Barista tafe certification

[Matthew_Eric]

Hi all,

This is just a quick one regarding the TAFE short course certification Barista 1,3 & Barista Coffee Preparation - Advanced.

Id like to build my skills and think these courses would be good, however Im wondering if anyone out there in the real world look for baristas that are certified, or, is it a case of if you can do it and do it well, a piece of paper is only that.

One other question I have is regarding where to do the course - its offered at tafe via Sydney Coffee Academy, at Tobys Estate plus a few more Im sure.

My questions are:

- Does anyone hiring look for certified baristas, if so, to what level?
- Does a certified barista whos only got at home experience (albeit on a commercial machine) get a look in?
- Is there any reason to go to one place offering certification over another? Any benefits making the choice of one over another a no brainer? Would anyone out there prefer someone to have been trained at one place over another?

As usual I look forward to your responses, thanks for your input.

Cheers,
Matthew

[Thundergod]

Re: Barista tafe certification

Ive seen a few ads today for baristas (Im currently unemployed) and none of them asked for certification.
They all asked for experience.

Having said that, I believe passion is a key to getting your foot in the door.
About 3 years ago now I was in the same position and managed to talk myself into a barista position with zero experience.
He wanted nothing more to do with me after I said I had no experience in a cafe.

Mind you, I was armed with my certificate and pictures of my home equipment and dared him into letting me show him I could handle his machine.

Long story short I got the job.

Now back to those online ads...if they advertise for experience I dont think youll get a look in.
I think youd need to approach them face to face like I did.
Some of the ads mention the establishment so its possible to bypass an online application.

[maheel]

Re: Barista tafe certification

As TG said you need experience but getting it is the trick......

nothing wrong with walking into every coffee shop with your resume and hitting up the boss.

if you can kick off washing up / waiting then use the machine in quite times. then you have experience......

many employers want KEEN people, banging on doors shows your keen to work and want to learn etc

I have always talked my way into jobs then figured out what i am supposed to be doing.......confidence is the key

good luck

[acoggins]

Re: Barista tafe certification

I actually think knowing how to make coffee is the least of an employers worries. Lets be clear. If you know how to make great coffee on a commercial machine, youre only part way there.

Theres a bunch of other skills you cant get until youve got paying customers lining up.

If you are going to get some training, I would try to get the nationally accredited courses, the ones you mention above sound like they are. Some time on a commercial machine would also help. Depending upon which capital city youre closet to, theres various recommendations as to places you can go and pay to use their training facilities for a couple of hours.

Going around to Cafes and trying to convince someone to take a chance is probably the only way. You could try the coffee chains to begin with. Otherwise, start by offering to work a couple of hours free during a quiet time. And if you have previous experience in another career path, they will treat you with suspicion as to why on earth youre doing this.


-ACog

[Matthew_Eric]

Re: Barista tafe certification

Hi guys,

Thanks for your input. Its sounding like the best plan is to get skilled, then get behind the counter any way possible.

I can work with that!

If anyone has any experience with these courses, or any other barista courses Id be really keen to hear your thoughts.

TG - you said youre looking for work, firstly, sorry to hear. Im sure something will come along shortly. I always assumed barista work is easy, high turnover etc however Im now starting to realise there is a difference between your average part time can make a capp type of barista, and the real for the love of coffee barista. Is barista work, good spots in good cafes, a really hard nut to crack? Do jobs even get advertised, Im assuming its all word of mouth.

ACog - thank you, all sounds on the money.

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Matthew

[Thundergod]

Re: Barista tafe certification

Just throw "barista" into seek.com etc and a lot of jobs will appear.

[Matthew_Eric]

Re: Barista tafe certification

I know how to search, Im asking for opinions - a few job ads dont really give a holistic overview re employment in the industry and Im sure all jobs arent advertised.

Cheers

[Thundergod]

Re: Barista tafe certification

Im assuming its all word of mouth.

Obviously not.
And yes some are.
But in those cases, like everything else, its who you know.
CS might get you a bit more of a head start but some of those "word of mouth" ones are exactly that.

