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Proven Job Interview Techniques To Seal The Deal And Land Your Dream Job Bartending

admin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:32:38 +0000

Proven Job Interview Techniques To Seal The Deal And Land Your Dream Job Bartending

Your mouth is dry, your palms are sweaty, your heart is beating so fast it feels like it’s going to pop out of your chest!

Sound familiar?

Just a common case of interview anxiety. For most people, interviews are very uncomfortable. The mere thought of them causes anxiety and nervousness… and this is the last impression you want to give a bar manager during an interview!

The competition is fierce in this industry, so why do you always “bomb” during the interview?

You probably walk out of them and think of all the things you could’ve said, how you could’ve answered certain questions, but this doesn’t matter, it’s how you perform during the interview that gets you the job.

There’s already enough things out of your control that you’re competing with, so why work against yourself?

Let me show you how to be in your full power during the interview, so that scoring your dream job and leaving the competition in the dust comes easily and effortlessly to you!

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Dress The Part
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Dress as though you already work there, give the interviewer a rock solid visual of what you’d look like behind the bar… this makes it more probable that they’d consider you for the job.

Remember also that this is the service industry. Unless you are applying to a five star hotel, there’s no reason to show up in a suit and tie for the interview. This is trying too hard. Wear the same type of attire the employees wear.

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Breathe
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Before the interview, take a few nice, deep breaths to calm and relax yourself. This helps get oxygen to your brain and also releases tension. It can be a painful process to be seated and waiting to be interviewed by the employer, this will ease that pain and clear your head so you can “knock ‘em dead”.

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Make Eye Contact
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If you can’t bring yourself to make eye contact with the interviewer, you can forget about getting the job.

When being asked a question, if your eyes look to the floor or to the side when answering it gives the impression you’re not telling the truth for starters, and it also represents a lack of confidence, which isn’t something you find among good bartenders.

Look the person in the eye when speaking and more importantly, when listening. This is easier said then done if you’re in the habit of not doing it, becoming aware of it is all takes.

A nice, firm, handshake gives an excellent first impression.

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Firm Handshake
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Be conscious of your handshake. I cannot stress this enough! A weak handshake gives a terrible first impression of you. Again, as with poor eye contact, it represents a lack of confidence. This is not what you want to do to kick start the interview.

A nice, firm, handshake gives an excellent first impression and will start the interview off on a strong note. No matter what you have to do, remember to do this.

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Act As If
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There’s no better remedy out there than “acting as if”. Act as if you are the best bartender in the world. Walk into the interview with that attitude and you’ll be surprised at the kind of energy you feel and the outlook you have.

You’ll tap into raw genius that you never thought you had. You’ll answer questions and give the interviewer exactly what they want to hear.

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Be Direct
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I hardly ever watch TV, but one show I simply cannot miss is The Apprentice. I make it a point to watch this show. I mean, how often do you get see a billionaire in action? Being able to see the behavior and demeanor of Donald Trump is my sole reason for tuning in.

One thing he preaches in his books and practices in his life is being direct. This is a must during a job interview!

The opposite, rambling and excessive talking, is a sign of nervousness so avoid it at all costs. A lot of people actually are nervous during the interview so rambling is a common thing. But when you are as direct and to-the-point as possible, this reflects self-confidence and certainty, when you do this you will stand out above and beyond every other applicant.

Do not confuse “direct” with “rude”. When answering a question, tell the interview exactly what they need to know, without a life story which only you care about.

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You Ask
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This may sound like a shock to you, but it’s not the interviewer that should be asking all the questions during an interview. The way you want to approach an interview is… you are interviewing them!

By doing this, you may find that they’re not the best place to work for after all. You may find out it’s not a good fit for you.

For example, the requirement may be for you to pool your tips after each shift. A definite thing to avoid in a potential employer! I explain this, along with everything else you must avoid when “screening” employers in Bartending Secrets Exposed.

Have a written list of questions to ask the interviewer. The one who asks the questions is in control, this is not to say to not let them ask you any questions, but have some of your own to balance things out.

When you have questions for the interviewer and you get them talking, they’ll love you for it! People love to talk about themselves and if you can do that you’re scoring huge points and establishing a connection. Believe me, it works.

