How to Make Your Next Bartender Hire

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Last updated at 09-14-2020 16:39:02

Overview

Methodology

More than 33,427 companies advertise 162,317 Bartender jobs on SimplyHired and its partner sites each year. After analyzing job postings and salary information from these companies, as well as direct job seeker feedback, we’ve compiled a list of insights to show you how to attract and hire your next Bartender most efficiently.

Hiring Process

In the past quarter, we’ve seen 53,462 job posts from 13,253 employers in the United States. This is a increase of 35.5% compared to the previous quarter. On average, there are 29 Bartender job seekers for every active Bartender job, which shows that it is a job seeker's market.

Writing a Job Description

In the past quarter, Bartender, Server, Customer Service Representative, Receptionist, Delivery Driver, Administrative Assistant, Front Desk Agent, Sales Representative, Retail Sales Associate, and Warehouse Worker seem to be the most sought after jobs amongst the Bartender candidates in the United States. This is pretty consistent compared to the same data in the last 6 quarters. If you use one of these currently popular titles in the job description, you'll likely be able to attract a lot more candidates to apply.

For the Bartender candidates who are actively applying to jobs in this same period, we see that 12.2% of the active Bartender candidates have less than 3 years of experience, 21.7% have between 3-5 years of experience, 36.0% have 6-10 years of experience, and 30.2% have over 10 years of experience. The average years of experience has shifted from an estimated 8.8 years to 8.6 years. If you're posting a job in today's market, expect candidates with about the same experience level to apply to your job compared to the last 2 quarters.

In the previous quarter, the most popular skills that employers are looking for include bartending, restaurant experience, communication skills, serving, customer service, time management, English, basic math, hospitality, and cash handling. Demand for sanitation, Spanish, multilingualism, computer literacy, writing skills, serving, English, upselling, hospitality, and kitchen experience has significantly increased. If you are looking for a Bartender with a similar skill set, be sure to follow industry best practices in skill requirements.

Job posts with salary information received about 1.3 as many applies as those without it. In the past quarter, less than 15.1% of the job posts displayed salary information. By adding salary information to your job posting, you could potentially increase the number of applicants by approximately 30.0%.

Example Bartender responsibilities

  • Preparing and serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
  • Providing customer service to the guests
  • Creating quality cocktails through mixing alcoholic and non-alcoholic ingredients
  • Mixing ingredients to create specialty drinks such as liquor, wine, beer, and soft drinks
  • Taking orders from guests seated at the bar or at tables

Recruiting

Active Recruiting

When reaching out to candidates, it’s best to understand where to look. We’ve identified hiring trends in states as well as companies regularly hiring for Bartender positions. This should provide a good place to start looking for qualified candidates. According to our data in the last quarter: Texas, Florida, California, New York, and Illinois are the states that have the highest demand for Bartenders. Florida, California, Texas, New York, and Illinois are where most job seekers are searching for Bartender jobs. If we look at the Bartender to job ratio, Missouri, Delaware, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico have the lowest number of Bartender applicants per job. Montana, Oregon, Nevada, New York, and Washington have the most active Bartender job seekers per job.

Passive Recruiting

While actively recruiting candidates for your role, you should also post your job to SimplyHired. By posting for free and paying only for the qualified applicants you want, your post will automatically go to a network of job boards to reach millions of qualified candidates. With SimplyHired, it doesn’t end with the post. You can track your applicants throughout the hiring process with our simple and easy to use Applicant Tracking System (ATS).

Review Candidates

In the last quarter, we estimate there are 1,542,331 job seekers interested in Bartender opportunities in the United States. That’s a 62.4% increase compared to the previous quarter with 949,622 active job seekers. Around 12.2% of the active Bartender candidates have less than 3 years of experience, over 21.7% have between 3-5 years of experience, 36.0% have 6-10 years of experience, and 30.2% have over 10 years of experience. The average experience level of the available Bartender candidates is 8.6 years. Active candidates in the Bartender profession most commonly have high school diplomas, followed by bachelor's degrees, associate's degrees, and master's degrees. When setting education requirements for your position, aligning with the industry standard makes it easier to find potential candidates. Application rates indicate that Bartender candidates are likely experiencing a market in which applicants have less negotiating power. From an employer perspective, you'll have a greater selection of candidates to choose from and may want to invest in automated screening tools.

Interviewing Candidates

Interview Process

*Self-reported data collected from 62,604 Bartenders from 1/1/2020 to 6/30/2020, via online employer reviews for companies including Applebee's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Olive Garden, Chili's, Red Lobster, Outback Steakhouse, Ruby Tuesday, Texas Roadhouse, T.G.I Fridays, and Red Robin.

After analyzing post-interview data from Bartender candidates in the last 6 months, we see more than 68.3% of the candidates self-reported being hired within 1 to 2 days. Around 95.6% of the candidates for this job reported being hired within 2 weeks. If your process takes longer than 2 weeks in the recent market, you'll likely lose these candidates to other employers. Most of the Bartender candidates are expecting a on-site interview, phone call/screening, background check, and presentation. Most employers do not require a group interview, written test, or problem solving exercises. If you are trying to hire your next Bartender quickly, consider simplifying and streamlining the hiring process. As for the interview experience, more than 73.2% of the candidates had a good or great interview experience, and more than 52% of the candidates thought that the interview leaned more towards easy.

Example Interview Questions

  • What qualities do you possess that make you right for this position?
  • Tell me about your most recent position
  • How do you create happy and loyal customers?
  • Give an example of how you made a solution for a problem.
  • What’s the difference between a drink and a cocktail?

Final Review and Offer

Reference Check

Checking references is a quick and easy way to check for any red flags that didn’t arise to this point in the hiring process. Great insights can be provided by former colleagues and employers.

Crafting an Offer: Salary and Benefits

The average Bartender salary offered by employers increased for 3 out of 6 consecutive quarters in the United States. In the last quarter, we see a increase of 5% from $38,980.4 to $40,912.05 compared to the quarter before, which is on par with the past 6 quarters. For Bartender positions, the most common benefits job seekers reported being offered by employers include: discounts by 81.5%, healthcare insurance by 23.8%, paid time off by 17.3%, dental insurance by 17.1%, a 401k plan by 14.5%, vision insurance by 13.9%, and stock options/grants by 2.5%. While still relatively rare, more and more employers now offer flexibility benefits, including paternity leave, flexible working hours, somewhat remote, maternity leave, sabbaticals, location variety, mostly remote, and fully remote, to attract and retain Bartender candidates to their organization.

Background Check and Drug Test

According to self-reported job seeker feedback, 14.4% of the employers conducted a background check, and 5.1% of the employers conducted a drug test prior to the hiring of their Bartender candidates.

Onboarding

When you’re ready to hire a Bartender, SimplyHired is here to help with your next steps. Our Human Resources Information System (HRIS) provides onboarding tools and other essential HR tools. From document signing to time off tracking, our HRIS will help you seamlessly move a Bartender candidate through the hiring and onboarding process.
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