What Skills do you get from Working in a Pub?
If you’re considering bar work as a way to kickstart your career, you might be wondering what you could get from it that will transfer to jobs in other industries–or in the hospitality industry if that’s where you want to stay.
The truth is that anyone working in a pub will gain so many new skills–not to mention a bucketload of knowledge–especially if this is their first experience of working with the public, or as part of a team.
Let’s take a look at all the different skills that you can expect to develop from working in a pub…
👉How working in a pub develops your people skills
👉How working in a pub develops your business skills
👉How working in a pub develops your life skills
How working in a pub develops your people skills
The number one thing you will take from working in a pub is people skills. While it helps to be a sociable person before you apply for a job in a hospitality setting, if speaking to people you don’t know is relatively new to you, you’ll soon get used to it and the more you do it, the more comfortable you will become. It’s one of the things that makes working in a pub so much fun. You’ll learn to spot which customers will benefit from your positive energy, when to use your powers of persuasion to bring up the latest marketing offer and when a party wants to be left to talk amongst themselves.
There is hardly a job in the world for which experience of dealing with people isn’t an important skill. When a potential employer sees bar work on your CV, they’ll know that this is something you have in your locker.
And it’s not just customers that you’ll learn to communicate with either, there’s your colleagues too. Working as part of a team is a critical skill that will set you in good stead for your working life. Whether you’re working front of house or in the kitchen, there’ll be times when the whole team has to work together to get through a busy shift and it’s these times that you’ll learn the most. From how to spot and assist a struggling colleague to when to ask for help yourself, getting the most from a team is a skill that employers in any industry will recognise and appreciate.
How working in a pub develops your business skills
If you’re new to the world of work, there are so many business basics you can pick up from working in a pub. There’s commercial awareness, which could translate in a hospitality setting to spotting what products customers are ordering and making sure you’re well stocked up. Then there’s time management and the ability to prioritse, which is important in any job and will let someone who is thinking about employing you know that you can use your time efficiently and get the most important tasks done. In a bar or kitchen setting, for example, you’ll learn that some tasks are less important and can be done when the pub is quiet, but if it’s a busy shift, they’ll have to wait as serving the customers in a timely fashion is top priority.
Having a stint of bar work on your CV also shows that you have decent numeracy skills as you’ll have experience of working with money and working out change and so on. Your job role in a pub may include adding up the money in the till at the end of the night which not only shows your numeracy skills, it shows that you are a trustworthy employee who can handle responsibility.
How working a pub develops your life skills
You won’t only pick up skills for your future career—one of the things that makes working in a pub so great is that you’ll also learn skills for your life outside of work too.
Working in a pub is not always plain sailing. Dealing with difficult customers without letting it affect how you do your work, or without it getting to you, helps you learn how to be resilient. As you move through life, there will always be times when you come across challenging people and learning to deal with them without getting upset is extremely valuable. Or you might smash a glass during a busy shift and the whole pub might look at you and clap or cheer, but you’ll learn how to move on from setbacks without them affecting you.
Speaking of busy shifts, staying calm under pressure is something you’ll learn that will help you in life. The ability to keep breathing and working when orders are piling up, there’s a queue at the bar and the pump for the most popular beer has just stopped working will be a massive help in life during the periods where things aren’t going your way.
Are you interested to find out more about the benefits of working in a pub? Check out our overview for the full rundown.
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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