There’s never been a better time to get involved and start a career working in the Australian craft beer industry as the market continues to grow daily on the back of exciting trends including changing consumer tastes and an increasing loyalty from a passionate fan movement for locally produced, high-quality independent craft beer.
So if you’re looking to get a start in the industry could a career in craft beer be just for you?
This article explores why Australia’s craft beer industry is a thriving space to work in, the diverse roles on offer at breweries, my personal experience from having recently started at a Victorian craft brewery as well as providing some advice from experienced and knowledgeable industry leaders regarding the skills that are essential and how you too can get a job working in beer.
The Beer Boom
It’s an exciting time across the country as the craft beer sector continues to boom with new craft breweries opening in both regional and inner cities on a near-weekly basis while more and more artisan bottle shops, brewery tours and beer festivals are also being established to cater for the new wave of consumers who are passionate about experimentation, quality, freshness and knowing the source of their beer. The impact of this boom has led to positive outcomes including more jobs, the rise in craft beer tourism especially in rural parts of Australia, increased government support, record hop crop yields, new educational courses as well as creative innovations and sustainability initiatives that are collectively delighting craft beer drinkers and bringing local communities closer and closer together across the country. Furthermore, while the industry faces many challenges such as increasing market access, competition from multinational breweries and a global downturn in beer consumption, the positive contribution that these craft breweries add to local Australian communities and our economy is both significant and to be applauded.
From Beer Nerd To Brand Ambassador
My career path has involved working across the education, sports, music and tech sectors but as a craft beer nerd I’ve also been trying to champion the scene wherever I can such as through my writing, however at the start of the year I finally decided to follow my passion for Aussie craft beer and look for a start in the industry. Fast forward to the present day and working at Two Bays Brewing Co as a brand ambassador has been both a phenomenal learning experience and the best career decision that I’ve ever made. In the past six months I’ve regularly been out of my comfort zone learning new skills and insights about beer and while I’ve managed our events and got our beer into venues it’s been the small things like cleaning the beer lines, helping out on the canning line and learning about the brewing process hands-on with our brewers that have been the most rewarding to me.
Working at a craft brewery is challenging and rewarding but it’s also plenty of fun and while my perspective is based purely on working across sales and events, career pathways in the industry are diverse and can include many roles like brewing and marketing to venue management and accounting. Careers in beer can be for anyone that’s just starting out or wanting to pivot their skills but it’s essential to have a positive attitude along with a willingness to jump in and help out in other aspects of the business. This is exciting as you’re bound to learn plenty of new hands-on skills about beer along the way with Bad Shepherd venue manager Jenny Watts noting “having a passion and desire to learn is essential and I encourage anyone looking to get into the industry to have an open mind, be prepared to do the hard yards, start at the basics with a mind to work your way up and enjoy the journey because the Australian craft beer industry is an amazing network of fantastic, supportive like-minded people”.
Getting Started
There are plenty of simple things that you can do to give yourself a greater chance of securing a role such as volunteering at beer festivals, creating content such as blogs, attending events and workshops, researching and reading up on the industry in trade publications to building your knowledge and connections by networking with the industry either at the taproom, bottle-o tastings or festivals which are all effective ways to gain deeper insights into working in the craft beer industry. As head brewer at Stone and Wood Caolan Vaughan highlights on roles in brewing for instance “you should ask and volunteer at your local brewery. You never know what they will say. Go and study something related to brewing like chemistry or even better go and do a specific brewing qualification. There is plenty on offer around the world via correspondence and some are available right here in Australia.” From my own perspective I wrote stories, created infographics and educational content, built up my networks while on my craft beer road trip adventures, went to trade shows and workshops and even started a fun little Instagram blog showcasing Aussie craft breweries. All of these things went a long way in making connections, learning more about the industry and eventually getting a gig in the craft beer world and they’re also quite simple things that anyone else can do too to get a head start on their journey in beer.
Industry Advice
Having an understanding of some of the general skills and attributes required and how to get involved in the industry is vital when looking at a career in beer and so for this story I asked a handful of experienced and knowledgeable colleagues from across diverse roles in Australia’s craft brewing industry to provide some advice on what people can do to get started.
