Barista Magazine

JUN-JUL 2014

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you choose to demonstrate and expand that knowledge. It's what you'll stand out based on, whether for good or bad. For example, during a rush, can you take a set of tasks and line them up based on importance and efficiency? If you need to brew coffee, restock the condiment cart, be a milk-steaming buddy for the barista pulling shots, and reorganize the retail coffee display, do you know which tasks to do first and why? For most seasoned baristas, this question might seem basic, perhaps even trivial, but for anyone who has had to train new staff members, it becomes clear that this is not intuitive for most people. This way of thinking that seems almost ingrained in most baristas, "the ability to process on the fly… [and] pull together disparate bits of information," is incredibly important to Laszlo and his colleagues when they look to hire new employees. Along with cognitive ability, Laszlo highlights leadership, humility, and taking ownership for one's projects as key attributes for new hires at Google—and these are likewise qualities that are important for baristas to possess and develop. Think back to those perfect shifts, where as busy as the store was, you and your coworkers were in harmonious tandem with one another, and were able to accomplish everything seamlessly and without effort. All three of the above-mentioned skills are needed for these types of services, especially in a group setting. Laszlo refers to these traits in the context of others—for example, "emergent leadership," or the ability to know when it's your time to speak up and when it's time to let someone else take the reins. Likewise with humility and being able take ownership of projects: "It's feeling the sense of responsibility, the sense of ownership, to step in. Your end goal is what can we do together to problem-solve. I've contributed my piece, and then I step back." In this light, every smooth café service is like a mini board meeting. Everyone recognizes each others' strengths and contributes their part to make something bigger happen. These are invaluable skills that are often learned, for many people, behind an espresso machine. P H R A S I N G M A T T E R S It's clear that many important cognitive skills are developed on the café floor, but how can you convey your mastery of these skills to an employer, in coffee or otherwise? "Generally, when I get a resumé, I don't look for coffee experience specifically," says Tyson Stagg, manager of Bluebird Coffee Shop in New York, "but I do look for hints as to what type of worker they'll be." Simply stating that you know how to work an espresso machine or have experience dialing in crazy single-origin espressos is almost the equivalent of saying you memorized a set of facts. Instead, your experience is primarily important in light of how you use the knowledge you've developed, and many baristas will make the mistake of not demonstrating where they learned a skill or how that skill matters. Oftentimes, baristas will list the number of shops they've worked at like a laundry list, and maybe even repeat bullet points they've discussed in other sections of their resumé. As Laszlo puts it, "The key is to frame your strengths as: 'I accomplished X, relative to Y, by doing Z.'" If you do know a lot about machinery, for example, don't just state it as a fact—elaborating more on how you learned that skill and how you use it not only makes the knowledge more genuine, but it also speaks to your ability to be versatile and resourceful. Knowledgeable about espresso machines doesn't mean nearly as much as Knowledgeable about La Marzocco espresso machines, which required reading espresso manuals when off the floor, and in turn was entrusted with all service and maintenance for Y store. You want to not only demonstrate expertise, but also establish that you work hard to pursue your skills and can use them in a meaningful way toward a store's future success. W H A T A R E M A N A G E R S L O O K I N G F O R ? OK, so you've written your resumé and have mustered up the courage to finally hit send on that e-mail inquiring about a job. What magic combination of things will get your resumé noticed by a hiring manager, and get you an interview? Surprisingly, many of the green lights and red flags hiring managers operate based on are a mixture of small- scale formatting and content issues and large-scale ideas of the type of person they want working at their store. "First and foremost, you have to do what I asked for," says Bailey Arnold, director of education for Gregory's Coffee in New York. Bailey is in charge of hiring for all eight Gregory's stores, and reads at least a dozen resumés a week. "A lot of people will attach resumés even if I ask for them to cut and paste it, or not answer the questions I've written on a job ad." On a larger scale, general negativity or unwillingness to learn are huge red flags, like saying how you "already know" how to make coffee or can "improve" a shop. "Baristas will literally walk up to owners and managers and tell them how they could be doing [something] better," says Matt Brown, director of wholesale for Coava Coffee Roasters in Portland, Ore. Having just opened Coava's second shop, which required the hiring of a whole new team of baristas, Brown has encountered a number of resumé faux pas recently, and has thought a lot about what he looks for in potential applicants. Though a barista should be proud of his accomplishments and confident in his skills, it's important he be both humble and thoughtful about the information he includes about himself on a resumé, says Brown. "It's cool that a barista has their Q Grader certification, but is that necessary for the position they're applying for?" he says. Although both Bailey and Matt both shared that they have seen a lot of bad resumés, they both were quick to note the fact that a formula for finding the perfect staff barista just doesn't exist. "I'm really just trying to get people who understand what we're trying to do and exude an openness and willingness to learn," says Bailey. Your resumé isn't meant to just be a list of things you can do, so you should use it to share the best things about yourself. If you're passionate about espresso machines but maybe lack some latte art skills, don't worry— your passion and interest is way more important, and at the end of the day, hiring managers are looking for people, not a list of hard skills. "Resumé aside, we're looking for contagious people." Matt notes. "These are the good folks who others are drawn to when they speak. They're warm. They're confident. They're genuine. These are elements that are hard to fake." 81 www.baristamagazine.com B o o k 4 7 - 9 2 . i n d d 8 1 Book 47-92.indd 81 5 / 1 5 / 1 4 1 0 : 4 7 P M 5/15/14 10:47 PM

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