If you’re a quick learner who enjoys working in an exciting, fast-paced environment, a career in hospitality and events might be right for you. From concerts to sporting events to auctions and art shows, venues everywhere are looking for event workers. When you take an event job, you’ll be right up close to the action. Below, we share everything you need to know to become an event worker, including wages, general duties and career outlook.
What does event staff do?
Depending on your interests and skills, there are many events jobs to choose from. Frontline service staff include ticket-takers, ushers and parking lot attendants. If you’re looking for a food service role, jobs include concession workers, food servers, bartenders and cooks. Meanwhile, housekeeping departments at arenas, stadiums and other venues always need janitors and cleanup crew members.
A job description for event staff will include more information about the specific role. Event staff jobs often require one or more of the following duties:
- Preparing food, setting up tables and serving customers at the bar or concession stand
- Greeting customers and taking food or beverage orders
- Assisting with concession stand setup and cleaning
- Ensuring that only paying patrons go inside an event and showing guests to their seats
- Maintaining a clean venue, sweeping and mopping floors, and emptying trash and recycling bins
How much do event workers make?
Event worker wages depend on the particular role, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For example, ushers, lobby attendants and ticket-takers make an average of $12.69 an hour. Janitors make an average of $13.98 an hour. And food service staff make an average of $11.60 an hour. Keep in mind that many of these roles are night and weekend jobs.
What qualities do event jobs require?
No matter the venue, an event job requires great customer service skills including a positive attitude and the ability to stay calm under pressure. This is especially true in customer-facing roles such as arena jobs, stadium jobs and special event jobs. Front of house staff — jobs in catering or food service, for example — must have qualities like reliability, accuracy and presentation. Meanwhile, back-of-house staff like cleaning and janitorial workers require strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
What qualifications do event workers need?
There are often no formal education requirements for event workers. In fact, most people often learn skills on the job. Anyone who works an event job will need to follow certain safety standards and procedures. In addition, they must follow guidance from local and federal authorities.
What’s the job outlook for this role?
The future of events jobs remains bright. According to the BLS, the fastest growing job group for event workers is food service. Overall employment in this area is expected to grow 17% from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations. Janitorial and building cleaner jobs are expected to grow 6% in the same time period.
Find an events job with PeopleReady and our jobs app, JobStack
PeopleReady can help you find work at some of the world’s biggest venues — from sports stadiums to concert halls to conference centers and more. In warmer weather months, we have many live event jobs and event setup jobs available as well. You can always apply for our event staff jobs online through our website by using this link.
Meanwhile, with our work app, JobStack, you can apply for jobs 24/7 from your mobile device. Some of the part-time event jobs available on JobStack include:
- Bartenders
- Food servers
- Ushers
- Ticket takers
- Concession workers
- Cleaning crew members
- And more!
