I am going to be interviewed for a job as a banquet bartender at the Sacramento Hyatt tomorrow, do any of you have some advice? Right now I am going over many recipes and other trivia (partially because my last job [and first bartending job] sucked, and although I technically still “work” there, I have not worked in several months). Does anyone know of what I should primarily focus on? What they will really be looking for? What I should do say or act that would help with this particular job?
It’s more important to be able to use buzzwords and phrases that h.r. people like to hear than to study drink recipes, IMHO - “team player” is a good one. Just be yourself, smile, look the interviewer in the eye, etc. A banquet bartender is more likely to pour wine and soft drinks than spirits. Of course it depends what type of function you happen to be working that particular day.
I do not agree that you are more likely to pour soft drinks - perhaps AS likely, but not more so.
A banquet manager will be looking for someone who can handle large orders quickly - while some banquet servers do not cocktail, those who do will be coming to you with ten-drink orders at a time. It will help tremendously if house policy includes drink order (servers are trained to order drinks in a specific manner - usually frozen drinks, bottled beer, mixed drinks, shots, draft beer, coffee drinks) and servers are trained to ice, mix and garnish - that way they will be putting iced and garnished glasses on the service bar, and, soda gun in hand, will tell you what liquor to pour in each glass. Find out if the house has such a policy, and if so, learn it.
You’ll also need to be clean, neat and discreet, which means not slopping booze outside glasses, nicely dressed in accordance with the uniform policy (usually a tux shirt and black pants in my experience) and able to gently cut off a drunk without causing a scene - ESPECIALLY if the drunk in question is the bride!
Reliability, integrity and tact. Try to work specific examples of how you have these qualities into the interview, even if it’s in the context of answering another question.