If you love beer, the beer industry can be a vibrant and fun place to work. Whether you are looking to pivot your current career to a brewery setting or seeking a reset in your life, the beer industry offers many positions that are more than just brewing the beer. But with many breweries being small businesses, how do you break into the beer scene?
Go back to school and get certificates
If you are looking to brew, there are many brewing programs across the country (and world!) that offer certificates in brewing, some even remotely. The Siebel Institute in Chicago and one of the oldest in America.
Certificate programs like the Cicerone Certification Program also make your resume stand out. The level 1 Certified Beer Server exam is an online test that you can do from home and shows you are serious about learning about beer.
Judging homebrew competitions and passing your Beer Judge Certification Program exam (another online exam!) can help you learn more about beer as well. Judging homebrew competitions is a great networking opportunity to meet potential brewery employees who can vouch for you should you need references that are beer specific.
DENVER, CO – MAY 19: Melissa Arp pours herself a Pilsner in the tasting room a (Photo by John … [+]
Start by working in the tasting room or sales
If you don’t want to brew and are looking to get into other careers, working in a brewery’s tasting room part time or full time is a great way to get your foot in the door. I know many people in the industry who are now senior managers making six figures who started as beertenders. It’s a great way to get to know beer, customer service, and hospitality. Plus you’ll have access to your new beer coworkers as well as other breweries’ workers who will come to visit. Many breweries are looking for part time tasting room staff so if you can set aside your Saturdays/Sundays while keeping your current job, this may be a good way to dip your toe in to see if working at a brewery really is for you and make some extra cash in the process.
Large and small breweries also offer sales jobs, with any sales experience sometimes being secondary to your love and passion for beer and talking to people. This is also a great way to get into beer and is usually a full time job with benefits.
Look at special message boards
Any skillset you have may be applicable to the beer industry from logistics to accounting to legal and more. A great place to find jobs is on ProBrewer or the jobs board at Brewbound for all brewing jobs across the country. Make sure to ask for salary transparency! A good brewery will tell you the salary upfront.
Don’t volunteer your time aka never work for free
The surefire way to get taken advantage is to tell a brewery you’ll help them for free. An internship for a certificate program is one thing as that’s course credit but washing kegs and stacking beer for a pint at the end of the day may help you learn a little about the beer scene but if you are working, you should be getting paid for your time!
DENVER, CO – September 09: Eric Miliauskas, left, drinks Helles light lager while his friend Jason … [+]
Network In the Industry
Beer people are usually super friendly! If you have any questions about how to get in the industry, just ask and they will be happy to answer you. Stop by your local brewery and chat up the beertenders, brewers and more and see what they say about the industry.
The beer industry can be a fun and exciting place to work and with many breweries looking to hire, this could be the time to make the leap!