STATS:
69% Male 27% Female 4% Unsure.
12% went to bartending school.
20% attached a photo.
34% live in Manhattan, 26% live in Queens, 27% live in Brooklyn, 13% live in Jersey/Westchester.
40% pasted their resume into the body of the email, 60% attached it as a Word document.
Rule #1
Do not send your email from a naughty address.
This means you: YungBlkNRich@optonline.com, sooohung@gmail.com, and LatinLover69@aol.com. Email addresses are free. And you can have more than one.
Rule #2
Cut and Paste your resume into your email.
When I applied to that job at the steakhouse, I never even got a call back. Now I know why. I sent my resume and picture in separate attachments. When fielding 400 plus resumes who has time to download 240 individual resumes and additional documents? Not a busy restaurant manager who already has more than enough shit to deal with on a day to day basis. If I was the one hiring, I would automatically delete anyone who didn't make their resume readily available to my eyeballs.
Rule #3
Write something fun and unique in the subject heading.
For every fifty "Re: Bartending Position", there was one, "Dynamic and Professional Bartender for Hire!" which was a refreshing aberration from the sea of banality that my email box was drowning in. My favorite one was "Cranky French Bartender to Add Authenticity to Your Bistrot."
Rule #4
Photos are a must.
If a person had a photo in the body of their email, I found myself willing to overlook the fact that they had attached a resume, especially if he or she was good looking.
Rule #5
Spell Check is essential (duh).
I know everyone knows this, but while it's a no brainer to spell check large portions of text, it was obvious to me that not everyone reveiws the email subject box for spelling errors. I saw more than a couple: "Re: Bartebding Job", "Re: Sartender for Hire", "Re: A Chane To Join Your Team!"
Rule #6
Get a Nickname.
Bartenders are the ambassador of the establishment, "quick with a joke or to light up your smoke"; the guy you say things to like, "gimme the regular, Jim". When people think bartender, they think Ted Danson or Woody Harrelson of Cheers. Not to say that you need to be a lower-middle class white man in a flannel to bartend, but I'm just saying that if your name is multi-syllabic and has several consecutively strung consonants like "Przybylińska", maybe you want to pick out a nickname like, "Skip." Just a thought.
Rule #7
Don't let your gender be a mystery.
This is for all the Lees, Corys, Julians, Shuheis, and Xaos out there. Attach a photo, put a middle name, or allude to your sex in the subject heading of your email like, "Energetic Female Bartender Available for Hire!" Often, a manager knows if they want to add a male or female to the staff so this confusion won't work in your favor.
Rule #8
Fake an address.
Who was I kidding? Why would anyone hire a bartender who lived in Westchester when they could hire one that lives a few blocks away? Who's more likely to be late when the weather is bad? Who's easier to call in when someone else is a noshow? Who won't have a problem staying late because they don't have to make the last train? Someone close. 34% of the applicants live in Manhattan. If I was the manager, I would interview all of them first. On my next app, I'm gonna put my old 11th St. address.
Rule #9
Keep irrelevant info out of your resume.
No one cares that you taught swimming lessons to children at the Minneapolis YMCA in the summer of 94. Nor do you need to put your country of origin (where is Moldova?), that your desired salary is 100+K, or that this is just something to do because you were let go from your "real job."
Rule #10
Straighten that shit out!
Don't just copy your entire resume out of a word file and paste it without fixing the formatting . Your resume shouldn't look like a collage you made in the 7th grade with words cut out of Teen Magazine. It's unprofessional and makes you look sloppy and lazy.
I know that most of you, my readers and friends, have real jobs and will find little use for all this info, but hey, in this economy, you never know. I have a friend with a Master's Degree from Columbia who is waiting tables at a Times Square chain restaurant. But, my perpetually job hunting brothers and sisters, the ones who struggle to pay the rent so that you have time to create your art; this is for you. I can't guarantee you'll get the job, but I'm pretty sure you'll at least get an interview if you follow these ten steps.
Write something fun and unique in the subject heading.
For every fifty "Re: Bartending Position", there was one, "Dynamic and Professional Bartender for Hire!" which was a refreshing aberration from the sea of banality that my email box was drowning in. My favorite one was "Cranky French Bartender to Add Authenticity to Your Bistrot."
Rule #4
Photos are a must.
If a person had a photo in the body of their email, I found myself willing to overlook the fact that they had attached a resume, especially if he or she was good looking.
Rule #5
Spell Check is essential (duh).
I know everyone knows this, but while it's a no brainer to spell check large portions of text, it was obvious to me that not everyone reveiws the email subject box for spelling errors. I saw more than a couple: "Re: Bartebding Job", "Re: Sartender for Hire", "Re: A Chane To Join Your Team!"
Rule #6
Get a Nickname.
Bartenders are the ambassador of the establishment, "quick with a joke or to light up your smoke"; the guy you say things to like, "gimme the regular, Jim". When people think bartender, they think Ted Danson or Woody Harrelson of Cheers. Not to say that you need to be a lower-middle class white man in a flannel to bartend, but I'm just saying that if your name is multi-syllabic and has several consecutively strung consonants like "Przybylińska", maybe you want to pick out a nickname like, "Skip." Just a thought.
Rule #7
Don't let your gender be a mystery.
This is for all the Lees, Corys, Julians, Shuheis, and Xaos out there. Attach a photo, put a middle name, or allude to your sex in the subject heading of your email like, "Energetic Female Bartender Available for Hire!" Often, a manager knows if they want to add a male or female to the staff so this confusion won't work in your favor.
Rule #8
Fake an address.
Who was I kidding? Why would anyone hire a bartender who lived in Westchester when they could hire one that lives a few blocks away? Who's more likely to be late when the weather is bad? Who's easier to call in when someone else is a noshow? Who won't have a problem staying late because they don't have to make the last train? Someone close. 34% of the applicants live in Manhattan. If I was the manager, I would interview all of them first. On my next app, I'm gonna put my old 11th St. address.
Rule #9
Keep irrelevant info out of your resume.
No one cares that you taught swimming lessons to children at the Minneapolis YMCA in the summer of 94. Nor do you need to put your country of origin (where is Moldova?), that your desired salary is 100+K, or that this is just something to do because you were let go from your "real job."
Rule #10
Straighten that shit out!
Don't just copy your entire resume out of a word file and paste it without fixing the formatting . Your resume shouldn't look like a collage you made in the 7th grade with words cut out of Teen Magazine. It's unprofessional and makes you look sloppy and lazy.
I know that most of you, my readers and friends, have real jobs and will find little use for all this info, but hey, in this economy, you never know. I have a friend with a Master's Degree from Columbia who is waiting tables at a Times Square chain restaurant. But, my perpetually job hunting brothers and sisters, the ones who struggle to pay the rent so that you have time to create your art; this is for you. I can't guarantee you'll get the job, but I'm pretty sure you'll at least get an interview if you follow these ten steps.
oh, ho.
ReplyDeletethis is one of the best posts i have read on any blog in quite some time. you have found your writing form. sorry, it's blogging.
and those numbers are both staggering and depressing and suspected. i think the only one i'm guilty of is attaching my resume. i thought they'd want it that way.
well, i guess i should also stop sending from my willfukk4writingjobb@slutmail.com account.