Working in a Bar

Nope this isn't for lawyers looking for bar exams, rather filling time making a bit of extra money in bars, normally while you are young and in between jobs or career moves.

Why Work in a Bar?

As expected the pay is not great but working in a bar is a great way to find a little extra cash, find a great social life and think more seriously about where your future will take you.

Working in a bar is not for everyone, like any job you do need niche skills, with bar work you may not be number crunching or drafting essays but you will need to work to schedules and react to pressure when demand for drinks and food grows busier.

Mixing Drinks & Cocktails

Familiarity with popular drink mixes such as making cocktails and pulling a fast pint are essential skills to have. Is bar work easy? Like any job it will depend on your past experience and willingness to learn new skills. Mixing drinks does actually have differing levels of complexity, for example these three popular cocktails,

Alabama Slammer
Tequila Sunrise
Strawberry Daiquiri

It may be overly ambitious to expect to mix drinks like these straight away, mixing drinks involves learning recipes in order to mix quickly. Working with drinks has more in common with cooking that you might imagine, its the recipe factor, just as a chef has to learn popular food recipes, its much the same mixing cocktails and popular drinks.

Learn How to Deal with the Public

Also essential is a good public face, working in a bar, restaurant or night club means dealing with the public and the public likes a happy face, they will spend more and you will probably earn more in tips and commission. If you need to go to charm school, don't work in a bar!

Bar work can be fun but many days will seem quite similar, however this type of job is also an excellent prospect if you wish to use it as a spring board into the hotel or catering industry.

For this reason lots of students often find work in bars to support their income and future career prospects while studying at College or University.

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