Some not so obvious examples that will impress the interviewer are:

What sort of staff training is in place here?

How long have you been employed here?

What is the nightly sales record in this bar?

Do you allow low-risk, controlled flair bartending?

What is the turnover like in this establishment?

What’s stopping you from hiring me today?

Will you allow me one unpaid shift to prove myself?

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Have Some Class
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Avoid doing what so many people out there do, which is only think about themselves.

What do I mean by this?

I’m talking about the kind of person who walks into the interview and starts asking about pay and vacation time right from the get go.

These questions are focused solely on what’s in it for YOU. You don’t want to do that. Show some class and character by asking about those types of things towards the end of the interview.

You should start by asking questions about the actual job and how you can best service THEM as an employee. i.e. What you’ll be required to do for them, what sort of training is in place, how many shifts will you be able to work etc.

I hope this article gave you some good ideas and gets you thinking about what you can do better to score the bartending job of your dreams!

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The author of this article, Jeremy Sherk, is an expert, world-class bartender who has helped thousands of bartenders land their dream job and explode their level of cash tips.

Rather than hitting your head against a brick wall trying to succeed on your own, let him take you by the hand and show you exactly how to land the bartending job of your dreams making hundreds in cash per night! 100% Guaranteed! Click here now for all the details!

Secret Shopping & Mystery Shopper Jobs

admin — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:47:14 +0000

Even though it sounds like a dream come true, you can actually get paid to eat out. That’s right, not only is your meal covered, but you get paid on top of it! It happens every day all over the country. Businesses have found secret shopping (sometimes called Mystery Shopping) to be an effective way of finding out how their business really runs when the big bosses are away. They need people like you and I to do this work because we are real consumers with a generally unbiased opinion of the place being shopped. Secret shopping is fun, educational and profitable. You can mystery shop part time or even make your own business out of becoming a professional secret shopper.

Shopping Jobs Net

Shopping Jobs Net offers an incredibly well organized directory. It provides plenty of resources to help newcomers get started. Detailed information & links to mystery shopping companies are easily accessible.

Their mystery shopping directory includes listings of 400+ companies and is easy to navigate. Offers a 90 day, no questions asked, 100% money-back guarantee.

Go To Shopping Jobs Net

Shop Until You Drop

Shop Until You Drop is a new mystery shopping service that offers a quality directory of job sources, and has a fancy, easy to navigate site. Very nice people running this site, and top quality information. Offers a 90 day, no questions asked, 100% money-back guarantee.

Go To Shop Until You Drop

Updated 8/3/2010

Waiters share what they love — and hate — about their job

admin — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 03:53:44 +0000

From Rocktown Weekly
By Brooke Bates
It’s not an easy job. But they do it – balancing trays of burgers and drinks in one hand, keeping a dozen orders straight and maintaining a grin until their shift ends.

Servers are there to serve. But don’t make it any harder on them than it should be. Here’s your guide to being a good customer.

Use your manners
“Be nice.” It’s really pretty simple, according to Chris Howdyshell, who has worked at The Little Grill Collective for nine years. He says Little Grill workers, like all servers, try to make each meal a friendly, personal experience.

“A good customer is polite” in return, says Miles Miller, who waited tables at O’Charley’s for a year and a half. That means making sure your kids mind their manners, too.

“Some parents let their kids go wild … and just leave [the mess] for me,” he says.

Have fun, but not at the sake of other customers or your server.

Be sociable
Sometimes, when Rachael Morris, 22, introduces herself to a table and asks how they’re doing, they reply with drink orders.

“I hate when people don’t give me time to even speak,” says the waitress, who worked at Ruby Tuesdays for three and a half years before moving to Rocktown Grill a month ago. “I can’t stand when they won’t even look up at me. I think that’s just rude.”

She says she appreciates feedback, because she can’t tell if quiet tables are enjoying themselves.

Take your time, not theirs
Servers will give you plenty of time to decide. “I don’t want you to get something you don’t want,” says Miller, 23.

But don’t take up your server’s time while you ponder the options.