Up in the northern beaches of Sydney and Modus Operandi sales rep and certified cicerone Becky Centeno states that the best advice she could give anyone “is that it’s all about attitude in the sense of staying positive and fiercely determined. Getting involved in the industry takes a lot of dedication, time, and putting yourself out there, but also being humble and cooperative along the way is massive” while down in Melbourne at Hawkers, Cellar Technician Melinda Foulkes notes that “the ability to` problem solve and think on your feet are probably the most valuable skills when working in the beer industry”. Green Beacon’s Ella Gasparini provides further useful advice and reaffirms that anyone can forge a career in this industry by highlighting that “Obviously the starting point for a lot of us is a passion and love for beer but it doesn’t necessarily have to be the only thing. There are so many skill sets that add to this industry. Finding your place and a role that suits you is key. This is becoming a more and more diverse industry and a lot of roles are opening up that were previously non-existent”.
What Are You Waiting For?
The rapid growth of the industry illustrates that if you’re passionate about good beer and thinking about a career in this space then there’s never been a better time to get started. With new and diverse roles becoming available on a daily basis, breweries are on the hunt for creative, enthusiastic, dynamic and passionate people to help capitalize and continue this exciting momentum. The Aussie craft beer industry is a fun and challenging space to work in that has been built on the back of the positive and passionate people that comprise it and hopefully the insights provided here helps anyone out there whose currently looking to get a start in the industry. So, could a career in beer be for you?
Bio
Blair Hughes works in events and sales for gluten free brewery Two Bays Brewing Co in Dromana, Victoria. You can follow him on Twitter at @MrBlairHughes or at www.MrBlairHughes.com.
Radio interview with the Macquarie Sports Radio team back in March.
No I don’t have the best job in the world or in sport but I’m happy and have put myself out there over the years to create experiences, learn new skills and meet people all over the world. Everything I’ve done in my life across sport, education, digital and the music industry to now loving life working in craft beer has been about experiences, learning, networking and trying new things.
Anyone can get out and do what I’ve done. It’s nothing special. I’m nothing special. I’m lucky with what I’ve been able to achieve and there’s still a lot more I want to do. I love meeting people, learning and trying to challenge myself. My legacy is that I want to be able to sit down with heaps of grandkids one day and recite all the amazing experiences I’ve had and be proud of that. If people like what I do or learn something small from me then thats a bonus.
Thanks for listening and supporting me.
Interview here: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/overnights/fun-police-curbing-sport-fan-behaviour/11233648
With the 2017 NRL season starting on Thursday night I thought I’d quickly put together a series of posts looking at what each of the clubs are doing for their fans this season.
Be sure to check out my Fan Engagement Pinterest page which showcases 5000+ fan engagement ideas from teams across the world
Check back over the course of the week to see what the other teams are doing as I’ll be updating this at 6pm every day til kick off on Thursday night.
Thanks for reading and bring on the 2017 NRL season.
NRL
New trading cards out this Thursday.
Brisbane Broncos
Canberra Raiders
Canterbury Bulldogs
Cronulla Sharks
Gold Coast Titans
Manly Sea-Eagles
Melbourne Storm
NZ Warriors
Newcastle Knights
North Queensland Cowboys
Parramatta Eels
Penrith Panthers
South Sydney Rabbitohs
St George Illawarra Dragons
Sydney Roosters
Wests Tigers
Today represents my last day at audioBoom as I’ve made the decision to move on from leading the company in Australia after three fulfilling years.
It has been a wild ride that has enabled me to travel the world and work with the Australian Open, Cricket World Cup, AFL and Netball World Cup along with major radio networks and podcasters throughout Australia.
I’m taking a career break now for a few months to focus on kicking off my PHD into fan engagement and to study the psychology of fans on a deeper academic level.
I’ll be looking for roles in fan engagement/fan experience, marketing and digital media around May/June/July.
I’m keen for a new challenge and would primarily like to spend some more time in the USA under the Visa E3 program where I can be employed via my degrees in behavioural studies and education that directly relate to working with a team or stadium in fan engagement under these rules.
I’m on the hunt for a club or stadium in the US to take me and my enthusiasm, life experience and background in adolescent teaching, music business, sports industry and passion for fans on. Jump? Well how high can we jump together? Heading back to London/England to work with a team is also an option I would strongly consider.
