Everything you need to know about temporary pub jobs
Getting a temporary pub job over Christmas or summer is a great way to earn money when you need it the most, especially if you like meeting people and working in an atmosphere where everyone is having a great time—that’s what pubs are for, isn’t it?
The best part is, you don’t necessarily need experience and, between kitchen and bar work and front-of-house, there are loads of different roles you could do. Plus, unlike working in retail or industrial jobs, you get tips to sweeten what is already a pretty sweet deal.
Read on as we get into the finer details of what’s great about seasonal pub work. There’s a lot more to it than you think….
👉Seasonal pub work can be a great way to make money
👉Do you need experience to work in a pub?
👉Can you work part-time in a pub?
👉Is work in a pub flexible?
👉How many hours a week can I work as a student?
Seasonal pub work can be a great way to make money
There are few more festive places to be than in a pub at Christmas time—it’s one reason why seasonal Christmas pub jobs are popular. It can also help towards those extra Christmas costs that inevitably stack up once the Christmas Spirit takes hold of you (and your wallet).
Many seasonal jobs can help ease the financial burden of having a great time at Christmas, but few can match the earning potential that working in a pub offers. Think about it—the decorations are up, the nights are long and dark and everyone is feeling a touch merry in every sense of the word. They’re also feeling generous, which is great news for your tip jar.
It’s not just tips that can go through the roof when at peak pub times like Christmas and the summer holidays—your hours can too. You might be taken on part-time but there’s every chance you’ll be able to bump your hours up when the pub is really heaving. And if you’re always willing to take extra hours and can consistently deliver for your teammates, there might be a full-time permanent role in it for you—if that’s what you’re after. Feeling Christmassy yet? You will be.
Do you need experience to work in a pub?
A lot of temporary employers will often turn you away for lack of experience. That’s not the case with pub work, especially at the bigger pub companies like Greene King who offer training that can bring you up to speed quickly on exactly what’s required to be a great pub team member. What’s more, the range of roles on offer in bigger pubs makes them a great place to find what you’re good at when you’re just starting out in the world of work.
Take kitchen work, for instance. TV chef programmes would have you believe that working in a kitchen is only for SAS-level tough-nuts and woe betide any noob who doesn’t know their sea bream from their dover sole. The reality, at least in pub kitchens like those at Greene King, couldn’t be further from that. All you need is a team-focused attitude, plenty of energy and reliability—and you can learn the rest. Sure, you might start as a Kitchen Porter (like many a top chef) but, if you’re ready to learn, you can soon work your way up to chef and beyond.
It’s the same on the bar. All that pubs like Greene King are looking for is a positive attitude and something that tells them you’re capable of making someone’s Christmas that little bit more special with the service you offer. Call it ‘Christmas cheer’ if you like—if you’ve got it, pub managers will be only too keen to train you up and, in no time at all, you’ll have the tip jar jingling like a one-horse open sleigh. You could even work your way up to supervisor and, from there, who-knows-what. We’ll leave that to you and your ambition.
Can you work part-time in a pub?
One of the reasons people choose to do part-time or temporary pub work is that it offers an alternative to the nine-to-five life that, for many people, either doesn’t appeal or doesn’t fit with their out-of-work commitments.
So, yes, you very much can work part-time in a pub. But, with the scope for increasing your hours and the added benefit of tips, that doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily be tied to doing rigid part-time hours or a typical part-timer’s income.
Part-time temporary work in a pub is ideal for those just entering the world of work or returning to it after a long break. That’s because its varied nature can help you learn skills that are valuable across the board in the employment market. And we’re not just talking stock and cash handling and customer service (as if that’s not enough). We’re also talking about transferable skills like collaboration, teamwork and the ability to prioritise your own workload. These are skills all employers look for so if you think that taking on a part-time temporary pub job might not do your CV any good, think again.
Is work in a pub flexible?
The hospitality sector, by nature, is flexible. It has to be. Because, when you think about it, people really don’t put a time limit on the hours that they spend socialising. Think of all the times you or someone you know has, with the best of intentions, said that they’re going to the pub for one quick drink but ended up coming home in the wee hours? That’s socialising for you—it’s flexible and the industry that facilitates it is too.
That’s one of the reasons part-time or seasonal pub work is so popular with students or those with other important outside-of-work commitments. At bigger pubs, like those run by Greene King, that flexibility goes next-level because there will always be someone that wants an extra shift when you need to drop one for an exam, dissertation or any other reason.
That flexibility works both ways—if you need to pick up a few extra hours here and there, you can do that. And at bigger pubs—particularly now that there are labour shortages across the industry—opportunities for extra hours crop up regularly. So, even if you join a pub as a part-timer, there’s every chance that you’ll be able to bump your hours up to full time if you want to. But you’ll always have the ability to say ‘no’ to extra hours if you want.
How many hours a week can I work as a student?
Uni ain’t cheap. And although students have generally always taken on some kind of part time work to support themselves financially while studying, these days they increasingly shop around to find part-time work that will give them the best earning potential. Because extra shifts (and, equally, the ability to drop shifts when needed) and tips come with the territory in the hospitality sector, many students see pub work as a more financially attractive option than, say retail. Also, because pub work mostly goes on in the evening, it’s easy to fit it around lectures.
Universities recommend that students work no more than 20 hours per week, which is in line with what a pub manager will expect when they hire a student, whether that’s in the kitchen, bar or front-of-house. They’ll also expect that, come the summer, you might go home to somewhere miles away that will make working regular shifts impossible—chances are, you won’t be the first student that will have asked them if they can have shifts when you get back. And while that may involve you starting a new employment contract or even hooking you up with a role in another pub owned by the same company (like Greene King, for instance), your manager will generally do anything to retain a good worker and teammate.
That’s why the size of a pub company should weigh heavy in your reckoning when you’re considering your part-time work options. Because if a company has several branches (and Greene King has 1,600), you’re that much more likely to be reemployed in the event that you need a break from work, for whatever reason. You never know, you might leave a temporary job and find a permanent one at the same company. So although temporary work might only be short-term in the first instance, with the right company, it can deliver long-term benefits.
From Apprenticeships to management, from the north of Scotland to the far west of Cornwall, if you’re looking for a role in a hospitality, the huge range of opportunities that Greene King have are definitely worth a look.👀
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