“People tell you they’re ready because they don’t want you to leave,” Morris says. “Then they sit there for another 10 minutes saying, ‘Umm, umm, umm,’ just because they don’t want you to walk away.”

Don’t expect special treatment.
Sure, the customer is always right, but be reasonable. Some customers send food back without even trying it, says Karin Bales, who worked at The Pub for almost a year before moving to Rocktown Grill.

Of course you can send it back if it’s not what you wanted. But if you customize an order, altering it from what’s on the menu, make sure it’s what you want. “[You get] a special order, then don’t like it?” she says. “You changed the menu!”

Some customers just want free food, Morris observes.

“They’ll eat everything but the last bite of a steak or burger, then complain that it’s not cooked right and they don’t want to pay for it,” she says. “You ate the whole thing!”

Don’t get personal
Try to call your server by name, says Jaime Woolf, a waitress at Cally’s.

“They don’t remember my name so they say, ‘Hey you,’ or ‘Hey, girl,’ ” says the 22-year-old.

Miller agrees that getting called “waiter” is grating. “I know you’re not trying to be mean,” he says, “but I have a name tag. I already introduced myself.”

But don’t get too intimate – with servers or with your date, Miller says.

Remember you are in public.

“I hate PDA,” he says. “I can’t stand it when people sit in the same side of a booth.”

Your server doesn’t want to know about your personal life, and they don’t really want you prying into theirs either, Miller says.

“I don’t like when people ask about my personal life,” he says. “I don’t know you. [People ask], “Do you have a girlfriend? How long have you been dating?’ ”

Bales draws the line at touching. “Any type of … grabbing, pulling you over into their lap” is going too far, she says.

Patience is a virtue
Howdyshell says his biggest pet peeve is customers’ coming up to the front counter for a refill.

“It’s like people are calling you out for not giving them fast enough service,” he says. But, he admits, he does it when he’s out, too.

Realize that a sit-down restaurant can’t offer immediate gratification.

Morris says she can’t stand customers who say they’re in a hurry and want a rush on their food.

“If you’re in a hurry, go to McDonald’s,” she says.

Miller’s patience ends when customers try to flag him down.

“They say no when I ask if they need anything, then wave me down to ask for it,” he says. “I’m like, ‘I asked you two seconds ago and you said no!’ ”

Don’t blame your waiter
There are some things that your server really can’t help – like how long it takes to grill a steak.

Morris says she apologizes to customers for the wait anyway, and they help ease her mind by understanding her position.

“They understand the kitchen is a separate thing,” she says. “They say, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re not in any hurry. It’s not your fault.’ ”

Customers expect servers to be “moderators” between the table and the kitchen, Miller says. They request extra portions for free, he says, and he can’t give handouts.

Clean up after yourself
“Leaving a complete and utter mess is not necessary,” Miller says, recalling tables showered with spilled salt and strewn with wads of paper.

A little effort, like stacking your plates before you leave, will make your server’s day, he says. It cuts their clean-up time in half.

But it starts with not being excessively messy in the first place.

“Pitchers are made to have things poured out of them, not to put trash in or dump ashtrays in,” says Joe Myers, a bartender at Rocktown Grill who’s been pouring drinks for 30 years.

Just because it’s not your house doesn’t mean you can trash it.

Say thank you with a tip
One of Miller’s tables once ran up a $100 tab, and the group was the last in the bar to leave. They ran him to death, he says, and left nothing in return.

“I don’t think people realize we only make $2 an hour,” says Miller, who’s working to fund his college education.

Morris says most customers just don’t know tipping etiquette. “They think $5 is a great tip, no matter what, even if you have a $40 check,” she says.

She says the bill isn’t the only thing that should determine the tip. “If you ran your server to death, take that into consideration,” she says.

They all recommend 20 percent.

Make a habit of it
“A good customer [is] the one that comes a lot,” says Howdyshell as he scans the morning regulars at The Little Grill.

“Regulars make the best customers,” he says. “If it’s possible for someone you don’t know to give you unconditional love, it’s when you’re feeding them.”

Any customer that comes at all is a good one, the restaurateurs agree.
Miller’s view, which he claims is more optimistic than most, is that “overall, people are nice.”

