Bartenders
Mix and serve drinks to patrons, directly or through waitstaff.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Service Orientation
- Social Perceptiveness
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Coordination
- Persuasion
- Reading Comprehension
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Education and Training
- Sales and Marketing
- Administration and Management
- Public Safety and Security
- Mathematics
- Personnel and Human Resources
What the work involves
- Collect money for drinks served.
- Check identification of customers to verify age requirements for purchase of alcohol.
- Balance cash receipts.
- Attempt to limit problems and liability related to customers' excessive drinking by taking steps such as persuading customers to stop drinking, or ordering taxis or other transportation for intoxicated patrons.
- Clean glasses, utensils, and bar equipment.
- Take beverage orders from serving staff or directly from patrons.
- Serve wine, and bottled or draft beer.
- Clean bars, work areas, and tables.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (43% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (26.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (38.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Bartenders is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 77% of occupations compared | 92% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 82% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 87% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 61% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 99% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 54% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 92% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 99% of occupations compared | 80% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 7.02%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0.59%
- Contact with others most of the time: 0.38%
- Constant contact with others: 92.01%
n = 25, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 7.22%
- Fairly important: 4.21%
- Important: 0.35%
- Very important: 32.56%
- Extremely important: 55.65%
n = 25, Incumbent 07/2017
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 4.34%
- Fairly important: 0.71%
- Important: 55.91%
- Very important: 4.58%
- Extremely important: 34.46%
n = 25, Incumbent 07/2017
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 15.64%
- Limited freedom: 7.22%
- Some freedom: 36.02%
- A lot of freedom: 41.12%
n = 25, Incumbent 07/2017
Time pressure
- Never: 68.93%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1.3%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.88%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 10.06%
- Every day: 1.83%
n = 24, Incumbent 07/2017
Conflict situations
- Never: 15.66%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 13.31%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 48.45%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 11.74%
- Every day: 10.85%
n = 25, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 14.46%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.9%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 27.59%
- Every day: 40.05%
n = 25, Incumbent 07/2017
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 79.95%
- Fairly serious: 8.96%
- Serious: 0.71%
- Very serious: 10.02%
- Extremely serious: 0.35%
n = 25, Incumbent 07/2017
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O*NET-SOC 35-3011.00 · SOC 35-3011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8