Mary Beth Hagen of TITAN Aesthetic Recruiting shares the top 3 tips for aspiring injectors

As the CEO/Founder of TITAN Aesthetic Recruiting, I get asked a lot of questions about how to become an aesthetic injector or provider. When I chat with professionals trying to transition into aesthetics, I usually give three pieces of advice:

#1: Make sure you really understand the career and what the job entails

Many people have an idealized vision of the aesthetic provider role. Employers post Indeed ads and get a hundred responses saying they’ve “always wanted to get into aesthetics”. But few respondents know what the job is like every day. Aesthetics is “cash medicine” and injectors need to build a patient base. If there is no money coming in from services, there is no money to pay a new injector. Providers need to be available when patients are free and that often means working weekends or evenings. The job is not injecting toxins and chatting all day and it is also not getting free product and taking selfies to become Insta-famous. It is being a strong clinician AND being a good business developer AND being an artist AND investing in yourself so that someone can take the risk of hiring you.

My advice is to learn about the job: talk to injectors, shadow providers (and offer to pay them), go to practice open houses and read as much as you can. Don’t follow people online who make it seem easy – follow the people who will give you the guidance and the tips to learn what you actually need to know and prepare to become a lifelong learner. Take the time to understand the career before you tell an employer that this is your “dream job”.

#2: Start with a clinical foundation and learn anatomy

One cannot learn all about injecting at a weekend training course. First, there is no way all of the necessary training can happen in just one or two days. Second, employers usually won’t hire someone whose only preparation is a hands-on training course. Third, if you don’t have a place to practice what you learn, you risk losing all of the knowledge gained before you get a job. Even if you are a competent RN, NP or PA, you still have to do additional training to become a skilled aesthetic provider. We recommend that the journey start with learning facial anatomy.

At TITAN, we support a lot of anatomy training courses but suggest that prospective injectors start with the Complete Face cadaver/anatomy app. This amazing online anatomy tool offers an “Essentials” section (10 hours) guiding the user through basic facial anatomy and also offers a “Specialized” section addressing advanced training techniques and areas. The Essentials section focuses on the anatomy of the upper face, the middle face, and the lower face so viewers learn the muscles, nerves, fat pads, ligaments, bone structure, etc. New injectors learn to visualize where the needle goes when injecting a patient. Once purchased, it is a great ongoing reference tool for a new injector. This online app can be purchased directly from Complete Face or the Essentials section is included in the TITAN Injector Preparation program Course #1, Preparing to be an Aesthetic Injector.

Once an injector has some experience, there are some great hands-on cadaver training courses to build on that foundation that we highly recommend. Dr. Chris Surek runs the Academy for Injection Anatomy and Dr. Jonathan Sykes leads the Sykes Facial Sculpting Institute. Injectors can also follow Sebastian Cotofana on Instagram. As an anatomist and trauma surgeon who teaches at Mayo Clinic, his research and awareness of what you need to understand about anatomy is impressive.

Learn facial anatomy and then add awareness of facial aging, injectable products, adverse events and the patient journey. Because, as Dr. Tim Pearce says, “injecting is the easiest part of being an aesthetic provider”.

#3: Investigate employment options before you pay for training

What are the laws, guidelines, and rules that apply to injectors in each state? Every state is different, so there is no national guidance on who can inject or what procedures a provider can perform. At TITAN, we offer an Injector Preparation program that is specifically designed to prepare an RN, NP or PA to transition into an aesthetic injector role and to learn about the situation in their location before they invest in expensive hands-on training.

The Injector Preparation Program starts with Course #1, Preparing to Be an Aesthetic Injector, is $750. This course includes the eBook “Preparing to be an Aesthetic Injector“, 1 hour of consulting with a TITAN Placement Director, a checklist of activities to prepare you for the field and the Essentials section of the Complete Face cadaver app. We really try to help professionals learn if they really want to do the work and transition into this new career journey. If this is the right path, then TITAN offers Course 2, “Teaching your Brain to Inject“, taught by Aesthetic Specialist Kevin Harrington, NP. Kevin and the TITAN faculty guide students through a 5-week home study/interactive webinar course that really helps people think through the “why” behind injecting and prepares them to begin injection training.

For hands-on training, TITAN has a clinical network of highly-experienced non-physician injectors (RN’s, NP’s, and PAs) who own aesthetic training companies. TITAN takes no referral fees from these training organizations but refers new injectors to these options because they have published training programs, faculty who are national trainers for the injectable manufacturers and provide ongoing support and mentoring. They are all active practitioners who can share with you what they see and learn in their practice, not just business people running a training company. We have a strong network so that new injectors can train in their geographical area and learn from someone who can also be a mentor when training is completed.

The aesthetic field is seeing demand for providers at a pace not seen ever before, so it is important to bring the right providers into the industry with a strong foundation of knowledge about how to treat patients safely and to provide good outcomes. At TITAN, we would welcome being part of that journey!

For more information about TITAN Aesthetic and transitioning into the aesthetic field, visit www.titanaesthetic.com or email info@titanaesthetic.com. Follow TITAN on IG @titan_aesthetic_recruiting or on Facebook at TITAN Aesthetic.