Education or Experience: Entering an Elusive Industry
Education or experience? School or work? Theory or practice? A debate as old as industry itself permeates every discipline and swings along the pendulum of privilege. Craft beer has its moments in the boxing ring of the competency discussion, and a quick look at who is in each corner gives plenty of insight.
Throughout its history, beer has been a trade, and in many instances a libation, of the working class. Made at home as a side hustle, on royal grounds by the servants of nobles, and in monasteries by monks, brewing beer was a laborious craft, which later became an apprenticeship, and has now become the centerpiece for countless careers of different disciplines. Writers, salespeople, designers, scientists, engineers, farmers, event planners, and manufacturers have all joined brewers, for better or for worse, to create the beer industry as we know it today. One question that is often the source of endless discourse is, how does one join the beer industry’s ranks?
Issac Boucher, a brewer at Night Shift Brewing in Everett, MA, thinks education is a viable pathway to a career in beer. “I definitely put some stock in education. That’s one of the things I did. I was a homebrewer for years before getting in. Knowing that homebrewing and production brewing were going to be different things, I went after some education.” Boucher came from accounting and worked his way up from mobile canning to brewing after years as a homebrewer.
Relationship building and transferable skills from another industry proved to be the key to entry for Ren Navarro, owner of Beer Diversity, who joined beer from the life insurance industry. “It’s about who you know,” says Navarro, who’s first job in beer was a taproom rep position she heard about from a friend. “They saw my resume, and said, ‘you have tons of customer service experience.’” Nevarro has since worked in sales, and now works in the Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) space. While she values education, Nevarro feels that it should be more accessible. “I think it’s important to learn about things, but we need to make it accessible. We talk about making beer more accessible to everyone, but now that people want to learn about beer, it costs money and it’s inaccessible.”
In working to recruit new talent to his company, Andrew Magaña, Talent and Inclusion Coordinator at Odell Brewing Company in Fort Collins, CO, has found that managers often value experience over education. “Education isn't the most key. It can help, but what the managers are really looking for is experience,” he says. Magaña entered the industry as a sales delivery driver, from a job in recruiting in higher education, and was met with concern from the panel during the interview. “They were like ‘what are you doing?’ Even though it was different, it was like, I’m selling $100,000 education, then I’m selling a $10 six pack, I felt like in the interview, I was able to relate that enough,” says Magaña.
If experience is the biggest factor that hiring managers in craft beer are considering, and education is the most accessible entry point for minorities, despite its inaccessibility to some due to cost, where does that leave applicants from underrepresented groups? Some organizations have created scholarships to bridge the accessibility gap in education, but Navarro doesn’t see this as a solution. “Creating a scholarship isn’t making it more accessible. Someone is still paying that money,” she says. “We talk about how education is a right, then we make you pay for it. Then it’s a privilege.” Magaña believes that hiring practices are a barrier due to affinity bias. “I did a big hiring audit when I got in this position. Our managers hired along gender lines specifically. I think we had one person of color from that pool, and obviously they didn’t get hired,” he says of the hires made during his initial tenure in the role. “Guess what my next company training was on? Bias.”
Both Magaña and Navarro emphasize that transferable skills from other industries should be given a closer look when hiring. “I hate this notion that it can’t be your experience,” says Navarro of her work as a consultant in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion space in the beer industry. Although beer and other alcoholic beverage industries are her target audiences for DE&I work, Navarro doesn’t believe knowledge about the beverages themselves provide much value when it comes to fostering an equitable and just environment for those who have been excluded. “These aren’t things that are working together,” she says. Magaña points out that viable candidates for indirect roles can be found outside the beer industry. “If you are a specialist in your field, and it's something that the company needs, you can probably get in for that.”
Magaña also highlights that looking outside the industry is necessary for creating a more diverse workforce. “When all we’re looking at is experience, it’s going to be a lot harder to hire a diverse workforce. We have to start looking more externally if we want to bring in diverse talent,” he says, while confirming that it's easier for people already working in the industry to be hired. “Once you’re in, you’re in. “We promote from within, but we also recruit from within [the industry].”
Although there is plenty of work to be done from the industry’s end when it comes to hiring practices, Boucher, Magaña, and Navarro all offered advice to potential candidates seeking employment in craft beer. Navarro encourages those looking to enter the industry to converse and build relationships with the people inside. “Interact with people who you see doing what you wanna do,” she says, advising potential candidates to use social media to connect. “Ask questions about what [breweries] are creating.” Boucher also places a premium on relationships. “The best way to open the door is to have someone on the other side,” he says. Magaña admonishes those from marginalized communities to seek out companies that have dedicated resources for DE&I. “If the place that you’re applying to has a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department, not just one person, that’s a good start,” he says.
Though the industry has turned its attention to ethnic minorities recently, there is still an uphill battle in creating a diverse workforce and an environment that provides an equitable and just experience to those who are often excluded. This work has proven to be a daunting task, and Magaña speaks for many when he says, “Trying to make effective change in this industry is exhausting.” As the industry attempts to level the playing field when it comes to its employees, a willingness to seek talent in lesser searched environments may make all the difference in seeing formerly disregarded candidates as viable and their skill sets as valuable.
