Wine Industry Career Series: The Time is Right for Wine Jobs

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By Karen Wetzel

WSET L3, NVWE, AWE, Career Coach

April 9, 2021

As our country re-opens and summer approaches, wine sales, and tourism are benefiting from pent-up demand to get out and socialize. This is leading to a huge surge in wine and wine-adjacent job postings. So, now is the time to start your search and find the wine job you’ve always wanted.

During the shutdown, wineries, wine bars, and distributors were forced to furlough or lay off entire teams of employees. Some will be called back, but many of them found other work or relocated, and a few will opt to stay out of the job market for now, leaving a huge void for qualified applicants as companies start to rebuild their teams.

So, regardless of your level of experience or expertise, if you have been thinking about jumping into the wine industry, don’t wait another day. This is your window of opportunity.

Indeed.com and WineJobs.com are my go-to wine job search sites, but regardless of where you look, narrow your search by zip code, and expand your search with zip codes from larger neighboring cities as well. Then, try important keywords to zero in on the type of job you want. Here are some popular positions, along with the best keywords to find the most opportunities.

👉 Winery Hospitality — These are “Front-of-the-house” jobs such as Tasting Room Host, Wine Guide, Wine Educator, or Tour Guide. Key search words should include: hospitality, educator, associate, attendant, host, tasting room, customer service, or guide.

👉 Winery Sales — Direct to Consumer (DTC) sales managers work with club members – current, past and present – to engage their client base while increasing sales. This is done face-to-face at the wineries or via email, text, and phone. Search for jobs containing the terms: DTC, direct, direct to consumer, winery concierge, club, wine club, sales.

👉 Distributor Sales — When restaurants closed to the dining public, it brought wine sales to a screeching halt and sales reps that called on these establishments were out of a job. Now, those teams are being rebuilt. Search for jobs containing the terms: sales, manager, wine sales, director, territory, region, area, account, chain, associate, on-premise, consultant, specialist.

👉 Wine Bar Staff – From servers to buyers to managers, Wine Bars are reopening too. Search for jobs containing the terms: wine bar, wine server, buyer, sales, bartender, educator, Sommelier.

This information should get you started, but check out some of our previous Wine Industry Career issues that will help as well:

Stay tuned for the next issue in our Wine Industry Career Series and we’ll help you decide if Home-Based Wine Sales is right for you.

For personal, one-on-one career coaching visit us at https://napavalleywineacademy.com/expert-coaching/ to schedule a session with one of our experienced mentors. To book a session with Karen Wetzel directly click here.

Karen Wetzel is an employee of the Napa Valley Wine Academy. The views expressed in this article are hers alone and may not reflect the views of the Napa Valley Wine Academy.

 

 

 

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WSET Certified Educator, Instructor

Karen Wetzel

Karen Wetzel is a highly regarded, experienced Wine & Spirits Industry professional and a well-credentialed Wine & Spirits Educator. With over 30 years in the industry, she has experience in most every aspect of the distribution and supply chain and her expertise can help you jump start or advance your career. Starting as a sales rep, Karen has held key positions within the distribution and supplier network including Category Manager, National Accounts Manager, Director of Sales and Director of Wine Education. She has helped countless others advance their careers through mentorships and best-in-class sales training courses. She has also developed wine & spirits education programs for employees, distributors and restaurant/retail trade partners with the goal of helping them thrive in our industry. Karen is a WSET Certified Educator, has her WSET Level 3 in Wine & Spirits and WSET Level 2 in Spirits and holds expert certifications for Napa Valley, Rioja and American wines from the Napa Valley Wine Academy. Today, Karen teaches at the Napa Valley Wine Academy. She also develops career development content and coaches Wine & Spirits Industry Professionals.