I know how to search, Im asking for opinions

Sorry; the written word doesnt always come across as you intended.

[scoota_gal]

Re: Barista tafe certification

Matt...

I think that you should just help yourself and get the Tafe qualification any way. I think that a lot of people think that they will just get by without any formal training and get trained on the job. I know of a few places that do that and theyre few and far between, rather than being common place. So, that would suggest that getting a job with them would be less likely than with a cafe that just needs a barista.

I suppose it comes down to how confident do you feel about getitng a job without any training behind you? And how good do you think you could do said job without any training?

You should be pretty well served by doing the Tafe course through The Coffee Academy, they do after all have to be certified to be able to provide this training under Tafe. Not just anyone can hand out a Tafe certificate. I think youll be pretty safe with them (or even Tobys if you go there.)

Good luck, Matt. This is a great industry to be working in but with a lot of hard and tough work, being in hospitality is not everyones cup of coffee!

[Luke_G]

Re: Barista tafe certification

Hey MeP!

This is a subject i recently dealt with at work.
A position arose to cover my days off and the word went out to all local barisi...so yes, word of mouth played a big part in employing this particular person.
I had recently met a certain Coffeesnobs fanatic and local in my areah who heard about the vacant position and wanted a look in. With no prior experiance in the hospitality industry but plenty of home xp and a passion for coffee i gave him a trial.

As expected he was slow...a bit too slow but with a couple of days help from me he slugs away with a bit more pace now and seems to be improving.

Long story short?..... while i was looking for experience i settled for unrivaled passion and a willingness to learn. I also figured he wanted to swap professions from a well paying tradie to barista so the dedication was not an issue.

If you want training i am gonna say go with Tobys Estate. Not just because i work for Toby but because his passion for the raw product nearly always ends up in the final product anywhere you try Tobys Estate which is a testamony to his trainer...whoever that is down that way.
If your anywhere north of Coffs Harbour let me know..i might be able to help you out

Luke G.

[smithy]

Re: Barista tafe certification

Long story short?..... while i was looking for experience i settled for unrivaled passion and a willingness to learn. I also figured he wanted to swap professions from a well paying tradie to barista so the dedication was not an issue.

Thats the situation im in. im a tradesmen that wants a career change to making coffee haha, sure the moneys good but im just not happy working away and god i do love coffee, but having no luck getting a job! in saying that i have only applied online, i think ill just start turning up in cafes asking.

maybe i should do an assignment to take in just to show how keen i am.

[Matthew_Eric]

Re: Barista tafe certification

Sorry Thundergod, I didnt mean to sound snappy - thanks for your input.

Im defiantly going to take the course, as scootergal said I wouldnt like to turn up to any job without the knowledge sound training provides. Thats a no brainer.

My only choice left if where to go, and Im leaning pretty heavily to Tobys - Ive never had a bad experience there and always appreciate that the baristas know their stuff when talking about the SO thats on that day. Case in point - I was in Tobys at Chippendale a few weeks ago to buy beans, roasted decaf for my wife, theyd stopped making coffee and had cleaned the machines. In conversation I mentioned that I wanted to buy some Monsoon Malabar thats available as green beans on their site - the baristas eyes lit up and without a word he fired up the grinder and pulled a ristretto of the malabar on the lever for me to taste. He talked about the roast, the rest time, what he tasted in it, the process of the monsoon-ing and what he likes about it.

SOLD! Im a customer from now on. I was before hand, but now Im referring people. That kind of stuff is what we need more of - excitement about the coffee we have available.

Well done CaffineDealer re giving the CSer a go, fingers crossed he makes the most of the chance. As you might have taken from my response above, Id take you up on the offer of work at Tobys any day of the week, Id offer my time there after the course to gain experience on a machine, however I spend my time in-between Sydney and Newcastle. I saw there was a recruitment drive for baristas on Tobys site recently and would have loved to have the training to put in an application. I was more keen to ask if their roastery needs any assistance - looking in at the roastery from the cafe in Chippendale is a pretty impressive site. Toby must be pleased!

Thanks again to all, its really good to have your thoughts.

Cheers,
Matthew