In New York the legal age to serve drinks is 18. I took bartending classes and am now certified to do so. However, I find that every time I show for an interview, the hiring manager or HR feels as though i am not a suitable candidate for the position. Today I was told by a bar owner that he would rather have all of his employees be over 21 because alcohol is involved with the job. I am sure the state of NY understood this when they set the age for serving drinks. Is there anything I can do? Can this be considered discrimination?|||First, stop telling bar managers and owners that you have a bartending certificate. This automatically ruins any chance you had to get the job. Bartending certificates are red flags because most of the time they are used to cloud the fact that an applicant does not have any ACTUAL bartending experience (I'm willing to bet this is your case), which is of course what the interviewer is looking for. 99.9999899849% of bartenders in New York don't have bartending certificates. They are useless. Experience in the business will teach you all you need to know. Most bartenders start off as waiters and sometimes even hosts before that. Starting right off the bat as a bartender is rare. Bartending courses teach you how to mix drinks but they do not teach you how to run a bar. There's a lot involved and I will not get into it here. Second, anyone with experience in the bar and restaurant business knows that bar and floor staff tend to be drinkers themselves. Go to any self-respecting Irish Pub in New York and you know that the bartender will not hesitate to take a shot with customers and have a pint of Guinness behind the bar to sip during a lull. Waiters and waitresses are also known to sneak drinks to "take the edge off" during the shift. Point being, if you are going to be in an environment where the owner KNOWS you are going to drink, regardless of the rules, he would be more comfortable knowing that at least you are of legal age to do so...which you are not. Third, even if you had some experience under your belt, fact remains: you are 19 years old. I personally would not trust my bar to a teen. I advise you try to break into the business as a waiter first. But if you simply love being behind the bar, which I understand; I do too, I would also try applying as a barback. Once you become a trusted barback, you can ask the owner for some slow bartending shifts and work your way from there. Good luck and hit me up if you wanna discuss this or have any questions.

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