Please hit me up if you have an idea about how we could work together.
I’m also really excited to be starting a podcast soon around the topic of fans, which is something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time and I’m going to throw myself into some volunteer work around helping unemployed people get back to work through personal branding.
Thanks to audioBoom for the opportunity to represent the company down under as it’s been a dream gig for the past three years.
Best wishes to all of our content partners who are in good hands with my colleague Alana here in Australia and the rest of the Boom team in the US, UK and India.
All the best, thanks
Blair Hughes interviews Sean Callanan on Sports Geek Podcast
Last month I had the pleasure of interviewing Sean from Sports Geek for the Sports Geek Podcast.
Sean has helped on my journey from teacher to sports business so it was a pleasure to talk to him about his personal brand, his story into sports and digital as well as his lessons for young people looking to craft a career in the sports industry.
In this episode we discussed:
Read the latest in sports business news and sign up here to the Sports Geek newsletter Sports Geek HQ
Listen here:
Just in case you missed any of the key stories from the world of fan engagement and fan experience during January, sit back and have a read through some of these articles from sports business sites including Sports Geek, Sport Techie and We Play to name but a few.
Each month I’ll try to collate a list of some of the fan engagement/fan experience articles that I think are worth having a read.
There’s a whole host of interesting content in here from leagues such as the BBL and NFL to what’s happening in the area of drones, virtual reality and ibeacon tech.
Dive in and take a read.
All the best.
On Thursday morning 27/2 at 530am Brisbane time (1.30pm EST USA 26/2) I’m speaking about my career reinvention through personal branding with the University of Boston, Massachusetts in their emerging leaders program. If you would like to register for free and watch then here is the link:http://
It goes for an hour and features Dorie Clark who is the author of the book which has revolutionised my life, ‘Reinventing You’
Below are the 15 steps which I will be talking about that I have gone through in my own reinvention.
9.10am. Queensway tube. Hunters & Collectors ‘Talking to a stranger’
Match Stats:
Teaching AFL at a school in London
At SXSW Music Conference in Austin, Texas
Presenting a speech at a Brisbane Sounds event
With my primary school students in Mildenhall, Suffolk.
The Pre Game: How I got an internship at Queens Park Rangers Football Club.
This is one hell of a crazy story. However if you know me, you’ll know that my whole life is one crazy story after another. From teaching in challenging London high schools where I’ve had a knife put to my neck to tour managing bands around the UK and running a PR and events business that has taken me all over the world promoting the Brisbane music industry, I don’t sit back and wait for things to happen. I get off my butt, seek out opportunities and live out my dreams as well as actively encouraging and inspiring my students to do the same.
Brisbane Sounds Logo
SEALS UK Tour 2011
Flood Bank 2011 Disaster Appeal Gig
Brisbane Sounds 2010 Event
This is why 100 days before I turn 30 I’m about to embark on a life changing trip back to London to reinvent my career by working in the sports business. From December to January 2014 I’ll be working at global football club Queens Park Rangers in Shepherds Bush, London where I’ll be completing an internship in event management, communications and marketing with the aim of refining and improving my skills in these areas and bringing that knowledge back to Australia and securing employment in the sports business (or trying to get sponsored and work in the UK/Europe). However, the whole process to get this amazing opportunity sorted out has not been easy and is an example of my strongest qualities with those being dedication, positivity and enthusiasm. But how did this all come about?
Queens Park Rangers logo
Loftus Road Stadium
Player Biography
Going back to early 2012 and I was getting very disillusioned with working in the music industry, particularly in my hometown of Brisbane where I had worked tirelessly since 2006 promoting 1000+ artists, building a 16K strong online community, networking internationally, running events and spending over $85,000 of my own money on the business. I cut my event management and communications teeth with my business, Brisbane Sounds during this time but I also learnt life lessons in business as well. It’s a ruthless and stressful industry to work in and I kept feeling that my morals were being tested and knew I had to get out so made the decision to finish up the business in April 2012 and direct all my focus on improving my practice as a teacher.
