Starbucks is the world’s largest coffee house company and with over ten thousand stores in the United States alone, provides jobs for over one hundred thousand Starbucks employees. With job openings available in a wide range of areas such as in-store positions as a barista or shift supervisor, as a coffee roaster at one of Starbucks roasting plants, or in a professional position such as sales or marketing, Starbucks jobs offer work and career opportunities for all kinds of people.
Starbucks is well regarded as looking after its employees, offering competitive pay and bonuses, vacation pay, medical and dental insurance, stock options and, of course, free coffee! Starbucks jobs also offer good opportunities for career progression and even starting from an entry level in-store position there are great prospects for promotion if you are looking to climb the ladder. With Starbucks stores such a familiar sight, it can be easy to forget that the company has expanded it sights beyond coffee – in to the realms of entertainment with its ‘Hear Music’ brand, amongst other ventures.
Barista Jobs
Starbucks Baristas are the face of the company – the people behind the counter who take your order and make and serve your coffee (the term barista means ‘bartender’ in Italian). A barista job is the starting position for the majority of Starbucks employees and if you are just looking for a job which offers a decent wage, flexible hours and on the job training then it might well be the ideal Starbucks job opening for you. From a career prospective a barista position is a good place to start if you are looking to further your career opportunities in the retail and hospitality sectors.
Baristas are trained to do much more than just pour coffee and operate the cash register. As a trained barista your job will involve you learning about the different types and tastes of coffee available, how to operate a commercial espresso machine, how to make specific orders to a customers tastes, the roasting process and much more.
Of course this job is a customer facing role, so being able to deliver a high standard of customer service and being able to work and communicate well as part of a team are important qualities you will need to possess in order to be a great barista at Starbucks. There are also opportunities to train as an expert barista which is a good stepping stone if you are looking to become a shift supervisor or Starbucks store manager.
Starbucks Careers
Starbucks careers can be split into a couple of main categories, although the two are not mutually exclusive. You can get your career at Starbucks started by either working your way up through the in-store positions (or entering directly at management level if you have the necessary skills and experience) or by taking the corporate route.
As has already been briefly mentioned above there is plenty of scope to rise through the ranks at an in-store level. After barista on the Starbucks careers ladder, there is shift supervisor followed by store manager – where you would take on responsibility for your stores financial performance and for staff training.
Beyond that we have Starbucks district managers providing first hand support to store managers and being accountable for district sales performances and quality standards. Finally there are Starbucks Regional directors which scales up the district managers position to a regional level – ensuring financial targets and top notch service are provided across a large number of Starbucks stores.
The other way to get your career at Starbucks up and running is by going the corporate route. As a global operation Starbucks has large departments in IT, human resources, sales and marketing, logistics and many others, just like any major company. Starbucks also offer internships. These positions are fairly limited and preference is given to existing employees, so if you are thinking of taking on a part-time job to help cover the college fees then a Starbucks job will give you a head-start in successfully applying for one of these intern positions after you’ve graduated.
Applying
Applying for Starbucks jobs is pretty straight forward. Just visit the official Starbucks site and within the careers section you can apply for a job at a Starbucks job in your area. The application form lets you specify which in-store role you are applying for and you can specify which individual store you would prefer to work in. The site will also suggest other nearby stores which you can consider applying too if travel and commuting is not a major issue for you.
Unlike other large companies, hiring new employees at Starbucks is done at store level, so even though you submit your application through the main Starbucks website, your application will be considered by the regional and store managers of the branch at which you apply for a Starbucks job.