Learn to Bartend

An essential step to getting your first bartending job is writing a good bartending resume. To write an effective bartending resume you want to take the skills you have learned on other jobs and translate them into bartending skills. This isn’t as difficult as it may sound and it could be the difference that gets you that interview, where you will earn the job. Let’s take a look.

Every job experience teaches up a new set of skills. Even if the job you are currently in doesn’t seem to have any lessons if you look hard enough you will find them. One skill you see often on resumes is the ability to talk to people, or the characteristic of being a people person. Translated into a bartending school this could presented as using advanced upselling techniques to increase the profit per customer visit. Bar managers love when their bartenders understand the value of upselling, it is a skill you need to make sure they know you have.

Bartending requires not only that you know how to handle people but also that you can help to resolve their conflicts. Co-workers and yourself will often get into difficult situations with each other and with customers. Knowing how to diffuse these situations is an essential bartending skill. Bar owners often look for bartenders with strong personalities because they need them to able to have a presence behind the bar that will discourage conflicts from even happening. Knowing how to resolve them is a skill all managers look for.

Exceeding expectations and anticipating customer needs are skills you do not often see on a regular resume but are essential on a bartending resume. Restaurants and bars are in a fierce competition with each other and they how important is keep their customers coming back. On way to insure customers come back is to give them a fantastic experience which starts with employees being able anticipate what a customer will need. If you fill a water glass or bring another beer before the customer asks you will anticipate their needs and exceed their expectations , these skills are mandatory in today’s customer service world.

If you have ever had to maintain an inventory, you have taken part in a skill that is essential to bartending. Inventory and stocking of the bar takes place on a near daily basis. The refrigerators and liquor shelves will need to be restocked daily and replenished at least once a week. Having the ability to stay organized and on top of the inventory is a skill that all bartenders need.

Bartenders handle a lot of money. Often the servers in a restaurant to need to access the register through the bartender and the bartender will handle money all evening. Establishing trust with an owner or manager is essential to getting a bartending job because they need to trust you with so much money. Sadly, many bartenders spend their time and energy developing scams to skim money off the top. This will only eventually lead to getting fired and not being able to get another bartending job. Spend your time developing trust and the bartending money will come.

There are many bar owners and managers looking to hire bartenders that don’t have any bartending experience. Bartenders with experience often come with bad habits and worse attitudes. If you can show a bar owner that you have gained the above skills through your other job, you have a very good chance of getting your first bartending job. Remember to write a resume designed specifically to get you a bartending job and you have taken the first step on the road to becoming a bartender.