How to Record a Bartender Video Job Ad

Date modified: 2nd June 2025 | This article explains how you can record a bartender video job ad inside the Pilla App which you can share with external candidates. You can also check out the Job Ads Guide for more info on other roles or check out the docs page for Managing Videos in Pilla.

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Bartenders don't apply to job ads—they get poached. The best ones are fielding approaches constantly: from regulars opening new places, from managers who've watched them work, from friends who need someone reliable. Your video job ad competes with personal invitations and industry reputation. It needs to answer the question every bartender asks: why would I leave where I am for this?

Step 1: Open with the Opportunity

Different bartenders want different things. A 23-year-old building cocktail skills wants creative freedom and learning. A 35-year-old with mortgage payments wants consistent income and reasonable hours. Your opening needs to speak to your actual target.

For cocktail-focused roles: Mention your drinks program immediately. Do bartenders develop seasonal menus? Is there room to create signatures? What's the house philosophy—classic foundations, modernist techniques, low-waste? A bartender choosing between two cocktail bars will pick the one where they'll grow faster.

For high-volume roles: Lead with money. What did your bartenders actually take home last Saturday? Cocktail bartenders might accept lower tips for creative fulfilment; volume bartenders won't. If your bar does £15,000 on a Friday night, say so. Specificity signals honesty.

For career progression: If you promote internally, show the path. Your head bartender who started as a barback three years ago is your most powerful recruitment tool. Competition support, industry event access, management training—these matter to ambitious bartenders more than a few extra pounds per hour.

Step 2: Show Your Bar's Personality

Film from where bartenders actually work. Behind the bar, during service, with real customers visible. Candidates are evaluating the space they'd spend 40+ hours a week in.

The physical setup matters: Show your station organisation—the back bar arrangement, spirit selection, speed rail setup. Bartenders notice immediately whether this is a place that invests in proper tools or makes do with bent jiggers and sticky pourers. The Riedel glassware or the chipped pint glasses tell a story.

Capture the energy honestly: Is this a dark, intimate space where bartenders build relationships across the bar top? A high-energy venue where you're four-deep at midnight? A hotel bar with suited business travellers? Each attracts different people. Don't film your quiet Tuesday for a Friday-night job.

Music and atmosphere: Who controls the playlist? What's the dress code? Can bartenders have visible tattoos? These details matter more than most employers realise. The bartender who thrives in a speakeasy will wilt in a sports bar, and vice versa.

Step 3: Paint a Picture of the Role

"Bartender wanted" could mean anything from pouring pints in a pub to crafting 12-ingredient cocktails in a Michelin-starred restaurant bar. Get specific about what this job actually involves.

Cocktail bar realities: Walk through your preparation standards. Fresh juice program—daily citrus pressing, or pre-batched? House-made syrups and tinctures? Clarified cocktails? Mention your typical cocktails-per-hour during peak; someone used to making 15 an hour needs to know if you expect 40.

Volume bar realities: Don't pretend it's more glamorous than it is. If 70% of orders are vodka-Coke and you're running between two wells all night, say so. The right candidate finds that exhilarating; the wrong one will resent it within a month.

Hotel and restaurant bars: Explain the relationship with food service. Table service expectations versus bar-only. Room service responsibilities. Cross-training requirements. Hotel bartenders need broader knowledge—wine service, coffee, spirits across every category—compared to specialists.

The daily rhythm: What time do opening bartenders arrive? Who preps garnishes and fresh juice? How are closing duties divided, and how long do they actually take? A bartender who's used to being out by 1am needs to know if you're regularly wrapping up at 3am.

Step 4: What You Actually Need

Bartending skills vary dramatically by venue. A volume bartender's speed is useless if they can't stir a Martini properly; a cocktail bartender's technique means nothing if they fall apart when three-deep.

Technical requirements by bar type:

Cocktail bars demand multi-technique proficiency. Shaking, stirring, building, throwing—and understanding why each matters. Balance, dilution, temperature control. Familiarity with classic cocktail families and how to riff on them. Speed matters, but not at the expense of quality.

Volume bars demand efficiency. Multi-tasking and short-term memory for complex orders. Till accuracy when you're processing hundreds of transactions. Physical stamina—eight hours on your feet, moving constantly, in a hot environment.

Hotel bars demand breadth. Spirits knowledge across every category. Competent wine service. Guest interaction at higher hospitality levels. Flexibility between quiet afternoon service and packed evening trade.

Experience specificity: "2 years cocktail bar experience" means something different from "2 years bar experience." If you need someone who can train juniors, say so. If you'll develop technique but need the right personality, say that instead.

Personality by venue: High-energy bars need performers who feed off crowds. Intimate bars need attentive listeners who remember a regular's drink. Neighbourhood pubs need people who'll become fixtures—who'll attend the funeral of a customer's mum. These aren't interchangeable skills.

Step 5: Make the Offer Compelling

Bartenders know what they're worth. Vague promises about "competitive pay" signal either ignorance or an offer you're embarrassed to state clearly.

Break down the money: Base rate. Tip structure—pooled, individual, house percentage. Realistic earnings on different shifts (your Tuesday bartender and Saturday bartender take home very different amounts). Service charge policy if applicable.

UK context:

  • Cocktail bars: £11-14/hour base, £28,000-38,000 total with tips
  • Volume bars: £11-13/hour base, up to £35,000-45,000 where tips are strong
  • Hotel bars: £12-15/hour base, £26,000-35,000 with service charge

Beyond the hourly rate: Staff drinks policy—shift drink? Off-duty discount? Meal provision during doubles? Industry pricing on spirits? These add up, and bartenders calculate them.

Schedule realities: How far ahead are rotas published? Is there schedule consistency or constant change? What are actual finish times—midnight, 2am, 4am? Are any day shifts available, or is this nights-only? Bartenders with children, second jobs, or active social lives need to know.

Development investment: Competition entry support. WSET or spirit certification funding. Industry event attendance. Guest shifts at partner venues. Pathway to head bartender or bar management. Bartenders building careers care about these more than an extra pound per hour.

Step 6: Tell Them How to Apply

Bartenders are busy, usually employed, and probably happy enough where they are. A 10-step application process with cover letter requirements loses them immediately.

What works: "Send a CV and 60-second video to this email." "Drop in Tuesday to Thursday before 5pm and ask for Sarah." "DM us on Instagram with where you're working now and why you want to move."

Trial shifts: Mention these upfront. How long, and yes—paid. The bar industry's reputation for unpaid trials makes candidates wary; confirming payment removes friction.

Industry reputation: Bartenders talk constantly. A respectful hiring process—prompt responses, honest feedback, reasonable timelines—builds your reputation even with candidates you don't hire. A disorganised one travels through the industry faster than you'd believe.