By Tera Dacek
To have great beer, one may argue that you must have a great brewer. To run a great brewery and develop a strong brand, then you would also need great employees who are the perfect blend of qualified, passionate, and hardworking, right?
To test our assumptions, and to round out our final blog post in a four-part series on women in the craft beer industry, we reached out to someone who probably sees many résumés every day: Celine Frueh, human resources director at Allagash Brewing Company, in Portland, Maine.
Celine has worked in Human Resources for 17 years and has been a craft beer enthusiast since her college days. The amazing beer and the dynamic group of people drew her to jump at the opportunity to be a part of Allagash. She has now been with the brewery for 3½ years.
We asked Celine to provide us with her top five reasons a craft brewery should hire you, as well as a few no-nos. Of course, there is never a guarantee, but we will jump at receiving a few hints anytime.
Top 5 reasons why a craft brewery should hire you:
You like to work really hard. There is nothing glamorous about working at a brewery. It is a true labor of love and team effort to make consistently high-quality beer.
You are familiar with the brewery and our beer. You have tried a few different types of our beer and can articulate what you like about them. Knowing a bit about what makes our company unique is a bonus.
You are passionate about something in your life. It could be beer, or it might be music, skiing, art, your family, or your dog. It matters less about what it is and more about your energy when you describe it. We want people who are positive and who can bring that outlook to their work.
You are humble. You love beer, but you don’t claim to know everything about it. Our brewmaster would fall into this category—he knows a ton about beer but would never try to one-up anyone in a conversation.
You have a sense of humor. Life is never perfect, here or anywhere else. The ability to laugh through the harder days is a saving grace.
As promised, here are a few ways to really spoil a first impression:
Don’t send a bad cover letter. It sounds basic, but we put a lot of stock in a good cover letter. If you don’t take the time to tell us why you want to be considered for a position at Allagash, that is an automatic disqualifier. Show you care by double-checking the spelling—especially as it relates to our brewery’s name. Also, don’t ramble on about yourself; show us that your skills and our needs line up.
Don’t dwell on your current job and how much you hate it. We get it—not every job is not the greatest. But if you choose to share how your boss is the worst and you need to get out of there, it comes across as really negative. It makes us worry that you will have trouble getting along with your co-workers or managers.
Tera Dacek is a consultant and freelance writer. She most recently worked as Marketing Manager for Alchemy and Science. When she unplugs, she can be found at her local mountain or one of the many wonderful breweries in her home state of Vermont.
