The top notch bars rarely hire a rookie out of bar school, preferring to promote from within the employees that show an aptitude for the business and have demonstrated a commitment to the customers base. Even the best of bartending courses cannot teach charisma, no matter how good the grades were on the final exam.

Schools for bartending over exaggerate the workplace for their graduates, promising the moon and delivering a cocktail cherry. There’s nothing wrong with bolstering your confidence with bartending product knowledge, however, the cookie cutter-style bartending courses will leave you high and dry.

The best candidates gain rapid employment as a bartender are those who are willing to start as a cocktail server and learn the bartending ropes on their own time. The Rapid Bartender course is all you need to get the drinks mixtures memorized and the hands on experience one night a week will build your dexterity and personal flair. The notion to attend a bartending school may seem like a step in the right direction, but ask most of the graduates where they got their first job and you will think twice about signing on the dotted line.

Schools for bartending use aggressive marketing campaigns to sell their service to the desperate or uninformed student. High tuition and slap shot classroom hours pale in comparison to the outrageous fees these bartending classes charge. The Rapid Bartender method is fast, affordable and every bit as engaging as sitting in a bar course that will take you nowhere fast.

If you insist on going to bartending school, chances are you will be saddled with tuition debt and no job in sight to pay your student loans. Whether you attend bartending school full or part time, the end result is the same. Even if you are going to bartending school just on weekends, the tuition and fees are going to rack as if you attend bartending school full time.

The smart and savvy way to glean all the information taught at the bartending schools is to do it yourself on your own schedule and time table. The Rapid Bartender courses will teach you everything you need to get the product knowledge and sharpen your skills behind the bar. Let’s face it, bartending schools are for the birds and they have had more than a decade to get their act together. If you attend a bartending school, it may be a social outlet to meet new people but will leave you financially and professionally frustrated in the end.

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Many schools for bartending try to sucker you with threats that you “need to know” the “secrets” of the trade in order to net big tips. That’s a lie. Going to Bartending School won’t prepare you for the real thing anymore than standing in your kitchen mixing drinks will prepare you for a bustling Friday night in a club. And a bar course that promise certificates? The biggest scam of them all. Some schools for bartending claim that you need references and certification to find employment, and while references are indeed helpful, “paper mill” references are see-through to most employers and an embarrassment to any job hunters desperate or naive enough to use them. Bartending doesn’t even require any kind of license. It’s just another way bartending schools dupe you.

Certain bartending courses will also try to lure you in with the promise of a job placement program. This is often nothing more than a print-off list of local bars. I didn’t need a bar course to tell me that, thanks. Some Bartending Schools will even offer expensive practice kits you can take home, even though you can find the exact same tools at any liquor school. See the way going to bartending school can screw you over? Bar schools are the worst.

The best advice I can give anyone planning to attend Bartending School is this: don’t waste your time. Instead, get some real practice and just learn the basics, because most customers will be ordering simple drinks with minor modifications instead of anything requiring fancy tricks and bottle-spinning. Your tips will depend on your shifts and people skills, and moving up is easy if you have a good personality and can think on your feet. And guess what – bar school can’t change your personality! You either have it or you don’t.

If you attend a bartending school, you’re basically wasting your time and throwing money away. Take it from me – I wish someone had warned me about bar school before I signed up. Save yourself the heartache and stay at home instead of choosing to attend Bartending School.

I have found an amazing course called Rapid Bartender. It has taught me everything I need to know to successfully launch my bartending career.

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However, most don’t know how to go about the bartending job search. An interview is required for most of these openings. And that means contacting the right people in order to at least talk about the requirements that are needed. Since most of them require experience, some individuals won’t even bother applying, figuring that they don’t have a chance to secure the bartending job. But that is not necessarily true, since some of these spots are not high volume establishments. That would require a lot of experience and being able to mix all variety of drinks without stopping to think about the recipe. That does take some learning, which may not be possible when orders are coming in fast and furious.

Sometimes though, the reason for not landing a bartending job is not for lack of experience, but the wrong attitude. The latter is probably the most important factor for getting any job. Sometimes a novice with a good outlook has the advantage in the bartending job search. That is because bad habits haven’t been developed. However, the person must possess a positive attitude.

During the interview process, it should be evident to the hiring person that this is one of the best traits possessed by the prospective bartending job candidates. It can be preceded by the traditional cover letter and resume. A manager seeking a new employee will be able to spot the proper outlook from these 2 documents. Occasionally, the bartending job search will only require an application to be filled out. This is the minimum standard to be included in the candidate’s pool. But to be unique, a cover letter and resume should be sent to the contact person. It should be tailored to fit the opening. It must not be a standard form used for any job.

There should be experiences detailing the right qualifications. This includes problem solving — a definite plus for bartenders. Many companies are looking for this particular talent. Being a people person is definitely a plus. The ability to multi-task is another great factor. Being able to work as part of a team is critical. The cover letter has to lead into the resume. It should make the employer want to desperately read through the latter document.

