Cocktail bartender to bartender
A cocktail bartender already meets 78% of what the bartender role asks for. The move turns on 3 required skills not yet in the profile.
29.1/ 100
1 How much of what a bartender is expected to do is already part of a cocktail bartender’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the bartender role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.
Why this move works
A bartender role treats 18 of its required skills as things a cocktail bartender already does. You would walk in with these on day one.
- clear the bar at closing time
- comply with food safety and hygiene
- display spirits
- enforce alcohol drinking laws
- execute opening and closing procedures
- handle bar equipment
What stands in the way is 3 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.
Table 2 · What you already bring
Of the 27 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A bartender role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a cocktail bartender background worth leading with.
- already held clear the bar at closing time assisting and caring
- already held display spirits communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held handle bar equipment assisting and caring
- already held maintain bar cleanliness handling and moving
- already held present drinks menu communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held setup the bar area assisting and caring
All 27 carried skills, including the 18 the bartender role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you may need to learn
The 11 missing skills fall into 4 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.
- still to learn serve beers required
- still to learn prepare hot drinks required
- still to learn detect drug abuse required
- optional, not held prepare garnish for drinks optional
- optional, not held serve wines optional
- optional, not held educate customers on coffee varieties optional
- optional, not held educate customers on tea varieties optional
- optional, not held apply foreign languages in hospitality optional
- optional, not held change kegs optional
- optional, not held clean beer pipes optional
- optional, not held local area tourism industry optional
Table 4 · Where to start
The 3 entries a bartender role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.
Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.
Appendix · The rest of the record
All 27 skills that carry over
- already held clear the bar at closing time skill
- already held comply with food safety and hygiene skill
- already held display spirits skill
- already held enforce alcohol drinking laws skill
- already held execute opening and closing procedures skill
- already held handle bar equipment skill
- already held handle glassware skill
- already held handover the service area skill
- already held identify customer's needs skill
- already held maintain bar cleanliness skill
- already held maintain customer service skill
- already held present drinks menu skill
- already held process payments skill
- already held serve beverages skill
- already held setup the bar area skill
- already held stock the bar skill
- already held take food and beverage orders from customers skill
- already held upsell products skill
- already held assemble cocktail garnishes skill
- already held compile drinks menu skill
- already held compile drinks price lists skill
- already held create decorative food displays skill
- already held devise special promotions skill
- already held handle gas cylinders skill
- already held prepare fruit ingredients for use in beverages skill
- already held prepare mixed beverages skill
- already held sparkling wines knowledge
8 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held change kegs optional
- optional, not held clean beer pipes optional
- optional, not held prepare garnish for drinks optional
- optional, not held educate customers on coffee varieties optional
- optional, not held educate customers on tea varieties optional
- optional, not held local area tourism industry optional
- optional, not held serve wines optional
- optional, not held apply foreign languages in hospitality optional
8 held skills the bartender role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role assist customers skill
- not needed by the target role create new recipes skill
- not needed by the target role extract juices skill
- not needed by the target role operate dishwashing machine skill
- not needed by the target role present decorative drink displays skill
- not needed by the target role think creatively about food and beverages skill
- not needed by the target role types of whisks knowledge
- not needed by the target role work according to recipe skill
1 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice
Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.
- optional, not held local area tourism industry optional
Common questions about this move
Can a cocktail bartender become a bartender?
Yes, and it is an adjacent move. A cocktail bartender already covers 78% of what a bartender is expected to do: 27 skills carry over, 18 of which the bartender role treats as required.
What skills does a cocktail bartender need to become a bartender?
3 required skills are missing, plus 8 optional ones. They fall into 4 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by assisting and caring. The single most important is serve beers.
How hard is the move from cocktail bartender to bartender?
Its learning distance is 29.1 out of 100, which is the adjacent band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.
How this record was compiled
Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.