Barista With No Experience
The Fastest Way to Be a Barista With No Experience
Whether you are looking for your first job or looking to change careers, being a barista can be a great opportunity. Most people who start in coffee have no experience at all – and we've all been there. The good news is that today it’s easier than ever to learn how to be a barista online and usher yourself into a new promising field.
Learning a new career or shifting from one job to another should not be too complicated. It shouldn’t be too expensive, either! Luckily, you can find various online barista classes and digital barista training books that you can utilize today. Online barista training has plenty of advantages:
- Significantly less expensive
- Extremely convenient
- No need to drive to a coffee school
- You can study at home.
- Study at your own pace
- Build your own barista training schedule
- Open yourself to new opportunities.
The fastest way to be a barista with no experience is by taking an online barista training course. An online barista training course will help you learn the necessary barista lingo, provide you with some barista responsibilities and general job requirements.
Be a Barista With No Experience Fast
Learn How To Be A Barista Online
Fortunately, your online barista training won’t take you a lot of time. Forget about boring lectures, books with no pictures, and long educational videos. If you choose to learn how to be a barista online, you’ll be amazed at the quality of study materials and how fast you can learn with them.
If there’s time pressure and you want to get a barista job as soon as possible, online barista training is the only answer. No real-world coffee school can teach you so fast. There is also no need to drive hundreds, if thousands of miles, or jump on a plane, book a hotel for a couple of days, and Uber around a new city.
Instead, you can learn everything you need to be a barista online just with the help of your computer or mobile phone and internet access. In fact, you need several hours to become a barista!
Here's the fastest way to get a job as a barista with no experience:
Learn Barista Terminology
Being a barista requires you to know the professional language to understand the coffee preparation process. Baristas use special coffee lingo to explain specific coffee characteristics and coffee extraction methods. I bet you already know many coffee terms, for example, espresso, Americano, cappuccino, pour-over, or a cold brew! We’ve collected the most widely used barista terms that will help you become a professional barista.
Familiarize Yourself with Coffee Equipment
An espresso machine is the core of any coffee business. This is the most expensive piece of coffee shop equipment. That’s why it’s important to utilize and maintain it well. A well-maintained espresso machine will be less prone to breakage. It’ll also ensure the quality and consistency of coffee drinks.
But an espresso machine isn’t the only piece of coffee equipment you’ll be using. Along with an espresso machine, you’ll need to learn about coffee grinders, tampers, pitchers, and other tools you’ll be using daily as a barista.
Understand the General Requirements and Job Duties of a Barista
Baristas are coffee ambassadors: they represent a coffee shop, promote its values, and contribute to a coffee shop’s profitability. It requires you to know all coffee recipes and have basic customer service and mathematical skills. Baristas might also perform other job duties like preparing food, managing inventory, opening, closing cash registers, promoting certain products, and even mentoring younger baristas. Each coffee shop will have its own general requirements, expectations, and job duties for its baristas.
Get Your Barista Job Resume Together (and Prepare for Your Interview)
Writing your barista resume and cover letter might take you a while, so we recommend starting doing it sooner. Investing in your resume will definitely pay you off, so don’t skip on it. A strong, well-written will distinguish you among other baristas, thus increasing your chances of successful employment. Be sure you follow basic barista resume and cover letter guidelines or download our sample barista resume together with our Barista Training Guide.
Now, as you sent your barista resume and got the first invitation to a barista job interview, be sure you know what to say and answer sample barista interview questions with the help of Barista Training Academy.
Learn About Coffee
Learn as much as you can about coffee, and never stop learning. Coffee is a very complex product where everything affects your cup's taste: coffee origins, coffee processing method, roasting level, etc. You should be able to play around with these variables to extract the best espresso shot you can.
Have a Positive Attitude and Introduce Yourself to Managers
Prepare for your barista job search by visiting local coffee shops. Get to know local coffee roasters, baristas, and coffee shop managers. Become a regular customer and develop friendly relationships with coffee people. This way, you will learn about different coffees and espresso drinks and get some barista job offers.
