Ask The Brewmasters

We are aiming to hire a temporary lab tech for my upcoming maternity leave in May. The ideal timeline is somewhere between 8-10 weeks of active solo lab work, with a few weeks before they are own their own for training, and possibly a part time extension as I return to work.

We are worried about the timing of when to train someone- making sure we get them trained before I have a baby, but not too early that we have to find work for them while I'm still in the office. Does anyone have experience hiring temp workers, and if so, what was the process you went through to find good candidates and ensure that they stay for the entirety of the time they're hired for?

Thank you for any experiences shared, cheers!

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Amanda Oberbroeckling
Director of Quality
4 Noses Brewing Co
Denver CO
(720) 324-4735
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Hi Amanda,

Not the same situation, but we had good luck hiring summer lab employees out of Oregon State University's Food Science & Technology department. We did not expect them to operate solo but they both showed up with quality lab skills and were able to quickly train. Only one of them was in the brewing track, the other was more broadly interested in food manufacturing and engineering. Hopefully that indicates that you may be able to recruit from outside the brewing space. We worked directly with the FST department and participated in their annual career fair. That netted us ~10 applicants for 2 positions. We also leveraged our connection to department staff for references. We're continuing it for this summer and expect to bring on 3 people. 

For your purpose you may be able to recruit a graduate student who only has a minimal research load in the summer. Given you proximity to many universities with brewing coursework (CSU, Regis, Metro State) and R1 universities in general (CU, CSU, Mines) you have a pretty broad pool to pull from. Additionally a number of my brewing friends with advanced degrees from CSU did not get them specifically in the brewing department but rather adjacent fields (molecular biology, analytical chemistry, etc) so there are likely more qualified people out there than you might be aware of. 

I hope that helps. 

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Campbell Morrissy, PhD
Director of Brewery Operations
pFriem Family Brewers

MBAA NTC - Committee Chair
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Do you have a college/university nearby? From personal experience, would highly recommend posting a job like that there (There's usually a student involvement/employment office that you can contact). Might have to weed out some applications, but I've found that students in a biology/chemistry program in their last year or two of their degree are pretty highly motivated for some lab-type experience and/or professional recommendations as they pursue graduate programs and/or jobs in their specific field. Might have to work around a class schedule, but I've found it doable for when I've needed part-time/temp help.

Good luck with the search and early congratulations!

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Carl Weinfurter
Quality Manager
Stevens Point Brewing Co
Stevens Point WI
(715) 254-9789
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Amanda, 

I think Campbell is onto something good with their relationship to a local FST program. I graduated from the FST program at CSU back in 2017 and I'd be happy to pass this on to the current program director so he can get it to any students who might be interested.

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Alex Kurtz
Lead Brewer
Indeed Brewing Co.
Minneapolis, MN
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