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- Aug 10, 2016
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Back in September of 2016, I had been officially unemployed for about 5-6 months. I'd picked up a freelance gig in the summer doing data entry but had just gotten laid off from that. That was around the time I was starting to get serious about the stuff I was learning from here. Given my situation at the time, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to find a job based around socialization and being good with people. Bartending is a great gig to land - I'll go over all the pros and cons I've seen - but it can be tricky if you haven't been working in the industry for long. I've seen a few guys in this forum expressing interest in getting a job as a bartender (I know Chase has also recommended it as a "semi-independent" career path and Hector talks about his time after college as a bartender with pride and gusto too), so I made this thread to share my thoughts, insights, and observations on the road so far and as I keep going. This might be helpful for people wondering if this job is right for them or have been looking for one with little luck.
How is a college bar different?
Every business needs to establish their target market, and when that market is college students, it affects how you decorate, what you serve, how you do business, and yes, who you hire. There's a reason most bars in college towns have hot female bartenders.
You tend to notice younger employees in college town bars. As you can assume, many of them are college students paying for tuition or rent, or recent college graduates who have established themselves at a location and aren't ready to move into their careers yet. You also have a few career bartenders who have found they like the industry and will stay there for a short time until they get tired of the college scene, and either move to another bar or a similar industry such as catering. These tend to be among the oldest bartenders in college towns, typically in their mid to late 20s to early 30s. It's rare to see someone older than 40 working at a college bar, outside of a management role at least. Oftentimes at that point they make a move towards upper management or even working for a vendor, using their connections in the area as sales opportunities.
Another thing that sets this scene apart from other bars is the network of connections that come along with it. Unlike franchises and corporate-owned chains, where many different owners make up the brand as a whole, you get several small-owned businesses owned by the same group of people, and knowing people in one location can be an easy recommendation to another if you happen to want or need a new job. This can also make it harder to get a job at a totally different location if you left your previous employer on bad terms. Reputation is fairly important if you want to make a career in this particular industry niche.
If you've got experience in other venues like hotel or dive bars or even at events, your experience will be helpful (and also incentive to hire you) but don't expect the same thing you're used to.
How to get a job*
*as a guy
Had to put that asterisk in because as many bartenders and managers will attest, hiring criteria are very different between guys and gals. Regardless of whether you love it or lament it, it's a well-known fact that girls have an easier time getting a job as a bartender, and they get hired more often. They also tend to get taken less seriously, since people assume they got hired for their looks. Someone once told me that girls get hired for their ability to draw customers in, and guys get hired for their ability to do good work behind the bar. As such, at any given bar you'll see more girl bartenders, but the guys tend to get more shifts. This totally changes if there are one or two girls on the roster who kick ass behind the bar, because the balance of shifts tends to be based on who makes the most money for the business.
Having sat in on my share of interviews and talked to countless management-level people in the industry, I've managed to spot out a few of the big things people look for in a bartender. Since most of the readers here are guys, I'll focus more on pros and cons for us.
What helps:
- Being good-looking. This should be a mantra for everything in life to be honest, but very much so in the highly-superficial world of bartending. Most people assume this is true for female bartenders, but if you really think about it, you'll notice most of the guys working behind the bar aren't exactly slouches either. Most of them are either pretty jacked, have a decent beard going, a deep voice and commanding presence, or some combination of those things. This also ties back to the fundamental rule of seduction (work on your fundamentals), so if you want a bartending job to help with the ladies, you should be working on your appearance anyway. A lot of places will require a uniform or dress code too, so this is less clothing-and-accessory-based and more about body and hair.
- Experience. Even the best-looking guy will hold very little water against the plethora of good-looking females in the industry. A man's best instrument at getting a job as a bartender is experience. This is how I landed a job where I did. Most places won't really care about experience if it's under a year's worth. Gaps in your resume can also be a hindrance (pretty sure that's what hurt me at most places I applied, I hadn't worked at a bar since early 2015) as they can show you're a little out of practice or communicate that maybe there was a reason you left the industry. Some places require you to have a state-certified bartending certification or some other license, and there are countless online classes you can take to increase your knowledge about the industry and fluff up your resume (a lot of people don't bother with these so you can stand out if you have). While I recommend these, note that many of them are the same and none of them carry the same weight as experience. Don't expect online credentials to get you a job.
