In my almost 10 years of volunteering for Ask BME no one question has arisen more often than “how do I become a body piercer”.

The basic answer is “get an apprenticeship”, in this day and age there is no other reputable way into this industry. Being self taught was ok in the 90′s, when the internet was hardly in use so no one really knew any better and when piercing shops were rare and apprenticeships even rarer. Of course now there are so called “piercing schools” that claim to teach everything you need to know in a short course and then give you a nice printed up certificate proclaiming to the piercing community that you are indeed an idiot with no respect for this industry.

Ok, so it’s obvious an apprenticeship is the way to go, but how does one find an apprenticeship? If you are lucky it can be as simple as asking the piercer at your favorite shop and them being interested in you and desiring an apprentice at that very moment. However, any piercer worth their gloves gets asked for an apprenticeship on a regular basis and can’t possibly take on everyone that ask. Sometimes someone seeking an apprenticeship will respond to an ad such as those on the APP jobs page or other form of classifieds.

Or perhaps, you have always thought about being a piercer but didn’t even know where to look to find an apprenticeship until one day you were reading your favorite blog and the author was using it as an advertisement for an apprenticeship he was about to offer.

Long story short, I have one current apprentice. He is just starting to pierce on his own a bit, but I am in the process of opening a second location and need one more piercer to help me cover the shifts. Of course, I could hire a piercer who already knows how to pierce, but I prefer to train someone myself. I have hired other piercers in the past and honestly, I just prefer having someone I trained to do things my way. No conflict of techniques or aftercare, just all of us on the same page. So unless you are Mason, I don’t want anyone experienced as a piercer, I prefer a clean slate.

So if you are interested in learning to pierce by yours truly and meet the following requirements:

-Are willing to spend a week on a trial basis to “win” your spot as the next apprentice. This will be like reality tv, without the editing.

-Have your own transportation and be willing to relocate to the Northern VA/ Eastern WV area.

-Can support yourself without any income from the apprenticeship (until you are capable of piercing on your own).

-Are willing to work and take some abuse to earn your apprenticeship.

-Want to stay in the area and work as a full time piercer after the apprenticeship. I am looking for a long term reliable employee, if this is not what you want or where you want to be this is not the apprenticeship for you.

This could be your ticket into the piercing industry.

Here is info on me and my current shop. I won’t waste any more Modblog space on this tonight, so if you think you are interested, email me (using the link next to my picture below entries) for more information.

Think your not cool enough to get this apprenticeship?

I thought this picture of Atlanta, who beat out the competition last round may be enough to encourage ANYONE to think they can get this if they really want it.