Brisbane Sounds 2008 Gig
Brisbane Sounds 2010 Compilation Album
Around the same time as working at a high school part time, I also started working as a teacher part time at a tertiary institution. It had always been a bit stressful going from one job to the other each week, packing and unpacking my bag each Wednesday over the past two years and managing 100 odd teenage and adult students. However this year I had a student I was close to pass away through illness, a past student in England also died and I’ve had multiple learners with challenging diverse needs to support so it was probably one of my most stressful years as a teacher.
In this same period I had to reapply to keep one of my jobs, complete an extensive four month training course for the same job and then someone maliciously damaged my beloved 4WD. Things just kept going from bad to worse but I had to radicalize positivity and get on with life. I was finding that when I took students to see the counselor I’d be feeling as though student issues and teaching were starting to really weigh me down emotionally. It was very difficult being this super positive teacher for my students and helping them through their own personal troubles so I knew I needed change and I knew I was the only one who could do something about that. Therefore decided to focus all my efforts to get back into marketing, branding, event management and communications but this time with a focus on the sports business and not the music business. I do wonder how other teachers cope sometimes with all the pressures in their own lives but also wanting to do everything they can for their students in times of need.
My 4WD
Usually every year I would take myself off to the UK or USA and set up professional development and networking opportunities with people I admire and want to learn from while mixing my passion for sports and music by seeing gigs and games at stadiums and venues around the world. So in February of this year I decided to head to Europe for my 29th birthday as one of the teams I support, West Ham United were playing on the weekend of my birthday and my favourite band, who I’ve done some work with in the past, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were playing in Brussels on my actual birthday two days later.
West Ham vs West Brom at Upton Park
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club gig in Brussels
This time around though, I decided to set up meetings with key players in the UK football industry. I emailed, sent letters or called every London club from the Premier League to the lower divisions and eventually got meetings with Fulham, West Ham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and QPR along with a few other clubs throughout Europe.
Meeting at Allianz Arena, Munich
Meeting at Arsenal
The meetings that I set up were to talk about the roles these people had, careers in the sports business and how a global club is run. At the end of each meeting I asked all of them for an internship and told them about myself, my skills and how they could help me achieve my dreams of a career in the sports business. As luck would have it QPR agreed to an internship for December. I walked away from the stadium telling myself that nothing was set in stone and to go with the flow with whatever was to come. To this day I owe the lady who set this up so much gratitude and admiration as in just a short 45 minute chat she could see my potential. There is no doubt that she is on the Christmas shopping list!
Over the next few months I continued to focus on teaching however by July I had made the decision to resign from one of my teaching posts and focus all of my efforts into reinventing my career in the sports business by looking at what I’ve done up to this point in my life and looking at where I wanted to go. I realized that I needed a break from teaching young adults, parents, paperwork, marking assessments and all the stressors that go with that life.
Game Day Strategy
From July to now I really began getting into personal branding and started reevaluating what I wanted to do with this next phase of my life. I found this amazing book called ‘Reinventing You’ by US based author Dorie Clark which hit me like a soccer ball to the head in terms of how life changing it was. I started writing out a list of all the personal branding and career reinvention jobs I had to achieve before I left for London. The list started out with a few simple things like getting new business cards and a website to networking and completing volunteer work.
‘Reinventing You’ by Dorie Clark
I have been adding to the list on a daily basis and intend on writing a book about this experience but for now the list is up to 33 elements which I have ticked off. These include:
1. Creating a personal brand statement: ‘I’m a creative and ambitious communications and event management professional with seven years of experience visualizing, developing and facilitating major events and communications projects with a high success rate of delivering exceptional outcomes for clients in both local and international markets. I’m a leader, networker and life long learner skilled in social media, marketing and public relations with exceptional interpersonal skills and a proactive and passionate approach to executing outstanding results.’
