Obtaining your Duty Manager Certificate while on your working holiday is hugely beneficial. If you are working in hospitality in the amazing country that is New Zealand, then we cannot recommend this certificate enough.
As of 2024, the number of people coming into the country on working holiday visas is higher than in 2023. And of those people, the number working is hospitality is very high, it is an easy and transient industry to find work within regardless of your experience.
If you have previous experience and want to secure your employability while working in New Zealand’s hospitality industry on your travels, then this article is for you.
If you get an LCQ and a Duty Managers certificate, you will stand out against the crowd of people coming to work and travel in New Zealand.
In this article we highlight a few key benefits to obtaining your Duty Manager certificate (such as better wages and increased employability opportunities) and the steps on how to get your duty manager certificate.
READ MORE: Our Working Holiday Journey: The South Island of New Zealand
This article discusses our working journey in length, as our travel has been largely dictated by the jobs we have taken.
What is Duty Manager’s Certificate?
Quite simply, a duty manager certificate enables you to work as the licensed manager in a venue that sells and serves alcohol in New Zealand. Any pub, bar or music venue that has an on-licence, off-licence or club licence must appoint a duty manager to ensure that the Sale and Supply of Alcohol is legal.
The Sale & Supply of Alcohol Act 2012
The objective of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 is:
“The sale, supply, and consumption of alcohol should be undertaken safely and responsibly; and the harm caused by the excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol should be minimised.”
For a licensed premises to sell alcohol, someone holding a duty manager certificate must be on site. If not, then the place can’t open (there are a few caveats where this isn’t applicable and someone can be appointed as the temporary or acting duty manager in the event of sickness, but for the most part this statement is true).
You can already see how valuable duty managers are in New Zealand.
We have held our Duty Manager certificates since we worked at The Church (which is where we obtained them, photographed below) and it has opened up so many possibilities for us!
Licenced Controller Qualification (LCQ)
An LCQ is a Licence Controller Qualification.
It is a certificate that shows you have the relevant knowledge of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, which is a prominent act in New Zealand’s alcohol industry. The acts aim is to ensure that alcohol is consumed safely in New Zealand. Holding this certificate is essential for all Duty Managers and you must pass this stage before applying for your managers certificate.
The Role of a Duty Manager
As a Duty Manager, you will carry out duties that would be expected of any role with “manager” in the title. Overseeing daily operations, assisting staff when they need help and creating a positive work environment all fall within your remit. Every place of work may have slightly different responsibilities for you, so check with your team leaders/ business owners what is expected of you.
The law requires you to then ensure that patrons drinking alcohol at your place of work are safely consuming alcohol. As the quote above suggests, you are to ensure that the harm caused by excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol is minimised. This means that you need to be watching out for intoxication levels and if someone seems too drunk (using the guidelines provided by the law), then you should assess whether they are fit to continue drinking alcohol or if you should cut them off.
This information seems great, but how does it apply to your working holiday around New Zealand?
Four Benefits for Travellers Obtaining a Duty Manager Certificate
We have been Duty Managers in New Zealand since we worked at The Church Brew Pub in Christchurch and have seen so many benefits since then when moving around different jobs.
More/ Better Employment Opportunities
Bars and restaurants need Duty Managers in order to open and sell alcohol; by being that person who enables that, you become more valuable to employers. Hence, more employment opportunities are available to you.
Since we obtained our certificates, we have been offered most of the jobs that we’ve applied for as travellers. We’ve been able to pick and choose so much more than we could before.
Not only are your employment opportunities greater because there is a higher likelihood of securing a job, but more of New Zealand opens up to you as a working traveller. We probably wouldn’t have worked at The Cook Saddle in Fox Glacier, Lake Ōhau Lodge on the edge of beautiful Lake Ohau or The Vulcan Hotel in Saint Bathans if we didn’t have our Duty Managers certificates.
Why? Because at the time we applied to these jobs, they only really needed Duty Managers– not just general floor staff. This aspect of our certificate has taken us to some incredible places around the South Island of New Zealand.
New Zealand is crying out for hospitality workers everywhere. Positions are always open, check out our favourite way to find jobs: the backpacker job board.
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Read MoreIncreased Skill Development
This qualification allows you to develop your skills as it puts you in a higher position where more is required of you.