- Connections. It's not always knowing people in high places that lands you a job. Sometimes it's knowing a shit ton of people in lower places. All the guys that work at our bar (excluding myself) are in fraternities. Most of the girls are in sororities. Most of the girls also have very powerful social media presences (not as big an asset to or expectation from guys; social media is mostly a female-friendly environment). Connections like this will lead hiring managers to believe you can bring them more customers. Outside of Greek Life, whenever the GM is looking for new hires, the first place he goes is other people he knows in the industry and tries to poach them from other businesses. A lot of our vendors also reference people from other locations they're servicing that might be interested. We actually just hired a new girl from Nevada who was referenced by some guy she met at a party over there that happened to know my boss and mentioned her when they were talking about people who might want a job.
- Intelligence. In lieu of experience, aptitude for learning quickly and an interest in doing so is probably the next best thing. Not all managers feel this way (some prefer experience simply because their store is so popular they can have their pick of the litter and would rather not worry about training), but some managers know that the finer details of the job can be taught but character and talent cannot, and value those things higher. This isn't imperative, and definitely not guaranteed to land you a job, but this is an industry where it definitely doesn't hurt.
- Work ethic. Handle this with care. Work ethic is always something employers are looking for, but there's kind of a fine line between a hard work ethic and being tryhard. The main difference between the two is how it appears. If you don't have a car and rode your bike to the interview, bring a change of clothes and deodorant so you're still presentable. Your willingness to work your ass off can be interpreted by some of the more unsavory characters in the industry as desperation, or some other trait to be exploited. Unfortunately, this is something you need to keep in mind as the nightlife industry by nature draws in a lot of dubious people, both among clientele and employers. I will talk more about this and how to avoid it in another post, but for this bullet, I would say demonstrate that you have a strong work ethic but that you're not going to give it away for free. In an interview, this can be communicated by talking about a time when you left an employer because they were taking advantage of you or how you worked an event for a certain amount of money, which can help establish in the interviewer's mind how you personally value your work ethic. An accurate sense of self-worth not only shows you won't be taken advantage of, but can help swing wage negotiations in your favor.
- Personality. The fact that I listed this last should show that these aren't listed in order of importance. Being clearly boring will turn off an employer very quickly, it's interestingly almost the opposite effect of having connections. Connections show that you can draw people in and provide a unique value to a venue, being boring shows that you turn people away and suck the life out of a place. Luckily this is pretty easy to communicate in an interview; answer a question in a unique, possibly funny way, or give a brief story to show that you can chat up customers at the bar easily, maybe ask a slightly personal (definitely non-intrusive) question when they ask you "Do you have any questions for me?". It's hard to tell you exactly how to meet this criterion, but if you understand what I mean it's pretty easy to accomplish and makes you more memorable to the manager.
What doesn't help as much:
- Being overly confident. Don't get me wrong, confidence is good - dare I say necessary - especially if it goes well with the rest of your personality. But there's a difference between knowing you're right for the job and expecting that you've already gotten the job during or after the interview. Saying something like "So when do I start?" or putting down other employees as if you're better than them will quickly undo any merit you bring to the table. You can be the most experienced bartender in the world, but if you don't fit in with the rest of the team or respect the authority of the managers, you clearly won't be a good fit. If you were good enough to run your own bar, you wouldn't be there asking for a job. That being said, lack of confidence is also a turn-off and is not congruent with the experience you hopefully have. Your goal should be to communicate confidence that you're right for the job, but humility in that you're not trying to alpha your way into it.
- Relying on any one merit too much. Kind of ties into the first no-no. Believing that a certain connection or your three years of working at T.G.I. Friday's will land you the job communicates entitlement and gives the impression that you're just looking to coast into an opportunity you see as a step-up. If you want to communicate those things without sounding arrogant, maybe ask "How did you hear about me?" if you know a certain person referenced you, just to remind the person you're not just coming out of nowhere; or if they ask you to talk about your strengths or a story or something, refer to a story from your job to subtly reference your experience.
