Want to land your first bartending job? Here are actionable steps:

• Learn the classic cocktails: Cocktails like a Margarita, Old Fashioned, and Martini are essential.
  
  
• Get restaurant experience: Start as a barback or server to learn the basics and gain connections.
  
  
• Attend bartending school: Gain professional training in bartending, bar equipment, and spirit knowledge. This builds your confidence and boosts your resume.
  
  
• Practice at home: Experiment with cocktail recipes and get comfortable with bar tools.
  
  
• Read bartending books: Industry staples like Death & Co. offer deep insights into bartending techniques and culture.
  
  
• Be persistent: You might not get the first role you apply to. Apply and then apply again—even if its to the same place.
  
  
• Ask for referrals: Have a friend at a restaurant that can vouch for your work ethic? Ask them to refer you to the manager.

Here’s when to include bartending school:

• Experienced bartenders: Skip it—your work history speaks for itself.
  
  
• Hospitality experience, no bartending: Add it under education and discuss skills in the interview.
  
  
• No experience at all: Include it as work experience. Highlight specific training, such as mastering cocktail recipes, equipment handling, or upselling.

Here’s What Managers Really Think of Bartending School

Including bartending school on your resume shows that you’ve taken the initiative to invest in learning the craft, giving you a competitive edge. While some bar managers online argue that bartending school can be a waste of time and money, the reality is that everyone has to start somewhere.

Bartending school accelerates your learning by teaching you foundational skills, drink recipes, and techniques you’d otherwise spend months acquiring on the job. If a manager views this effort as a weakness rather than a strength, consider finding a workplace that values self-learning, initiative, and dedication to personal growth.

Not all your past experience may seem relevant—but it can be reframed to match what bar managers look for.

What Are Transferable Skills?

Transferable skills are abilities and experiences gained in one job that can be applied to a different role.

For bartending, these skills often relate to customer service, adaptability, and attention to detail—qualities that are essential in the hospitality industry.

Even if your experience comes from a completely different field, transferable skills show how you can succeed in a bar environment.

Example: Hairdresser

• Worked in a fast-paced salon environment with multiple clients daily.
• Listened to customer needs and provided personalized solutions to ensure satisfaction.
• Communicated clearly and warmly to build rapport and ensure a positive experience.
• Performed manual tasks repeatedly throughout the shift, requiring endurance and manual dexterity.
• Mixed precise formulas, showcasing attention to detail and creativity for crafting custom drinks.
• Built a loyal client list through consistent, high-quality service.
• Strong understanding of hair products and tools, showing brand familiarity.
• Charging clients for the services they receive and processing their payments.
• Maintaining a clean and hygienic work environment.

Now, what if you’ve only had a desk job? It’s a bit trickier to find transferable skills in the role. That’s when you have to get creative by using a writing tool called, reframing.

What Is Reframing and Why Is It Important for Your Resume?

Reframing is the process of taking skills and experiences from one job and presenting them in a way that highlights how they apply to a different role.

When writing a resume, especially for a career change, reframing is critical because it shows hiring managers how your previous experience makes you a strong candidate—even if it’s not directly related to the job you’re applying for.

For bartending, reframing helps connect skills like customer service, multitasking, and problem-solving from unrelated roles, making them relevant to the fast-paced, customer-focused environment of a bar.

Here’s how you can reframe a social media coordinator role for a bartending job:

Examples of Reframing Social Media Coordinator Experience for Bartending

• Instead of: Created and scheduled posts to maintain a consistent online presence.
• Say: Managed multiple tasks efficiently under tight deadlines, a key skill for handling busy bar shifts.
  
  
• Instead of: Engaged with audiences on various platforms to build brand loyalty.
• Say: Built relationships with diverse groups through engaging interactions, similar to connecting with bar patrons.
  
  
• Instead of: Monitored and responded to comments and messages promptly.
• Say: Responded quickly to customer inquiries, demonstrating excellent communication and service skills.
  
  
• Instead of: Tracked analytics to understand audience behaviour and improve content.
• Say: Analyzed customer preferences to tailor offerings, showcasing adaptability and attention to detail.
  
  
• Instead of: Worked with creative teams to produce engaging campaigns.
• Say: Collaborated with teams to create engaging customer experiences, demonstrating teamwork and creativity.
  

By reframing your past experiences, you can show bar managers how the skills you developed as a social media coordinator make you a capable and adaptable bartender.

It’s not about your previous job title—it’s about how your skills align with what the bar needs.

Use these keywords to align with what hiring managers and applicant tracking systems (ATS) look for when hiring a bartender:

• Cocktailing
• Mixology
• Customer service
• Cash handling
• Upselling
• POS Experience
• Teamwork
• Attention to detail
• Menu Knowledge
• Inventory and Liquor Count
• Serving It Right certified

Sprinkle these strategically into your objective, skills, and work experience sections.

Avoid these common mistakes in bartender resumes to make sure your application gets noticed from hiring managers:

• Too Long: Stick to one page to ensure managers don’t skip important details.
  
  
• Irrelevant Information: Adding experience bullet points without relating them to bartending roles
  
  
• Unprofessional Email: Ensure your email is simple and appropriate. No “partyking123@gmail.com.”
  
  
• Photo on Resume: Photos can come across as unprofessional unless required for a remote job or cruise line application.
  
  
• Typos and Formatting: Make headings big and bold so your resume is scannable, run it through a spelling and Grammar checker, like Grammarly, improve the formatting by building it on Canva (try our template!).
  
  
• Emailing as a Document: When applying to jobs online, always send it as a PDF 
  
  
• Too much information: Write quick bullet points that the manager can scan and read easily