Be a Barista With No Experience:
Can You Be a Barista With No Experience?
Yes! You can be a barista with no experience. But like in any job or profession, it helps to be trained. If you work at a slow coffee shop, you could be trained while you are on the job.
There are fundamentals of building coffee drinks that you should know, including how to dose and grind your coffee. Additionally, you want to understand what a balanced espresso shot looks and tastes like. Finally, you want to know how to steam and pour the milk properly.
Where Should You Start?
Suppose you don’t have any experience as a barista, congratulations! We’ve all been there. Even this year’s world barista champion once started with no experience at all.
In other words, don’t stress. Experience will come.
First, you need to determine if this serving coffee is something that you’d like to do. If you already know that you love coffee and like the idea of working in a coffee shop, then you’ll want to get proper barista training.
On the other hand, if you are not sure if being a barista is for you and you are only slightly interested, the best thing you can do is dive into coffee a little more.
Visit coffee shops and coffee roasteries. Talk to other baristas and get their take on what it’s like to be a barista.
Next, explore affordable online barista training programs. Our Barista Training Program, for example, can provide you with the fundamentals you need to start your career in coffee. Proper training will open up the doors for you to get the experience you want.
Why Get Barista Training?
Getting barista training can provide you with the barista experience you need to build drinks, pull delicious espresso, handle equipment properly, and deal with many customers at once.
Like any job, proper training helps to keep you and your customers safe, the coffee equipment working in tip-top shape, and allows you to deliver excellent coffee beverages.
The better trained you are, the more effective you will be at delivering high-quality coffee to customers. The demands of many customers can be overwhelming, especially if you lack the experience to deal with various customer requests. Proper training and experience will help you deliver great customer service and coffee.
How Long Will It Take to Be a Barista?
You might be wondering how long does it take to learn to be a barista. The truth is, it won't take you a very long time to learn the ins and outs of being a barista. You can learn the fundamentals of being a barista within a day or two with proper training. Once you get the fundamentals of serving extracting coffee, steaming milk, and proper maintenance of coffee equipment, you'll be well on your way. After your training, it will be important for you to get some experience working behind the coffee bar and on the espresso machine.
For starters, get yourself in the mind frame of being a barista and working in a coffee shop. What elements of the job do you need to be aware of? Are you just starting, or do you have some familiarity with coffee? There are many ways to get the experience you need before starting your job as a barista. For example, you can take an online barista course, attend coffee-related seminars and lectures, coffee roasters' cuppings and tastings, or work in the restaurant industry.
Can Someone With No Experience Be Hired as a Barista?
Sure! Someone with little to no experience can be hired on as a barista. They can slowly learn as they go. But it probably would not a good idea to start a barista job without any help or support with no experience. If the new barista has support from other experienced baristas or co-workers, it is possible to learn as you go. Eventually, some barista training will need to occur. Making amazing espresso and building coffee drinks requires knowledge, training, and practice. If you can get hired on as a barista with no experience, be sure to ask your manager how they plan on training you. The barista training you get will provide a great foundation for you to build your experience.
How To Be A Barista With No Experience
Becoming a barista has some great benefits, making it a great job for many people at different places in their lives. So, how do you get a barista job if you don’t have experience as a barista?
Even if you don’t have experience pouring coffee or “pulling shots” as a barista, you can still get a barista job.
We believe that there are a few important elements to getting that first job as a barista with no experience:
Willingness to Learn
You may not know – right now – how to be a barista. However, if you are willing to learn and show an earnest interest in a barista job, you will find many coffee shop owners and managers willing to consider you for a barista position. The willingness to learn how to be a barista is very appealing, especially when applying for a barista job.
If you are willing to learn, you are trainable and a good candidate to be a barista. Now, will some coffee shop owners want experience? Yes. Will some coffee shop owners want you to hit the ground running at their coffee shop? Yes. But there are certainly other essential elements that will make you an appealing barista job candidate.
Passion for Coffee
You don’t have to be a barista to have a genuine passion for coffee. People love coffee. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be a need for baristas.