- Being too impersonal. A rather funny quirk people tend to have in an interview is to only talk about work-related things, trying to show off what they have to offer. The idea makes sense - a hiring manager is primarily concerned with how you're going to benefit the business - but it communicates a few detrimental things: 1) Making you seem tryhard (desperation is unattractive in all aspects of life), 2) making you seem like you don't have a life (which you do, because nobody is 100% all about work), and 3) makes you seem somewhat unlikable (making a connection on the interview shows how easily you form new connections, which communicates how well you'll fit in with the staff and clientele).
- Misdressing for the interview. This one is kind of circumstantial, so it's tough to apply a blanket rule. If your boss knows you're coming right from school and you show up in a suit, it's going to look weird. Showing up in stained or ragged clothing shows you either think that attire is presentable, don't particularly care about how you look, or don't own any nicer clothes (meaning you're desperate). Aside from back of house staff, I've never seen anyone come in for an interview tremendously underdressed, so I would say more people would worry about not being overdressed. Some general rules would be:
1) Know the venue (wearing something resembling the employee uniform is usually fine, so long as it's clean and not ripped).
2) Know the hiring manager (this one can be hard unless you've met them or know someone who knows them - my very first job, the manager told me he's never hired anyone who didn't wear a button-down shirt, and almost every hiring manager I've had in the same industry since then made a comment about me being overdressed for the interview - it's all case-by-case, so the more you know beforehand the better).
3) When in doubt just dress like yourself (I wore a button-down to the interview I had for this job, and I've worn one almost every day since then - because it's congruent, it's never seemed tryhard or excessive).
4) If you show up for the interview misdressed, compensate, play it off, and make up for it with a solid interview (if you're underdressed then act more professional, if you're overdressed then act more laid-back, if they make a comment about it then use self-deprecating humor to show you don't take little mistakes too seriously, and just make the rest of the interview memorable). Once you get hired, proper dress code will be explained or you'll be given a uniform, and in the future misdressing won't be an issue.
- Lying. I'd hope this isn't something you guys need to pay close attention to, but if you're like me, you don't have a strong moral imperative against small fibs that boost your standing or get you something you want. The issue with that in this - and in several other instances - is that after the interview, your honesty will be revealed fairly quickly. If you said you've got years of bartending experience and you can't balance multiple drink orders, drop glassware like crazy, and mess up orders, they will know you lied. If you describe yourself as great with people or say that you're in a certain organization, a simple Facebook check or a few serious social blunders on the job will derail that train. If you've got limited experience or are still developing your social skills, just don't mention those things and downplay their importance if they come up. Focus on your strengths, minimize your weaknesses. No one will fault you for that.
- Nervousness or stress. This is something I notice in younger people more often than older people, since experience is the largest source of confidence. Since most employees and candidates in college town bars are younger, a degree of nervousness is quite common and to be expected. That being said, a lack thereof can make you seem substantially more ideal. If you're unemployed, it can be difficult to communicate this, just like a dry spell or lack of experience with a certain kind of girl can naturally make you seem thirstier. If you have to, I might recommend landing a McJob first. Once you have something to cover your expenses and take your mind off those bills, you can jump from that to the job you actually want in the nightlife industry.
To bring this post to an end, there are two things I'll leave you with if you've been looking for a job in this industry for a while with no luck. Don't lose confidence or get bitter. Yes, you've probably been passed up more than once in favor of some chick with no experience because she's super fine. Maybe you've exhausted all the bars on the main street of your college town and have no idea where you'll go after that. If you want this job bad enough, you'll do what you've got to do to get it. Part of that means keeping your chin up and having a good attitude. The other thing is be willing to compromise if you have to. After speaking with some experienced bartenders in high-volume and high-end areas, a lot of them told me to start as a barback and bust my ass, and I would eventually get promoted. I didn't want to listen at the time and passed up a few offers I had for a server or barback that might lead to promotion. By the time I changed my mind, the positions had closed. I lucked out eventually, but it's been substantially harder than if I'd have listened back then. Guys without experience have a very difficult time getting a foot in the door, and the work-your-way-up approach is often one of the only ways to establish yourself.
