Five suggestions:
1) Don't try for a bartending job right off the bat, go for a job as a waiter
or even a busboy in a restaurant with a decent bar. I've know many
establishments that only hire new bartenders by picking worthy
waiters/waitresses, who have expressed interest in becoming a bartender and
done an excellent job in their current position, and then training them to
bartend. Hey, paid training!
2) Consider the dreaded bartending schools. Many, many people on here will
tell you bartending schools are a rip off and I do somewhat agree with that. I
went to a bartending school and paid far too much money to learn something I
could have trained myself on or just worked my way up as a barback. One
advantage of bartending schools is most, including the one in Ventura (or
Oxnard) California, will assist you with job placement. Basically what you do
is call in once a week and they give you a list of places known to be hiring
and it's up to you to do the rest. Many of the jobs are with hotels but that's
a start right!
3) Offer to work for free. I've heard of people offering to work a night or
even train for free. The philosophy is that the manager will be so empressed
they will hire you. Not sure how sucessful this approach is.
4) Lie. Pick some bar that closed down, out of town, say you worked there for
some short time. This is risky because any good manager could probably tell
someone who has worked in a bar before versus someone who hasn't, but i've
heard of this trick working before. Experience is everything.
5) What do you look like? Maybe, instead of saying they aren't hiring, they're
saying that your pony tail or tatoo or beard or whatever is not the look
they're going for. Appearance means a lot in bartending, more in some
establishments than in others. Look at the others bartending in the bar/club
and then yourself and see if there is a big difference. I know this sound bad
but it is often true.
These are the best suggestions I have, good luck!
Bryan
--
Interested in custom handmade knives? Check out my fathers site at
http://www.mrcalifornia.com/~hjensen
He would be happy to work with you on creating the perfect knife
to meet your needs.
--
Interested in custom handmade knives? Check out my fathers site at
http://www.mrcalifornia.com/~hjensen
He would be happy to work with you on creating the perfect knife
to meet your needs.