The resume itself has to make the contact person want to get to the phone immediately. This is to ensure that nobody else has called ahead of them. The entire process is not as hard as it sounds. If the cover letter provides a good lead-in, the resume itself can be tailor made for the position, making sure to include only those relevant skills that will serve the employer well. Any kind of customer service or people skills is important to include in this document. While these don’t indicate experience with bartending jobs, they do show the ability to handle the public. Most people either have or don’t have this type of experience. That is why many companies look for this crucial talent in the person that they hire. Along with a great personality, it is the most vital element to the job. This will most definitely be shown in the interview process. By preparing first, an individual can impress the hiring person enough to get the job.

Bartending jobs are not impossible to obtain. However if you really want the inside scoop on landing this type of position, then you need to check out this little known resource called How To Land A Bartending Job and start on the path to success as a professional bartender.

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My name is Paige and I’m a professional bartender. I wanted to be a bartender when I watched the movie “Cocktail” with my mom. Tom Cruise was so cool and I thought, “I could do that.” I had seen an advertisement on television for bartending schools and wondered if I should attend Bartending School. I started researching various schools for bartending and talked to bartenders in my area and very quickly found out that taking bartending courses and bartending classes is a complete waste of time and money.

Few bartending jobs require that their bartenders attend a bartending school. There may be a few exceptions to the bar school rule such as higher end casinos or some hotels. The majority of bars don’t care if you’ve taken a bar course. They want to know you can smile, be pleasant to work with, and that you can get along with customers.

Advertisements for bartending schools lead people to believe that not only do they need to attend a bartending school, but they need to graduate from a bar school and get a license. The truth is the majority of states don’t require that bartenders be licensed. Check the laws for your state by Googling bartending laws with the name of your state. Most states do require that you be 21 years of age or older.

I’m not going to tell you getting a bartending job easy. I am going to tell you that going to Bartending School or attending any of the advertised schools for bartending is not going to make the job process any easier. Bars are looking for people that can be personable, fix drinks rapidly, while being friendly and fun. No bar school is going to teach those lessons. The key to finding a bartender job is to look. It’s doubtful that a “first-timer” is going to find a job at the more popular bars in town. Like any job, you have to start somewhere. Start with restaurant or hotel bars. These places cycle through bartenders quickly and are more likely to have job openings. Unlike schools for bartending, places such as these are going to teach you the true bartending courses you need. You’ll learn how to be a bar back. This is how most bartenders get their start.

A bar back is the person who works behind the bar and is responsible for keeping the beer and ice stocked, and making sure that clean glasses are brought up from the dishwasher. When the bar gets busy, the bar back helps the bartender mix and makes drinks. Being a bar back is the way you will start in every bartending job. Think of it as a bar course you won’t learn by going to bartending school.

After you’ve gotten experience as a bar back and have been promoted to a bartender, start becoming a regular at a bar you’d like to be employed by. Get to know the bartenders, staff and the people who patron the bar. Most bars are close knit and have formed a family unit. After a few months spent getting to know the people in front and behind the bar, let them know you are a bartender who is job searching. Current bartenders are a much more valuable resource than bartending schools.

One of my biggest secrets to being a successful bartender is that I have learned to read customers. This is not something I learned by going to bartending school. There are no bartending classes on how to listen and talk to people. Customers want someone who will listen to them and talk to them. Drunken customers especially love to talk. If you aren’t a people person, then being a bartender is not the career path you should be pursuing. No bartending courses could possibly teach me how to read a person and know if he wants me to be quiet and just listen or if he wants me to tease and flirt.

Another job skill bartending classes don’t teach is how to tell jokes and have a sense of humor. Successful bartenders need to have at least two jokes they know by heart and that can easily roll off their tongues. It’s important that both of these jokes be funny and that one of the jokes is slightly dirty and risqué and that one of the jokes is one you’d be comfortable telling your mother in mixed company.

Knowing local places is a skill you won’t learn if you attend a bartending school. A great bartender knows the entertainment hot spots, the nearest hotel, what cab companies arrive the fastest and has the cheapest fares, where to find the perfect present for a customer’s wife/daughter/son/mother. Think of yourself as THE 411 on all local information. You can attend bartending school if you really want to throw your money away, but a bar course will never teach you these secrets to becoming a successful bartender.

Knowing all the local sports teams, when they play, what time they play and the channel they play on is also a skill you won’t learn at a bartending school. This is information all bartenders must have to ensure that their bar is successful.

You can attend Bartending School and waste time and money, but take it from me, an experienced and successful bartender who earns good money. What really helped me launch my bartending career was an amazing resource called Rapid Bartender. It was an essential resource in jump starting my career I would strongly recommend you pick it up, you won’t regret it.

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