Bar work

Gazza22

I'm a student, i work in a hotel at the weekends at the moment, but i would love to get into bar work. I do conference and banqueting in the hotel so i don't have beverage experience!

Problem is these days everywhere requires min 2-5 years experience before they take you on, and there's virtually no opportunities to actually start from scratch with training.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get into bartending? Do i stick with what i'm doing for the moment and try to transfer into food & beverage in the hotel [unlikely in this hotel tbh]....do i get a waiting job and try work my way up [also hard, because experience is also needed for many waiting jobs now too!....any other possibilities?

Any advice much appreciated, thanks!

irishlass

why do u wanna do bar work badly?

i did it for 2 yrs and the hours are very long, the customers are a pain, and the money is crap.

i got into it cos i knew someone who was working in bars.

i cant not understand that concept of "we cant hie u with no experience" but how r people supposed to get experience i someone wont hire them in the first place??? very annoying :mad:

maybe try floor staff first and eventually you'll get to getting ur own drinks or people, so mite progress from there

Gazza22

Oh i dunno, it's just something that has always appealed to me i guess and it's a good skill to have, especially if i go travelling for a year or two to australia in a few years i would be able to work in bars.

And yes it is quite annoying the whole experience thing, they really do push experience to the limits in the bar trade, for example a local pub of mine which is far from fancy advertised recently for a bartender with 7+ years experience, and it wasn't even a senior position.

Stark

It is useful experience to have as it makes it far easier to get a job when you go abroad or whatever. Most places won't put a new employee behind the bar. You should look for glass collecting jobs instead. Usually people get their first experience by starting as glass collectors then being put behind the bar when the place gets busy.

toiletduck

You'll have to start glass collecting. I started that during Summer when I was 16, and had to work your way from there. Currently doing part time bar work, and have been doing bar work on and off throughout college for the past 4 years.

No place will stick someone with no experience behind a bar. Start on the floor.

And yes it is quite annoying the whole experience thing, they really do push experience to the limits in the bar trade, for example a local pub of mine which is far from fancy advertised recently for a bartender with 7+ years experience, and it wasn't even a senior position.

I'm betting they don't have a bouncer? I'd reckon that's why they want that level of experience.

You'll have to put up with a lot of **** working in a bar, the hours suck but it's a great skill to have because there's always a job if you're travelling or whatever.

Gazza22

Thanks for the advice, yea i think that probably would be best to go for glass collecting first.

And yea that was my thoughts exactly about the travelling aspect because there is always bar work.