Bartending School, Experience and Getting Hired

Being hired as a bartender at a busy, profitable establishment requires schooling, experience or both! More young folks than ever before seem to be trying to gain entrance into this lucrative job market these days. The problem is that in order to be hired you must have experience and in order to get experienced, you must be hired! That doesn't even make sense but it's usually true!

With that said, you basically have 2 choices if you are serious about bartending. You must take on a job with no experience in a very small local watering hole for a few months of experience so you can then move up the ladder or you can attend a bartending school, take an internet course or purchase a bartender book or guide and learn that way. So which direction should you take? Let's examine it a little bit.

Do I need a License? Until a few years ago no special certificate or license is required to tend bar by most of the 50 states but there is a fast growing movement to require a completed class called TIPS. In some states it is mandatory. This is really just a 2 day briefing on how to prevent common alcohol related problems and deal with shutting folks off who've had too much to drink and legal issues concerning alcohol and liability. It's a good class but most of it is just common sense. It will likely be mandatory in the coming years. It certainly won't hurt your resume and it is sometimes required by employers because it reduces liability for them (and you!) and reduces their insurance costs. It can be taken online in lots of states. Cost is minimal, I think around $40. It's worth checking into if you are serious about becoming a bartender.

Bartending School:
When you attend a bartending school you will learn a lot of technical skills. You will learn the basic liquors and the brands. Common drinks and off-shoots of those drinks with particular liquors or spirits. You'll learn how to make them and how to remember them. You will learn names of tools, how to use them and maintain them. There are words and phrases that you will encounter with customers who are ordering and you'll learn those.


You'll gain a wealth of knowledge concerning mixology and how certain beers are brewed, what the difference between rum and whiskey is and what garnishes go with what liquor based drinks. There are industry standard glasses you need to serve particular beverages in and you'll learn their names and purpose too. You will actually mix the drinks yourself, learning to free pour and properly draw a draft beer from the keg. What to wear, what to say and how to be sanitary up to state code. How to deal with intoxicated patrons, fights, spills or anything imaginable that occurs when bartending.

Basically, you will go over just about everything you'd ever need to know about tending bar. There are many types of these schools or classes ranging from a nightly 6 week course or just 2 or 3 days a week for a few hours a night for a week or two. This route is usually the most expensive but you certainly will benefit from it if you are serious about bartending and it will give you a great advantage over anyone with no experience. You will likely learn a bit more of the technical side of things than a lot of experienced bar tenders know. Most of these schools will give you a certificate of some sort and there's a good chance your TIPS course will be included.

Bartending Internet course: These courses can be taken in similar fashion to online college courses. You study and actually take tests and are graded. You will likely receive a certificate of sorts but it won't hold a lot of weight in your prospective employers decision to hire you. But it can help! If you are enthusiastic at the interview and can convince him that you really studied and truly desire to learn bartending he might realize your learning curve will be much less than someone who has no idea where to start. The plus side of these too is that it will be far less expensive than a physical class. You can study more or less at your own pace without too much pressure from time restraints.

Bartending Book or DVD:
This is the least expensive route to go, especially with the books. You can learn the basic liquors, glasses, common drinks, tools and a slew of other necessary rules and guidelines for tending bar from these methods without spending nearly as much money as you would in a school or an online course. While you can't exactly tell your interviewer that you feel qualified because you "read a bartender book" you can gain knowledge that might very well come in handy if you are asked a few basic questions about the trade. In this situation, even without experience but knowing just the basics could make the difference between him hiring you or moving on to the next applicant.

Experience:
I've saved the best for last! You cannot beat experience for getting hired in this profession. Now it seems we've come full circle from the beginning of this article but listen up. If you want to have the best chance of getting hired at a good establishment where you make oodles of money, you need experience, even if it's at the smelly old run down 8 stool bar on the outskirts of town! That's right. In most situations, if you have experience simply pouring beer and maybe mixing just 4 or 5 drinks, you will almost always get hired before someone with no experience even if they have straight A's from a bartending school.

The reason for this is the bartending schools and internet courses lack the most important part of the bartending learning curve. Real live customers! A lot of people think that bartending is memorizing a bunch of drinks but it's far more than that. Actually, that's the easy part! How you handle stress and patrons is the most important part. That cannot be taught at school or on the internet. You are in direct contact with the bar owners livelihood in every sense of the word. You are handling his money and even more important you are interacting with his customers who spend that money on a regular basis. The owner knows the importance of this and he knows that ANY experience bartending, even if just pouring beer, is far better than any school can give.

Recommendation:
I think a great solution is this: Buy a book or DVD on learning bartending. Study it real good. Then go to some of those "8 stool bars" I spoke about earlier and express your sincere interest in wanting to work behind the bar at their establishment. Show genuine interest. You shouldn't have to fake it if you are sincere about becoming a highly paid bartender because you are going to be learning a good trade for your future. The more you work the more you'll find yourself wanting to study that book because things will make more sense. In a few months you will be ready to walk into a much better place with confidence and start making serious money!

Final Thoughts:
I think bartending schools are fine and they will help you but they are expensive and they often give you the illusion of being able to just "walk into the bar of your choice" and get hired. It won't happen that way. If you have the time and money to go to one of these places, you certainly can. But consider the time you'd be spending could be spent with on the job training! Not only that, you'd be making money at the same time instead of paying it out. If you desire to be a bartender, you can attain that goal! However, I cannot stress enough that in order to work where the money is you must have some experience and if you truly want it, you will find a way to get it! Cheers!