How do you get into bartending?

Question

I've been checking for bartending jobs on Craigslist, and most of them say you need experience. Well how do you get experience in the first place? Is it necessary to go to bartending school? Or is there another way?

Answer 1

Start at the bottom baby!!! If you can't get a gig behind the bar right away, try getting your foot in the door as waitstaff, or a bar back. Keep you head in the books on your off time, and make sure the boss man knows you have a great interest in bartending. (It dosen't hurt to show some hard work and a great sense of humor either.) Or you could try getting a gig at a beer only bar (anyone can pop caps) Then just brush up on your drink making skills (I recomend home testing). Then you've automaticaly got the word "bartender" on your resume...voila....experience. Plus working at a beer bar will get you accustomed to the fast pased part of the job, then when you start mixing, you'll be more chill!!!

Answer 2

From experience...I bartended for 5-6 years and the way "in" is from the bottom. In my area (Dallas,Texas) graduates of the "XYZ Bartending academy " work at hotel bars and tourist destinations...both have huge turnover and do not offer the best tipping clientel.
I started at the bottom as a porter (waitstaff helper and floor sweeper) and worked my way up through attrition to barback (bartender's halper and ice fetcher) after a few months. Showing up on time and ready to work made me a favorite of management, and asking for extra shifts made me a favorite of other barbacks...I suggest you do the same.
After I found a couple of bartenders that I worked with well, I asked them to show me the ropes. Once they were confident in my abilities they helped me petition management for a bartending shift or 2 each week, or to let me "fill in" or be "on call" for any bartending opportunity.
In less than a year I want from an overdressed busboy to a real live bartender. I earned money the whole time, I learned the local standard mixes (not what is always in "the book"), and I had a clientel that recognized me and tipped well.
After a full year behind the bar I looked for other bartending jobs, and because I had verified experience, they were plentiful.
If you are prepared to start at the bottom and be loyal to the place that gives you the opportunity, you can do very well.
Eventually you will get tired of wet shoes and horrible hours...but you have a long way to go before that happens.
Good luck

Answer 3

Some smaller places will train you on the job with no experience so you can get the experience. And do a lot of reading up on drinks. Meanwhile, get yourself into a bartending class so you can move up to a better job since you'll have the experience to go along with it. So it won't be just book knowledge, but hands on too.

Answer 4

I would take a bartending course. If I remember correctly, it's only $200 and only a weekend long. It will help you get a job because you need to know all the different types of drinks and the basics on how to make them.

Answer 5

Take a community college bar tending course first then apply at the bars you are interested. If you are a hot woman it is easy , if you are a man you might have to be very entertaining as well as good looking to get a job in a good bar.

Answer 6

It's definately not required to go to bartending school....but you can...though it costs money.....lot's of jobs will train you....and bartending is easy once you know what your doing

Answer 7

Become an acoholic.