I went last month to Professional Bartending School of San Antonio, which is affiliated with Professional Bartending Schools of America. I am preparing to go back to college in January and decided that bartending would be a great way to make decent money while working at night while I am in school.
I met with Larry, the owner of the local school, and was told that his school was in oldest and the best in San Antonio. Now, of course, I expected him to boast his schools reputation, however, I did not expect to be mislead in the ways that I have been.
What sold me on the school was the promise of job placement and also that they were recognized by the Texas Workforce Commission. I felt that recognition by the Texas Workforce Commission meant that they had to provide a majority of the services that they boasted about.
The number one service that I was sold by was the job placement assistance. Larry and Rachel told me that they had a great track record of job placement. He read off of his most recent list of people looking to hire graduates. I was impressed. I decided at that point that if they could give me a little experience and help me get a job tending bar, I would more than happily cough up the $635 to attend the school.
The first week of class was ok, if you like self instruction. The instructor, Nancy, talked on the phone all night, and sat in the instructors office. Regardless, I understood the lesson and was comfortable with it.
Graduation came, and I was ready for the job placement. Rachel handed me a list, which had quite a few bars, clubs and restaurants named with contact information and times and places where to apply.
The next day, I hit the street looking for a job. Most of the bars told me that they had contacted the school months ago for help, and obviously they just had not been removed from the listings. A few of the bars just couldnt understand why they were on the list at all. The rest of the bars, clubs, hotels and restaurants that were listed were just pulled from the local newspaper help wanted section.
They also offer online listings for job placement, available at pbsa.com. The most recent job posting there is from August. Wow, thats not much help.
I have voiced my concerns serveral times to the school, and they are unwilling to make contact with the bars to see who is hiring. This is not the service that was sold to me, and frankly I feel like I was scammed. This is not what job placement is. I used to run a staffing agency, and know what job placement is.
I have written to the Texas Workforce Commission and have also attempted to make contact with the corporate office of Professional Bartending School of America. I will gladly consider this issure resolved if they would live up to thier promise of job placement assistance.
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