Is becoming a bartender your lifelong dream? If so, you may be thinking of how you can start a career in this field. But because of competition from other applicants, landing the bartending job isn’t always a walk in the park. Knowing this, you need to think of ways to stand out from the rest to capture the interest of a potential employer.
If you’re unsure where or how to start on your bartending journey, look no further. This guide will look at helpful tips to help you land your dream bartending job. This can help ease the long and challenging journey of finding a lucrative career as a bartender.
Take A Bartending Course
While some employers don’t consider a bartending course a requirement, having one is best if you wish to stand out from the other applicants. The training, education, and certification you receive can make you more competent in your bartending duties.
Attending a bartending school will teach you all the basics for a successful career. You’ll also learn the possible daily challenges every bartender faces. Alternatively, you can opt for in home bartender lessons for one-on-one lessons customized to your specific needs.
Whichever method of learning you choose, you get to interact with experienced bartenders. Bartending school can also help ease your stress as you’ll be provided with all the information in a structured manner. But besides learning and honing your bartending skills, you can also gain valuable insights on how to succeed in this career. All this can help you in your quest to get your dream bartending job.
In some cases, depending on the course you enroll in, some offer a job assistance program to help you get a bartending job, which is often challenging even with the necessary skills.
Write A Solid Resume And Cover Letter
You must present a resume outlining your relevant skills when applying for a bartending position. It’s through your resume that a prospective employer gets to know about your skills, knowledge, and experience.
Some of the details you can mention in your resume to stand out include previous jobs. For instance, if you’ve been in the hospitality management industry, you can note it down to prove you have good customer service skills and show you can cope well under pressure.
You can also boost your chances of landing your dream bartending job by explaining why you’re the perfect candidate. For example, you can discuss your personality and cocktail knowledge and outline your relevant experience. Doing so can allow your employer to know you better, gauge your hard and soft skills, and see how well you’re suited for the job.
Practice Your Knowledge And Drink Mixing Skills
Practice makes perfect. While this sounds like a cliche, it is essential in helping you hone your skills and make you an expert in your craft. But as you practice mixing and making drinks, ensure you take the time to learn and memorize the classic recipes. Doing so is critical, as employers will likely hire you if they know and trust that you can do the job.
As a good start, you should practice how to prepare the following classics:
- Manhattans
- Martini
- Margaritas
- Cosmopolitans
- Long Island Iced Tea
- Tequila sunrise
- Bloody Mary
- Daiquiri
- Singapore Sling
- Planter’s Punch
- Greyhound
Besides these classics, it can also help to familiarize yourself and know how to prepare less popular drinks such as Americano, Boulevardier, and Negroni. And to perfect all this, you must understand the differences between the different cocktails. For instance, some cocktails must not be served with ice cubes, shaken, or dressed with a lemon wheel. Understanding such differences can allow you to be great at what you do and prove to potential employers you’re a better candidate.
In addition, speed is another reason you need to keep practicing as a bartender. After all, you’ll often be needed to make drinks uniformly and fast due to a long queue of orders. Spending less time to make a tasty drink is every client’s wish, a boost for both you as a bartender and your employer.
Master People Skills
Aside from knowing how to make the classics, there are other essential skills you must know and perfect as a bartender, and one of them is providing good customer service.
Your job as a bartender mainly involves having casual conversations with customers. And to excel in this, you must know how to engage and talk to your clients. Without proper people skills, there’s little chance that any employer would consider you for a bartending position. After all, customers come to the bar not only to drink but also to enjoy the overall ambiance and conversations. Your superb people skills play a big part in bringing this vibe into the bar.
Knowing this, having a charming personality can help. This way, striking up conversations with customers can feel more natural. It’s also vital that you’re polite and respectful to your customers. You wouldn’t want to offend any of your customers, as this may drive them away from the bar for good.
Prepare For The Interview
After nailing your application for a bartending position, you need to then prepare for the job interview. The last thing you want is for all your efforts to go down the drain. Knowing this, you must take your time to prepare for the interview, no matter how boring this sounds. Employers use interviews as one-on-one interactions to determine whether you’re the right fit for the position.
As you prepare for an upcoming interview, it would be helpful to research the possible questions the employer might ask. And when answering these questions, do your best to be calm and collected. Doing this can help you answer your questions confidently and prove to the potential employer why you’re best suited for the job.
Takeaway
A bartending career can be an exciting path. This is especially true if you enjoy social activities such as talking with guests from different walks of life and making magical cocktails. As a good start in pursuing your passion, you can take inspiration from this post to help you get your dream bartending job.
