Finding a job in the craft brewing industry (Sponsored Post)
One of the questions on the mind of many beer enthusiasts is how to turn a craft beer hobby into a craft beer day job. Many people would like to trade in their daily job in order to follow the storyline of craft brewers who cast aside their 9-5s in exchange for mash paddles and then never had to look back.
When doubt sets in, many would-be beer professionals realize that they require tangible benefits like health insurance and retirement contributions in order to sustain a family or professional career. While some would then abandon their dream of joining the beer industry, others will continue and keep searching, realizing that there are many jobs available in the beer industry, including ones with benefits, insurance, shift beers and more intangible benefits, but it may require a greater search.
Start with Job Sites That Specialize in the Beer Industry
When looking for a beer industry job, the best place to start is somewhere that specializes in brewery jobs. Remember that all of these are national sites, so there may not be many postings in your particular state yet, so keep checking back with the sites or watch their RSS Feeds.
Probrewer.com – the site that many current beer industry people used to find their jobs. Probrewer job board is an old school message board style job search. It is the digital equivalent to a cork board full of jobs. This is not the only function of Probrewer, so navigate to the job board and begin searching.
BreweryJobs.com – a relative newcomer to the craft brewing job scene, BreweryJobs.com scans and adds jobs in the beer industry. The site also allows breweries and distributors to post jobs directly or sponsor posts for additional visibility. The job-searching function is the only function of BreweryJobs.com, so the entire site is entries and possible connections to be made.
Brewbound.com Job Board – another national job board, Brewbound.com is now a paid service, but their job board is 100% free to browse. Signing up for alerts will mean receiving an email multiple times each week rife with new jobs from around the United States. Brewbound.com is primarily a beer news site, so navigate over to the jobs section for this function.
Remember traditional job-seeking outlets, too
In addition to specialized sites, normal job-seeking websites are also full of local job postings from brewers, distributors, and beer-specialized retailers. Search terms like “Cicerone,” “brewery,” or “taproom” can prove fruitful when seeking beer and brewing jobs.
Check with state brewers’ guilds or brewing organizations for opportunities. It’s a good idea to follow any organization where you would want to work on social media.
The next steps to landing a beer job
While these sites can be the beginning of an opportunity, standard job search etiquette applies once a connection is made with a brewery. Sharpen resumés and write great cover letters. Earn the interview by making contact and following up.
When an interview is scheduled, don’t assume that because people in the brewery wear shorts and t-shirts to work that those would be acceptable to wear to an interview. Those folks have already been hired. If unsure what to wear, ask this of the person setting up the interview or err on the side of too formal versus too casual.
Jobs in the brewing industry are still hard work and can be long days of brewing, attending beer festivals, and traveling depending on the position. Just because jobs appear to be beer drinking and carousing to the public, like all jobs, there are almost always additional duties and responsibilities that position has that are not always in the public eye.
Good luck searching and finding your ideal job within the brewing industry. The jobs are out there, they just may require a bit more dedication and diligence to achieve.