Networking helps get jobs downtown

TYLER GOFORTH

Front-of-the-house manager Jeff Wilson talks with bandmates Justin Quick (left) and Brandon Pierce at the bar inside Mellow Mushroom.

Eight establishments lining Clayton and Broad streets have “help wanted” signs hanging in their windows.

Behind the bars and in the kitchens of these eight, and of almost every downtown shop, student employees are ringing up purchases and pouring beer.

How did they get there? Was it shiny blonde hair, countless years of experience or a friend on the inside?

The job market in downtown Athens is extremely competitive due to the uneven ratio of job seekers to available jobs, said Jeff Wilson, front-of-house manager for Mellow Mushroom.

Long-time local favorites such as Amici, the newly renovated Mellow Mushroom and new hot spots such as Sandbar all have student-heavy staff, but at a school with over 30,000 students hiring between 15 and 70 employees is a difficult task.

Mellow Mushroom alone receives up to 150 applications per week.

“It’s really difficult to get a job in Athens without knowing someone,” said Avery White, a junior from Atlanta and server at Clocked, “it’s definitely about who you know, it’s about networking.”

Rex Hamre, a senior real estate major who bartends at Sandbar agreed.

“There’s always a huge pool of applicants, and so the managers have to rely on the people they know to help them find people. Otherwise it’s a shot in the dark.”

Jason Dunn, co-owner of Sandbar, said although the bar tried to hire on a first-come, first-serve basis, potential employees with recommendations were preferred to those with little knowledge or experience.

Dunn suggested students interested in working at his bar come prepared with a resume, ready to talk about why they want the job and their relevant experience.

Wilson agreed that students interested in obtaining a job should not exaggerate their experience, and should be willing to “pay their dues” and start at the bottom. Less desirable tasks such as hosting, game day shifts and being a bar back are often necessary to “move up the ladder” and achieve higher-paid positions such as server and bartender.

Wilson’s best advice to those seeking a job in the downtown area was to become familiar with the place and befriend the managers and staff before applying.

“My opinion about working downtown,” Wilson said, “is that once you get a foot in the door, you’re in. It’s definitely a community around here.”