A lot of people get bartending jobs without going to bartending school. Luckily here in California you don't have to go to bartending school to get hired at about 98 percent of the places that I know about. I worked as a barback for about 6 months before I finally landed my first bartending job. Really, it's all about timing. Bartenders come and they go. I've noticed that the bartending has a high turnover rate. The thing you gotta realize that when you do get your first bartending job there are a lot of people waiting in line to take your job. There are always some servers or somebody in the restaurant who wants your job so don't screw it up. I've seen a lot of bartenders get fired for the dumbest stuff.
Anyways besides all that, I look at bartending schools as the same as culinary schools. They are both a waste of time and money. If you have a decent head on your shoulders you shouldn't have any problem getting the experience and the job you want in a couple years. I'm not saying for you to not go to bartending school. Who knows, it may help you find a good job on a cruise ship or something. I'm just saying as far as learning goes, I find it best to learn on the job. Every area has different drinks they make. There are a lot of standard ones you should know but those come easy. So anyways, good luck on your job search. The best advice I can give you is to just put out applications EVERYWHERE. It's all about good timing. Somewhere some bartender is screwing up somehow. Just hope you're there when it happens so you can take that first job.

As a bartender with over 15 years behing many bars, i never went to bartending school ( i got thrown to the wolves one night as a coctail waitress.....) The irony is, that now i'm an instructor at a bartending school. my advice to you is if the course is good, go ahead and take it. with it you'll have a base of over a hundred popular recipies, a thourough knowledge of the rhyme and reason for why certain drinks are made, garnished etc... and hopefully an understanding of the mathod to the maddness behind the bar. with that said, corporate erstablishments are more apt to hire someone with only bartending school experience, they want to train you in "their" way anyways.... Catering companies are a good place to start too, just be shure they are strictly beverage catering companies, otherwise you'll be stuck passing stuffed mushrooms....good luck.

Bartending school, like culinary school, gets you in the door to learn to bartend. The first job you get is probably not going to be more than bar back. Some get there by doing unpaid internships. I haven't seen a lot of bartenders with school in their backgrounds.