      • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    Abilities

    • Perceptual Speed
      • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
    • Night Vision
      • Seeing at night or under low light.
    • Category Flexibility
      • Grouping things in different ways.
    • Rate Control
      • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
    • Originality
      • Creating new and original ideas.
    • Number Facility
      • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
    • Extent Flexibility
      • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
    • Depth Perception
      • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
    • Multilimb Coordination
      • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
    • Inductive Reasoning
      • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
    • Explosive Strength
      • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
    • Gross Body Equilibrium
      • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
    • Response Orientation
      • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
    • Far Vision
      • Seeing details that are far away.
    • Fluency of Ideas
      • Coming up with lots of ideas.
    • Stamina
      • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
    • Problem Sensitivity
      • Noticing when problems happen.
    • Speed of Limb Movement
      • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
    • Visualization
      • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
    • Near Vision
      • Seeing details up close.
    • Auditory Attention
      • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
    • Selective Attention
      • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
    • Finger Dexterity
      • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
    • Hearing Sensitivity
      • Telling the difference between sounds.
    • Time Sharing
      • Doing two or more things at the same time.
    • Written Expression
      • Communicating by writing.
    • Sound Localization
      • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
    • Arm-Hand Steadiness
      • Keeping your arm or hand steady.
    • Mathematical Reasoning
      • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
    • Reaction Time
      • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
    • Peripheral Vision
      • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
    • Control Precision
      • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
    • Oral Comprehension
      • Listening and understanding what people say.
    • Speed of Closure
      • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
    • Visual Color Discrimination
      • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
    • Speech Recognition
      • Recognizing spoken words.
    • Manual Dexterity
      • Holding or moving items with your hands.
    • Flexibility of Closure
      • Seeing hidden patterns.
    • Memorization
      • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
    • Glare Sensitivity
      • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
    • Oral Expression
      • Communicating by speaking.
    • Information Ordering
      • Ordering or arranging things.
    • Dynamic Strength
      • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
    • Written Comprehension
      • Reading and understanding what is written.
    • Dynamic Flexibility
      • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
    • Spatial Orientation
      • Knowing where things are around you.
    • Speech Clarity
      • Speaking clearly.
    • Trunk Strength
      • Using your lower back and stomach.
    • Deductive Reasoning
      • Using rules to solve problems.
    • Static Strength
      • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
    • Gross Body Coordination
      • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
    • Wrist-Finger Speed
      • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    Knowledge

    • Fine Arts
      • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
    • Administration and Management
      • Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
    • Personnel and Human Resources
      • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
    • Food Production
      • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
    • Telecommunications
      • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
    • History and Archeology
      • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
    • Medicine and Dentistry
      • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
    • Philosophy and Theology
      • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
    • Geography
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
    • Computers and Electronics
      • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
    • Physics
      • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
    • Administrative
      • Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
    • Economics and Accounting
      • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
    • Communications and Media
      • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
    • Biology
      • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
    • Education and Training
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
    • Production and Processing
      • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
    • Foreign Language
      • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
    • Chemistry
      • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
    • Therapy and Counseling
      • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
    • Transportation
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
    • Engineering and Technology
      • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
    • Sales and Marketing
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
    • Public Safety and Security
      • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
    • Building and Construction
      • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
    • Psychology
      • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
    • English Language
      • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
    • Law and Government
      • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
    • Customer and Personal Service
      • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
    • Design
      • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
    • Mechanical
      • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
    • Sociology and Anthropology
      • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
    • Mathematics
      • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    Education

    Education
    Postsecondary certificate
    Work Experience
    No work experience
    Training
    No on-the-job training
    Education and Training Opportunities

    Pay

    Washington Annual Salary
    47840/yr
    Washington Hourly Wage
    23/hr

    Washington Employment Trends

    Currently Employed
    8,390
    Yearly Projected Openings
    1100

    Personality

    Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:
    • Social Orientation
    • Attention to Detail
    • Dependability
    • Cooperation
    • Empathy
    • Optimism

    Tools

    • Air brushes
    • Carts
    • Cash registers
    • Dry heat or hot air sterilizers
    • Extremity hydrotherapy baths or tanks
    • Magnetic stripe readers and encoders
    • Manicure implements
    • Nail clippers
    • Nail dryers
    • Notebook computers
    • Pedicure implements
    • Personal computers
    • Pumice stone
    • Steam autoclaves or sterilizers
    • Tables
    • Tweezers
    • Ultraviolet sterilizers

    Technology

    • Calendar and scheduling software
    • Customer relationship management CRM software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Office suite software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Web page creation and editing software

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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