Bartending is a great hospitality career to explore if you\’re looking for a job with the possiblity of earning great money with interesting hours. How is the best way to learn bartending?

Some areas in the hospitality industry require bartender courses or licensing, although most don\’t. But which is the best way to learn bartending, bartender courses or on the job? Many seasoned bartenders will give you conflicting answers. There are many real life situations a bartender faces you just cannot learn in books or in a school setting.

Bartender courses teach the basics.

Many bartender courses focus on the basics, such as classic cocktail recipes or techniques. Although this is a very important part when you learn bartending, it certainly is not all. Laws will vary from state to state, even bar to bar depending on the license held by the establishment. Most of these nuances will be important to learn on the job. However, getting your foot in the door by knowing the basics is important, too. If you have no clue what a jigger is, or how to layer trendy shooters, your chance of getting hired to even learn on the job will be fairly slim. Bartender schooling can be invaluable on your resume, making you stand out among the other applicants.

Learning bartending on the job.

To learn bartending on the job can happen in several ways. Many people will start out as a bar back, or cocktail waitress, and learn as they work their way up the ladder. Watching veteran bartenders do their jobs, and asking questions along the way, can provide valuable insight and training. Picking up real life tricks of the trade will be far more useful than anything coming out of a textbook. Many bars prefer to hire bartenders with little experience so they can train them to work the way they like things to be done.

Mixing drinks is only part of the job.

Many people assume the only responsibility of a bartender is to mix and serve drinks. That is only a small facet of the job, and most of the other skills either come naturally or you learn by doing. Enchanting bar patrons to ensure their return is a valuable skill that also cannot be taught in bartender courses. Not only does that increase the value of the employee, but it often substantially increases tips. Working for tips means your skills will either financially make or break you.

Bartenders often have responsibility over the cash register, so the ability to account for money is very important. With this responsibility comes bar inventory. It is often the bartender who is responsible for ensuring that inventory is not lost, wasted, or stolen. Bartender schooling cannot teach morality, you either have it or you don\’t.

Speaking of responsibilities.

Learning to gauge how much a bar patron has consumed is another skill taught in both bartender courses, and on the job. When a patron first approaches the bar, it can often be very difficult to ascertain. Other factors can influence a person\’s BAC (Blood Alcohol Content), including but not limited to: whether a person has been drinking on an empty stomach, medications, weight, gender, and lack of sleep. While some of these are easy to see, others are not. Having experience in watching patrons closely is the best way to asess the situation. With practice, this task becomes easier with time. However, this is one of the most important parts of the job, because the consequences could potentially be very costly to the establishment and employee alike.

p>Gail Wise is an article contributor for Hospitality Jobs LA-a job listing website that caters to hospitality job seekers for the Los Angeles area. Find a hospitality job in Los Angeles Hospitality Jobs LA.com

Gail Wise is an article contributor for Hospitality Jobs La a online jobsite that caters to job seekers looking for hospitality jobs in the Los Angeles area. http://www.hospitalityjobsla.com

Author Bio: p>Gail Wise is an article contributor for Hospitality Jobs LA-a job listing website that caters to hospitality job seekers for the Los Angeles area. Find a hospitality job in Los Angeles Hospitality Jobs LA.com

Category: Career
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