I'll cover more stuff in the near future. If anyone has any questions, go ahead and post them in a reply. Any critique or contributions from other people are also welcome. Cheers
How is a college bar different?
Every business needs to establish their target market, and when that market is college students, it affects how you decorate, what you serve, how you do business, and yes, who you hire. There's a reason most bars in college towns have hot female bartenders.
You tend to notice younger employees in college town bars. As you can assume, many of them are college students paying for tuition or rent, or recent college graduates who have established themselves at a location and aren't ready to move into their careers yet. You also have a few career bartenders who have found they like the industry and will stay there for a short time until they get tired of the college scene, and either move to another bar or a similar industry such as catering. These tend to be among the oldest bartenders in college towns, typically in their mid to late 20s to early 30s. It's rare to see someone older than 40 working at a college bar, outside of a management role at least. Oftentimes at that point they make a move towards upper management or even working for a vendor, using their connections in the area as sales opportunities.
Another thing that sets this scene apart from other bars is the network of connections that come along with it. Unlike franchises and corporate-owned chains, where many different owners make up the brand as a whole, you get several small-owned businesses owned by the same group of people, and knowing people in one location can be an easy recommendation to another if you happen to want or need a new job. This can also make it harder to get a job at a totally different location if you left your previous employer on bad terms. Reputation is fairly important if you want to make a career in this particular industry niche.
If you've got experience in other venues like hotel or dive bars or even at events, your experience will be helpful (and also incentive to hire you) but don't expect the same thing you're used to.
How to get a job*
*as a guy
Had to put that asterisk in because as many bartenders and managers will attest, hiring criteria are very different between guys and gals. Regardless of whether you love it or lament it, it's a well-known fact that girls have an easier time getting a job as a bartender, and they get hired more often. They also tend to get taken less seriously, since people assume they got hired for their looks. Someone once told me that girls get hired for their ability to draw customers in, and guys get hired for their ability to do good work behind the bar. As such, at any given bar you'll see more girl bartenders, but the guys tend to get more shifts. This totally changes if there are one or two girls on the roster who kick ass behind the bar, because the balance of shifts tends to be based on who makes the most money for the business.
Having sat in on my share of interviews and talked to countless management-level people in the industry, I've managed to spot out a few of the big things people look for in a bartender. Since most of the readers here are guys, I'll focus more on pros and cons for us.
What helps:
- Being good-looking. This should be a mantra for everything in life to be honest, but very much so in the highly-superficial world of bartending. Most people assume this is true for female bartenders, but if you really think about it, you'll notice most of the guys working behind the bar aren't exactly slouches either. Most of them are either pretty jacked, have a decent beard going, a deep voice and commanding presence, or some combination of those things. This also ties back to the fundamental rule of seduction (work on your fundamentals), so if you want a bartending job to help with the ladies, you should be working on your appearance anyway. A lot of places will require a uniform or dress code too, so this is less clothing-and-accessory-based and more about body and hair.
- Experience. Even the best-looking guy will hold very little water against the plethora of good-looking females in the industry. A man's best instrument at getting a job as a bartender is experience. This is how I landed a job where I did. Most places won't really care about experience if it's under a year's worth. Gaps in your resume can also be a hindrance (pretty sure that's what hurt me at most places I applied, I hadn't worked at a bar since early 2015) as they can show you're a little out of practice or communicate that maybe there was a reason you left the industry. Some places require you to have a state-certified bartending certification or some other license, and there are countless online classes you can take to increase your knowledge about the industry and fluff up your resume (a lot of people don't bother with these so you can stand out if you have). While I recommend these, note that many of them are the same and none of them carry the same weight as experience. Don't expect online credentials to get you a job.
