Bartending Resume Writing Skills
If you want to get a bartending job, you must write a resume specifically designed to get a bartending job. This is most true if you don’t have any previous bartending experience. If that is the case, your bartending resume needs to present your other job skills with an eye towards translating them into bartending skills. Use the examples below to freshen up your bartending resume and get yourself a new bartending job.
Every job these days requires that you be a people person. No matter where you have worked in the past, you have had interaction with customers. This interaction is often an opportunity to influence a customers buying decision. In the bar business this is called up-selling. If a customer asks for a vodka and the bartender asks which kind, the bartender has moved the customer into a situation where he will more likely order an upscale drink, increasing revenues for the bar. Owners love when their bartenders have the ability to up-sell.
A job skill you may have gotten in another job is conflict resolution. Bartenders deal with conflict on an almost daily basis. Whether it be between 2 staff members or with a slightly drunk customer, you are guaranteed to face conflict in a bartending job. Speak on your resume to your ability to resolve conflicts peacefully and maintain customer satisfaction.
Have you ever been to a restaurant where your water glass never reached the bottom and the server was bringing you another coke before you even asked? Did you end up telling a friend about the place? Bars and restaurants are very cognizant of the fact that they need positive word of mouth in order to survive. If you can show the owner that you will exceed customer expectations and get them talking about the place with their friends you will have become an invaluable asset to the owner. Show this in your resume and you will absolutely get an interview.
Inventory management is a skill that every bartender must possess. It isn’t rocket science but rotating and maintaining a bar inventory is essential to its success. Organization skills are required to be an effective bartender. Just about any other previous job you have had will have required these skills in some way. Highlight them on your resume because bar managers and owners are looking for them.
Money management is one of the most important skills of any bartender. Bar owners and managers need to trust their bartenders because thousands of dollars are handled by them every day. The sad truth is many bartenders find a way to steal and skim off the top. If you can show that you have been trusted with money in the past, it goes a long way to developing trust with a bar owner or manager.
When hiring a new bartender, managers and owners are often concerned about the bartender’s personality and skill set being the right match for the bars customers and employees. If you can establish the above skills in your resume you will have done a lot to assuage their fears and grant you a bartending job interview. The interview is where you will get the job but without a great bartending resume you can’t get the interview. Follow the above tips and you are already on your way to getting a fantastic bartenders job.
