It’s coming up to that time of year again when thoughts turn to warmer shores and planning something to look forward to. If the idea of work and travel is on your mind, now’s the time to research seasonal work opportunities.
If you’re a student graduating this year or you have recently left university, you’re in the enviable position of being responsibility-free. It’s a rare time in life to be enjoyed, without the worry of dependents, a mortgage or committing to a career.
Travel the World
Before joining the nine-to-five life, many graduates choose to go travelling. It’s the perfect time in life to work and travel, experiencing new cultures and gaining new perspectives while making friends along the way.
It’s also becoming increasingly respected by employers, acknowledging the life skills gained and how these can be transferred into the workplace.
How to Afford a Gap Year
However, one of the major barriers stopping students from travelling the world is cost of living. It can be hard to afford airfare, accommodation and activities without the potential to earn.
This is where having a transferable set of skills comes in especially handy. One of the most sought-after gap year professions is bar work abroad.
As well as being a highly sociable profession and a great way to make friends when travelling abroad, it can also fit in around your lifestyle and availability. The ability to surf by day and flare up cocktails by night is appealing to many.
How Much Do Bartenders Earn?
Salary, much like the cost of living, is relative to the country you live in.
For instance, in America, a typical bartender should average around $230 a night, or $23 an hour (£17.61). In the UK, the average bartender will earn £7.03 an hour, and further afield in Australia, you can expect to earn AU$20.77 an hour (£11.50). Don’t forget, this is the service industry, so your performance can result in tips.
So, in basic terms, you can expect to earn anything from £350 t0 £880 a week, working five days a week (10 hour shifts).
Not only is pay lucrative, but there’s an abundance of bar jobs wherever you go in the world. If you’re only looking for part-time work, it is one of the best jobs for seasonal work.
What Do You Need to Be a Bartender?
Bar work abroad is ideal for those with lively personalities, a friendly approach and good people skills. You will also need to be creative and have the ability to multitask. Sometimes bartending can also call upon important business and entrepreneurial skills.
But you also need to be equipped with essential bartending skills. You’ll need to know your Kahlua from your Campari, a whisky from a bourbon and your shaken from your stirred!
There’s an art to being a bartender, and most establishments will want some sort of credentials behind your application. This is why more than 7,000 students every year enrol at European Bartender School, globally recognised as the largest bartending school in the world.
Learning the Trade
In a week or a month, you can learn a new skill that will enable you to work and travel your way around the world as a well-paid side job.
Whether you’re a novice or you’ve got a little bit of bartending experience under your belt, courses are designed to equip you with all the knowledge and skills you need to walk into a bar anywhere in the world and start working with confidence.
Created by leading figures in the bartending world, the course covers four major areas:
Flair: Bring the theatre of cocktail-making to life with your flaring prowess. Dazzle customers with bar tools and bottles when making cocktails.
Free pour: This is the art of measuring liquids with precision, something essential to master in cocktail-making.
Theory: Understanding some of the science behind bartending.
Practical bartending: Hands-on training and mastering the art of being a mixologist, learning over 65 classic and modern cocktail recipes.
Why Learn With EBS?
As a graduate from European Bartender School, you’ll be able to walk into any bar in the world with kudos and credentials. You’ll also gain lifetime access to EBS MatchStaff, an exclusive job assistance platform to help EBS graduates find work at top venues in the worldwide hospitality industry.
The International Bartender Course curriculum is standardised across all of its schools and taught in eight different languages (English, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish).
So now you can learn, work and travel, by enrolling in any of its courses in the following 21 countries:
Europe: London, Amsterdam, Madrid, Oslo, Stockholm, Bad Gastein, Dublin, Mallorca, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Berlin, Kos, Milan, Speyside
Africa: Cape Town,
USA & Mexico: New York, Miami, Jalisco
Australia: Sydney
Sign Me Up!
Bartending is a great profession to learn, offering new skills and making friends for life, allowing you to work and travel in style.