- Connections. It's not always knowing people in high places that lands you a job. Sometimes it's knowing a shit ton of people in lower places. All the guys that work at our bar (excluding myself) are in fraternities. Most of the girls are in sororities. Most of the girls also have very powerful social media presences (not as big an asset to or expectation from guys; social media is mostly a female-friendly environment). Connections like this will lead hiring managers to believe you can bring them more customers. Outside of Greek Life, whenever the GM is looking for new hires, the first place he goes is other people he knows in the industry and tries to poach them from other businesses. A lot of our vendors also reference people from other locations they're servicing that might be interested. We actually just hired a new girl from Nevada who was referenced by some guy she met at a party over there that happened to know my boss and mentioned her when they were talking about people who might want a job.
- Intelligence. In lieu of experience, aptitude for learning quickly and an interest in doing so is probably the next best thing. Not all managers feel this way (some prefer experience simply because their store is so popular they can have their pick of the litter and would rather not worry about training), but some managers know that the finer details of the job can be taught but character and talent cannot, and value those things higher. This isn't imperative, and definitely not guaranteed to land you a job, but this is an industry where it definitely doesn't hurt.
- Work ethic. Handle this with care. Work ethic is always something employers are looking for, but there's kind of a fine line between a hard work ethic and being tryhard. The main difference between the two is how it appears. If you don't have a car and rode your bike to the interview, bring a change of clothes and deodorant so you're still presentable. Your willingness to work your ass off can be interpreted by some of the more unsavory characters in the industry as desperation, or some other trait to be exploited. Unfortunately, this is something you need to keep in mind as the nightlife industry by nature draws in a lot of dubious people, both among clientele and employers. I will talk more about this and how to avoid it in another post, but for this bullet, I would say demonstrate that you have a strong work ethic but that you're not going to give it away for free. In an interview, this can be communicated by talking about a time when you left an employer because they were taking advantage of you or how you worked an event for a certain amount of money, which can help establish in the interviewer's mind how you personally value your work ethic. An accurate sense of self-worth not only shows you won't be taken advantage of, but can help swing wage negotiations in your favor.
- Personality. The fact that I listed this last should show that these aren't listed in order of importance. Being clearly boring will turn off an employer very quickly, it's interestingly almost the opposite effect of having connections. Connections show that you can draw people in and provide a unique value to a venue, being boring shows that you turn people away and suck the life out of a place. Luckily this is pretty easy to communicate in an interview; answer a question in a unique, possibly funny way, or give a brief story to show that you can chat up customers at the bar easily, maybe ask a slightly personal (definitely non-intrusive) question when they ask you "Do you have any questions for me?". It's hard to tell you exactly how to meet this criterion, but if you understand what I mean it's pretty easy to accomplish and makes you more memorable to the manager.
What doesn't help as much:
- Being overly confident. Don't get me wrong, confidence is good - dare I say necessary - especially if it goes well with the rest of your personality. But there's a difference between knowing you're right for the job and expecting that you've already gotten the job during or after the interview. Saying something like "So when do I start?" or putting down other employees as if you're better than them will quickly undo any merit you bring to the table. You can be the most experienced bartender in the world, but if you don't fit in with the rest of the team or respect the authority of the managers, you clearly won't be a good fit. If you were good enough to run your own bar, you wouldn't be there asking for a job. That being said, lack of confidence is also a turn-off and is not congruent with the experience you hopefully have. Your goal should be to communicate confidence that you're right for the job, but humility in that you're not trying to alpha your way into it.
- Relying on any one merit too much. Kind of ties into the first no-no. Believing that a certain connection or your three years of working at T.G.I. Friday's will land you the job communicates entitlement and gives the impression that you're just looking to coast into an opportunity you see as a step-up. If you want to communicate those things without sounding arrogant, maybe ask "How did you hear about me?" if you know a certain person referenced you, just to remind the person you're not just coming out of nowhere; or if they ask you to talk about your strengths or a story or something, refer to a story from your job to subtly reference your experience.
