Festival Staff & Festival Bar Staff Rostering Guide

You’re event is coming up soon, but you can’t find bar-staff to do those all important jobs to serve your customers?

Giving yourself as much time as you can, before you actually need the staff is important so you don’t find yourself getting stressed out at the last minute. This also maximises the chance of you finding the best people out there, not just those whom saw your ad in the last few hours.

Even if your event is coming up in the next few days, not all hope is lost – take a breath, and try to think clearly … it’s important not to go into searching and choosing staff feeling rushed and overwhelmed.

Even though you might have asked your regular staff and suppliers, there are still options to consider;

• Local trade schools or universities – many of these have job-boards which can be overlooked when staffing events – it’s worth asking around and putting a call out, you never know whom might see it! It could be your next superstar bartender, mixologist or bar duty manager.
• Large venues which don’t typically operate when your event is happening – ie. they only run during the day, or only on weekdays … they may have other staff which they can call on to help you out.
• Have a look at community boards for the local area your event is being held in (ie. Facebook), backpackers, or even traditional “casual” work, such as Sidekicker, Seek, Indeed, and LinkedIn.

Choosing the right staff for your team is just as important as having enough people at all — having people whom get along, and work hard are essential to a smooth running shift.

Even if your event is just for one night, try to at least have a phone call with each applicant to gauge what sort of person they are, if they seem friendly and make a good impression to you, and hopefully your other staff and customers. Remember to also keep in mind your staffing requirements — it won’t help too much by adding mixologists to your team when you actually need wait staff or servers at your next festival.