2. Refining my LinkedIn with a focus on key word optimization.
3. Setting up a website www.mrblairhughes.com which sells my personal brand and story.
www.MrBlairHughes.com
4. Setting up a logo.
Blair Hughes Logo
5. Having a professional photo taken.
Professional Photo
6. Setting up all the same branding on social media sites.
Social Media Branding
7. Networking through social media with leaders in the sports business.
8. Producing a personal infographic that sums up my story in a visual form.
Personal Infographic
9. Completed volunteer work in my new field to get my name out there.
10. Had testimonials and endorsements from past clients and colleagues written.
11. Defined my title in a few words.
12. Created content for my website and social media sites such as infographics.
Infographics
A-LEAGUE Infographic
A-LEAGUE Infographic
A League Infographic for Brisbane vs Melbourne
13. Went to conferences in this new field.
14. Participated in Twitter live chats.
15. Continued to learn from listening to 100+ TED Talks, instructional videos, online workshops and webinars along with reading countless articles.
16. Made a new email and email signature.
17. Created business cards.
My new creative sports business themed business cards
18. Participated in Skype sessions with leaders in this field.
19. Bought 20+ books on personal branding, sports business, leadership, marketing and event management.
20. Crafted my stories and storytelling from my past experiences.
21. Subscribed to industry magazines and publications.
22. Bought new clothes and completely revolutionized my wardrobe and style to match this new career.
23. Started to blog and share ideas.
24. Worked on helping others with this knowledge of personal branding. Found that I would be offering advice not only to students but also other adults in the area of personal branding.
25. Sought out the leaders I wanted to emulate and went about setting up meetings both locally and internationally.
26. Created a Pinterest account to share ideas on sports fan engagement and marketing ideas.
Pinterest site
27. Investigated study options and chose a course in Melbourne to study in 2014.
28. Talked to people and friends about what I wanted to do. Started selling my brand more vocally because you never know who is listening and who can help you on your journey.
29. Found mentors in my field who I wanted to assist me.
30. Expressed my ideas and plans.
31. Did a career path self assessment.
32. Started work on a short film showcasing my skills, dreams, goals and past work experience.
33. Developed a new elevator pitch.
Leaving the Sheds
Getting to work at a major football club in London was not easy though. Around early September I was contacted by the club and told that I would need a visa for the trip as the UK immigration department deemed what I was doing as ‘work’. As I had already completed my working holiday visa from 2006-2008 the only available option was to get an immigration lawyer involved at a cost of $1000AUD and figure out what visa options were available to me in this unique situation. Acquiring the services of an immigration lawyer was probably the best money I spent though as the lawyer was exceptional from start to finish and really helped me out with some of the problems I faced in getting back to the UK.
Ready to send my Visa application to UK Immigration.
What problems though? Well, having put together the 50 pages of documents (CV, bank statements, cover letter, return airfare ticket, letter from my employer about when I was due back for work in 2014, letter of offer from the club, accommodation details, passport, passport photos and visa application forms) for my visa application I then had to call the $15 a minute UK Immigration hotline in Canberra after their online system charged me $140 twice for the biometrics payment.
On calling to sort this out I was questioned about my visa application and told in no uncertain terms that my lawyer had got it all wrong, the visa I was applying for was wrong, my visa application would be refused, I wouldn’t be allowed into the UK and every time I travelled I would be hauled off for questioning due to having had a visa application refused. I was told that they had never heard of an Australian going over to work at a club before, that it probably wouldn’t be worth wasting my money on the visa application and also that the majority of times most people just rock up at the gate at Heathrow and state their case and 9 out of 10 get allowed into England. I politely told her that I had a lot on the line here and I did not want to risk being the 1 out of 10 which was denied as I had invested a lot of time and effort into all of this.
She also happened to mention that she was a Chelsea supporter….
The crisis was averted when the lawyer got involved to further explain the situation and immigration decided to check with their Manila office regarding my visa queries and got back to me 35 minutes before my biometrics meeting in Brisbane city to advise that it was all ok and good to go. Phew!
Kick Off
So here I am, 7 days out from heading back to London to start this new period in my life. I’m absolutely buzzing as my mind is in a better place especially from the cardio boxing sessions I’ve been doing over the past three months which have prepared me for the fight ahead while also losing a total of 23KGs. The future is unwritten and I’m out to carve my name in the sports business. Exciting times await so thank you for reading this lengthy first post about my upcoming adventure.
Contract Negotiations
I’m obviously on the look out for employment opportunities in marketing, fan engagement, event management and communications in the sports business either in Australia or abroad so if you would like to learn more about me, link me up with people who could help me on my journey or better yet offer me a job then please get in touch.
Thanks
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