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If you are looking for some extra disposable income and have a few hours a week to spare then part time bar jobs can be a lot of fun. Okay, sometimes you might have to work on a Saturday night when all your mates are out but that means that you are also saving money at the same time as you are earning. Many bar owner and managers will try to give you at least one of the weekend nights off.
A typical evening or afternoon working in a bar will include serving drinks from behind the bar and tilling up the money. Sometimes the bars will have dedicated glass-snatchers to bring the empties back to the bar and wipe down the tables - but other pubs and clubs might expect those tasks to be part of your job description too.
Once you become more familiar with bar work, you might also be introduced to The Cellar where you'll see the belly of the bar business. When one barrel empties you simply have to swap over to a new one and get the pipes flowing again.
One of the main drawbacks of working in a bar job always used to be the heavy, smoky atmosphere. Sometimes you would wake up the next morning and find that the clothes that you’d worked in at the bar really reeked of cigarette smoke.
That element of working in a bar job is now a distant memory thanks to the smoking ban. The ban also has the advantage that one of the worst tasks of a part time bar job is also now ancient history; you will no longer hear the dreaded words Keith, could you just whip round and clean the ashtrays for us please? The dry ashtrays were never too bad but when you had a bit of Stella spilled on top of the dog-ends in the ashtray it could be a bit much to stomach.
Thankfully, all that is a thing of the past and bar jobs nowadays tend to be carried out in a healthy, clean atmosphere (well, as clean as stale beer can be!)
Like many other part time jobs, a bit of previous experience can help you get a foot in the door, but bar work is one of the easiest types of job to get into even if you have no experience at all. That is one of the main reasons why part time bar work is so popular with students. Usually the management or a senior worker at the bar will be quite happy to show you the ropes. Often they will try to get you in on a quiet night or afternoon so that they have time to show you how to work the till and pull the perfect pint!
If barrel-changing does form part of your description then you will also be shown how to do that too.
Novus Leisure Ltd, the UK's largest bar and club operator, have their own "Bar School" in London where they train their bar staff before they start working. This is a great way of getting free bar training and a great bar job!
One of the great things about a bar job is the people you meet. Sometimes you need to keep your sense of humour but generally the punters you’ll come across are a lot of fun. If you get on with people well then a bar job is one of the best types of work to pick up tips to top up your normal earnings. Be polite and engage with customers and you'll very often hear sweet words like, And whatever you are drinking, Sarah it's quite accepted that you don't actually have a drink you just put a few bob in the tip jar. Some bar jobs have a tradition where the bartenders get to keep their own tips other bars total them all up and split them out between the staff at the end of the day.
The other great thing about bar work is the number of skills and qualities you can pepper your CV with. Companies are always looking for staff with customer service skills who can work as part of a team. Those are both qualities that you'll pick up in no time working in a part time bar job.
Many people simply use a student part time bar job as a way to earn a bit of extra cash while they are studying. Others though find that they love the bar atmosphere and find that there are lots of opportunities for progression from the original bar job you applied for.
A student bar job while at college or uni can sometimes turn into a full time career if you progress through the ranks. Some people start off in a part time bar job but go on to pub management or even running their own bar or chain of bars.
So, there is certainly no reason why a part time bar job needs to be a dead-end job.
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