Morris says the bad seems to outweigh the good some days, but it’s mostly because customers just don’t know better, she says.

“Being a server definitely changed the way I see things from a customer’s standpoint,” she says. “I think everybody should have that experience. If everybody worked at a restaurant for a year, the world would be a happier place.”

Why I Bartend…

admin — Sun, 27 May 2007 04:38:22 +0000

by David Neeson – Tip20! Contributer

My name is David. I remember growing up looking at people who have ‘fun’ jobs and being jealous. I was 10 when I first went to a go-kart track and saw this guy whose entire job is to just sit outside and be around go-karts ALL DAY LONG… How awesome was that? I mean he’s not in an office, or in the back scrubbing toilets, he’s around fun go-karts just sitting around and occasionally jumping on the back of a kart and riding it for a bit. Most important thing is he’s outside around people when THEY are having fun…

It took me awhile, but seven years later I became that guy. I worked at a Family Fun Center for two years working the go-karts. By now you’re probably thinking, “What does this have to do with bartending???” Well hold on, because it was around that same time that I went into a TGI Fridays and saw a bartender who had the entire crowd laughing, cheering, and genuinely enjoying themselves. It was at that exact moment that I found my new ‘fun’ job to strive for.

I left Indiana and went to college at the University of Dayton, in Ohio. Sure I left my family and friends a state away, but I never forgot that feeling in the bar as a teenager. I wanted to be that guy who had the crowd cheering, and remembered that he was doing ‘flair’ behind his bar and owning every inch of it. I didn’t know at the time how hated flair is to bartenders, all I knew is how much fun I had watching it. Within the first two months at Dayton, I found a group of jugglers and learned how to juggle with the specific idea of applying it to bottles later in life. Even though learning to juggle was a big step in my life, I was too scared to say anything about my hopes to family and friends, because it just seemed silly. This brings me to another point I want to make: The ONE thing I would like to accomplish by this post is giving hope to those who enjoy something, not to be scared to strive to get it done, no passion is stupid…

My second year at Dayton I left on a study abroad program to Hawaii. I was only 20 but thought I was the best flair bartender in the WORLD. I soon found guys who showed me otherwise and taught me the art; yes I said art, of flair bartending. I can truly pinpoint my passion for bartending, and flair, to that moment in my life.

It’s been several years since and I’m still growing and learning every day. Flair bartending aside, bartending is still an art. Not everyone can walk into a bar and own every inch of that bar top. I’ve heard the saying over and over, “I can teach a monkey how to pour a drink, but I can’t teach anyone how to bartend.”

It’s hard to look someone in the eye when they’re having a bad day, and get them to trust you enough in the five minutes you’ve known them, to tell you why their day isn’t going well.
I’m here to talk about bartending. So my first question to those who’ve cared enough to read this far is, Why do you bartend? This isn’t meant to call into question the monetary rewards bartending achieves, but this is more calling into question your dedication to the art… So… Why? Why do you bartend. I do this because it’s the only job that no one is perfect at. No one can go into a shift and truly have the exact same thing happen to them because everyday is something different…

If by now you’re tired of bartending, or don’t have the motivation to grow in the art, then sit down and think about what it was like for you the first time you saw a bartender who really made you feel good… I mean someone who probably wouldn’t be able to pick you out from a ham sandwich, but yet you still respect enough to trust them with your deepest secrets…

Bartending can be fun. Bartending SHOULD be fun. Aside from the flair aspect, which I plan on talking about later, bartending should be a job people look forward to… If your bar is gloomy, then take some action and be that one person who makes other people have fun… No one likes having a boring area to work, and fun can be contagious…

Well I’m going to end this with that same go-kart track that I worked at before bartending… It sucked… After the initial first week, it was boring and the same thing over and over while smelling gas fumes and dealing with yelling children every day… The one thing that kept me going was that even though I got the same question asked, and same scenarios each day, it was with a different person and I couldn’t hold that against them… I never knew if I was going to the next race with a child who looked up to me like I did that guy how ever many years ago, so I had to make it fun… After I did that, the fumes and yelling didn’t bother me quite as much…

Choose your work style…