How to Become a Bartender in Melbourne

Bartending is a great gig for backpackers, part-time casual workers, young university students, veteran hospitality workers with a passion for cocktails and wine knowledge, and more.

In order to be a successful bartender in Australia, you need 3 things: licence, skills, and grit.

A big portion of the bartending work is managing people of all backgrounds on a wide spectrum of inebriation levels and personalities. You will have unexpected things happen one after another and it’s important that you keep calm & keep going.

Bartending pays well (in Melbourne, the average rate is $25.8 per hour) and it gives you a great opportunity to build transferrable skills and a valuable network. Having a hospitality background allows you to be an excellent customer service expert and even a salesman. You learn how to gauge people and the situation much more quickly. Even if you have no previous knowledge or experience, the path to becoming a successful mixologist isn’t out of your grasp.

RSA Training Courses

The SITHFAB002 – Provide responsible service of alcohol training can only be delivered by Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) approved by the local state government.

If you want to operate at late-night bars (serving alcohol after 1 am), you may need to be required to get advanced RSA certification.

You can find the full list of all authorised RSA training providers on the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation website. Here are some of the most popular ones:

Mixologist or Bartending Courses

You have a licence, so you are now legally allowed to serve cocktails and wine at a bar. However, you may lack the skills to be employable. There is no shortage of bartending courses you can take in Melbourne. There are basic bar courses, combined barista/bartending courses, overall hospitality training, and specialised short courses focused on specific themes such as liqueurs, gin, or Asian.

Across Australia, there is a Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) certificate requirement. You are not allowed to serve alcohol, let alone get a job in the Australian hospitality industry unless you have this certification. While this is a requirement across the whole country, there are some differences between the states so even if you are a licensed bartender in Sydney, you have to get a new RSA certificate in Victoria. The SITHFAB002 – Provide responsible service of alcohol training is required to obtain the licence.

The RSA training course includes:

• dangers of excessive alcohol consumption
• how to identify signs of inebriation
• accountability of bartender, bar, and customer
• how to handle difficult interactions

While this is a legal requirement, holding an RSA certificate alone isn’t necessarily enough to get you a gig. Many venues will have a different set of criteria they look for – previous experience, liquor knowledge, etc. So it’s worthwhile to look for your ideal spots where you want to work and find out what additional knowledge or skills they expect.

With a licence and proper training, you are ready to be hired and hit the ground running. You can be introduced to employers via your training course provider.

You can also join Facebook groups like The Melbourne Bartender Exchange to network and look out for open positions or trial opportunities. The hospitality industry is a friendly place by nature. Going to a pub or bar frequently and building relationships with the bartenders, managers, and owners will allow you to find the first gig. Once you have some experience under your belt, it’ll be much easier to look for other, better opportunities.

Keep practising at home with your family and friends. Fortunately, mixing drinks is a demonstrable skill so you can show what you got during your interview to impress your employer even if you don’t have any previous work experience.