- Being too impersonal. A rather funny quirk people tend to have in an interview is to only talk about work-related things, trying to show off what they have to offer. The idea makes sense - a hiring manager is primarily concerned with how you're going to benefit the business - but it communicates a few detrimental things: 1) Making you seem tryhard (desperation is unattractive in all aspects of life), 2) making you seem like you don't have a life (which you do, because nobody is 100% all about work), and 3) makes you seem somewhat unlikable (making a connection on the interview shows how easily you form new connections, which communicates how well you'll fit in with the staff and clientele).
- Misdressing for the interview. This one is kind of circumstantial, so it's tough to apply a blanket rule. If your boss knows you're coming right from school and you show up in a suit, it's going to look weird. Showing up in stained or ragged clothing shows you either think that attire is presentable, don't particularly care about how you look, or don't own any nicer clothes (meaning you're desperate). Aside from back of house staff, I've never seen anyone come in for an interview tremendously underdressed, so I would say more people would worry about not being overdressed. Some general rules would be:
1) Know the venue (wearing something resembling the employee uniform is usually fine, so long as it's clean and not ripped).
2) Know the hiring manager (this one can be hard unless you've met them or know someone who knows them - my very first job, the manager told me he's never hired anyone who didn't wear a button-down shirt, and almost every hiring manager I've had in the same industry since then made a comment about me being overdressed for the interview - it's all case-by-case, so the more you know beforehand the better).
3) When in doubt just dress like yourself (I wore a button-down to the interview I had for this job, and I've worn one almost every day since then - because it's congruent, it's never seemed tryhard or excessive).
4) If you show up for the interview misdressed, compensate, play it off, and make up for it with a solid interview (if you're underdressed then act more professional, if you're overdressed then act more laid-back, if they make a comment about it then use self-deprecating humor to show you don't take little mistakes too seriously, and just make the rest of the interview memorable). Once you get hired, proper dress code will be explained or you'll be given a uniform, and in the future misdressing won't be an issue.
- Lying. I'd hope this isn't something you guys need to pay close attention to, but if you're like me, you don't have a strong moral imperative against small fibs that boost your standing or get you something you want. The issue with that in this - and in several other instances - is that after the interview, your honesty will be revealed fairly quickly. If you said you've got years of bartending experience and you can't balance multiple drink orders, drop glassware like crazy, and mess up orders, they will know you lied. If you describe yourself as great with people or say that you're in a certain organization, a simple Facebook check or a few serious social blunders on the job will derail that train. If you've got limited experience or are still developing your social skills, just don't mention those things and downplay their importance if they come up. Focus on your strengths, minimize your weaknesses. No one will fault you for that.
- Nervousness or stress. This is something I notice in younger people more often than older people, since experience is the largest source of confidence. Since most employees and candidates in college town bars are younger, a degree of nervousness is quite common and to be expected. That being said, a lack thereof can make you seem substantially more ideal. If you're unemployed, it can be difficult to communicate this, just like a dry spell or lack of experience with a certain kind of girl can naturally make you seem thirstier. If you have to, I might recommend landing a McJob first. Once you have something to cover your expenses and take your mind off those bills, you can jump from that to the job you actually want in the nightlife industry.
To bring this post to an end, there are two things I'll leave you with if you've been looking for a job in this industry for a while with no luck. Don't lose confidence or get bitter. Yes, you've probably been passed up more than once in favor of some chick with no experience because she's super fine. Maybe you've exhausted all the bars on the main street of your college town and have no idea where you'll go after that. If you want this job bad enough, you'll do what you've got to do to get it. Part of that means keeping your chin up and having a good attitude. The other thing is be willing to compromise if you have to. After speaking with some experienced bartenders in high-volume and high-end areas, a lot of them told me to start as a barback and bust my ass, and I would eventually get promoted. I didn't want to listen at the time and passed up a few offers I had for a server or barback that might lead to promotion. By the time I changed my mind, the positions had closed. I lucked out eventually, but it's been substantially harder than if I'd have listened back then. Guys without experience have a very difficult time getting a foot in the door, and the work-your-way-up approach is often one of the only ways to establish yourself.
I'll cover more stuff in the near future. If anyone has any questions, go ahead and post them in a reply. Any critique or contributions from other people are also welcome. Cheers