You can demonstrate your long-standing passion for coffee by your willingness to try new coffees, try different brewing methods, or learn about coffee as an agricultural product.
Coffee can inspire you in several different ways. Demonstrating a deep passion for coffee can make you stand out among other barista job applicants.
Details Oriented
Being a barista requires attention to detail. Taking care of your espresso machine and making the best espresso shot can require you to fine-tune your equipment, requiring you to be detail-oriented.
Fine-tuning your grinder, tamping just right, controlling your water flow, your milk, as well as other small details will help you serve the best coffee and be the best barista you can be, all play an important role. Being detail-oriented can help you stand out as a barista job candidate, but more importantly, it can help you be a great barista.
Customer Service
Being a barista requires you to demonstrate excellent customer service all the time. This is tougher than it sounds. Delivering consistent quality customer service to every customer is essential for your coffee business to be successful. It requires patience and real genuineness.
If you want to be a barista but don’t have any experience, showing or demonstrating previous jobs where customer service played a key role can be another appealing attribute.
Other Essential Elements to Being a Barista
Other important elements and traits to have that will help you get a job as a barista with no experience:
Personality
Having a “positive” personality might seem superficial, but it makes a big difference in delivering customer service. Consider your own experiences when you go to a coffee shop or restaurant. Being greeted, served, and addressed by staff members with the personality makes all the difference.
Availability
Your availability is one key component to getting a job as a barista. Some barista positions require you to up at 4:00 am and serving coffee by 5:30 am. If you have a flexible schedule and you are more than willing to get your “foot in the door” regardless of the hours they need you, it can help you stand out among other barista job candidates.
Dependability
Being dependable is an essential trait to have as an employee. Whatever the size, coffee shops depend on their employees to make good decisions that impact their business. Often, these decisions are made outside of work. For example, getting to bed early so that you can be up and on time for work.
Honesty
Working in a coffee shop generally means that there will be a lot of cash around. Coffee shop owners and managers are extremely aware of this. Coffee shop owners need dependable people with good personalities and know how to serve their customers amazing coffee drinks, but they also need honest employees.
Stealing cash or giving away free products (i.e., coffee and snacks) to their friends is ubiquitous. Hiring honest employees matters.
How does this translate to hiring you as a barista with no experience? During your barista job interview, give honest answers. Translate your honesty with an authenticity that builds trust with the owner or manager of the coffee shop.
Other Business Skills
You might now have any barista experience, but other skills may make you a “standout” among other candidates with experience.
For example, you may have worked at a large retailer and have inventory management experience. You may have worked in a restaurant and have food service experience. You may have worked in the medical field, and you might know general first aid, CPR, etc.
All of these other skills can translate to making you a very appealing candidate.
Be a Barista With No Experience:
Should I be a barista?
Yes! We think that being a barista has a lot of great perks! If you are thinking about being a barista but you are not sure, you are not alone. To be sure, there are tons of great reasons to be a barista. Regardless of your level of expertise or barista experience, you can make good money, have a flexible schedule, and develop managerial skills.
Being a barista can be great for many reasons:
- Boosts your professional confidence
- Prepares you for successful employment in coffee
- Improves your customer service skills
- Earn good-paying tips
Invest in your knowledge by choosing our barista e-guide, packed with everything you need to know to be a professional barista. “The Beginning Barista Book” is perfect for starting baristas and those having limited experience with coffee. This barista e-guide will significantly expand your knowledge of coffee and barista responsibilities. Besides, it focuses on barista job search, barista job interviews, workstation efficiency, and how to earn more barista tips. Whether you want to be a coffee roaster or own your own coffee business, let us help you learn how to be the best barista you can be. Starting a coffee shop with no experience is similar.
Brought to you by Barista Training Academy, “The Beginning Barista,” Your Ultimate Prep Guide to Getting Your First Job as a Barista” is an ultimate resource that is available online and is affordable for anybody who is looking to start a career in the coffee industry. For more information, visit our blog.