The main skills we have developed since being Duty Manager’s are:
- People skills
- Intoxication assessment
- Confidence in dealing with an array of situations
- Improved leadership
When we worked at Furneaux Lodge on the Queen Charlotte Track, we didn’t have duty manager certificates. And we were just floor staff there: no ordering, no leading a team, nothing ‘above our pay grade’. Since then, we’ve taken on far more responsibility in our jobs.
In our jobs as duty managers at The Vulcan Hotel, between us we do the ordering, the social media, assisting with the planning of events, and are the last ones on site most of the time.
We love the hospitality industry as it is fun, we enjoy good food and good alcohol, and having to use an array of skills to get the job done.
Plus we don’t want to work in an office!
Huge Financial Benefits
The financial benefits to this qualification are great.
Pre certificate, we worked in various positions and our hourly wage never exceeded $24. Once we were employed as Duty Managers, our wages never dropped below $26.50 wherever it was we worked.
Since you are much more valuable to employers now, you can use this to negotiate higher wages. We turned down multiple jobs as they wanted to hire us as Duty Managers for less than $26.50.
While there is no set wage for a Duty Manager, a general number to aim for would be $26 per hour as a minimum. The stakes are higher, responsibility is more: if the law is broken and the police are notified, it is your responsibility if you are the assigned Duty Manager for that shift.
Networking Opportunities
Networking is a powerful tool in any industry. Hospitality is no different: creating relationships with suppliers, distilleries, wineries etc etc are all important. We love going out to a distillery to discuss a new bottle of gin for our shelves, or meeting musicians who want to perform a gig at the venue we work in.
This increased level of responsibility may come with the ability to meet amazing new people.
As a qualified person behind a bar or in a restaurant, the suppliers and other stakeholders are more interested in having a relationship with you because they know you are serious about working in hospitality.
How to Get a Duty Managers Certificate?
Prerequisites to Obtaining a Duty Manager Certificate
There are a few prerequisites to gaining a duty managers certificate. They are as follows:
- Hold a valid LCQ
- Be at least 20 years old
- Have worked in a licensed premises for at least 6 months
- Have a clear criminal record
- To be needed in the position by your employer
- To be currently employed at a licensed premises
- Be eligible to work in New Zealand
Training and Examination
This section assumes that you have obtained your LCQ already, which is the prerequisite qualification to holding a Duty Managers certificate.
To book your LCQ, follow this link to use the exam board that we used: The School of Food and Wine
There are 5 steps to obtaining your duty managers certificate:
- Obtain a letter from your employer stating that they think you are suitable in this position
- Send of this letter, along with your CV, a form of legal identification, LCQ certificate, and your working rights in New Zealand (Working Holiday Visa for us) to the local council. For us, this was Christchurch City Council as we worked in Christchurch.
- Wait for the relevant people to assess your application.
- Be invited for an interview for the council to question your knowledge learnt in the LCQ and a few questions about your place of work, e.g. what type of licence they hold, if and how you have dealt with intoxicated patrons.
- You Duty Manager certificate will arrive in the post.
Costs and Time Investment
In total, we paid $516.25 each for our certificates. This is broken down into two parts:
$200 for the LCQ
$316.25 For the Duty Manager certificate application.
$516.25 in total
We paid for these ourselves, and over time (we did the LCQ a few months before being in a position to apply for our Duty Manager Certificate).
However, your employer may be open to funding this for you.
We chose to pay for our own Duty Manager certificates to retain a level of autonomy; we did not want to have to work at a place for a year to ‘repay’ the certificate.
If we stay somewhere for a year, it’s on our terms.
Is the Duty Manager Certificate Valid in my Home Country?
Unfortunately, no.
However, while the certificate itself is not valid, the skills and experience you gain in the job role will absolutely be transferable in a job back home. So it is still a positive factor for other employers back home.
You will be able to show that you held a position of responsibility abroad and you will have used/ picked up various skills to be successful in that role.
Our goal of long term travel is to progress our careers while travelling the world; by obtaining the Duty Manager’s certificates we have been able to take on bigger and better roles.
Conclusion
- Obtaining a Duty Manager Certificate as a traveller in New Zealand enables you to be employed in a wider variety of roles
- By becoming a Duty Manager you can negotiate higher wages- expect a minimum of $26 per hour, therefore having more money for travel.
- You may see parts of the country that you might not have been able to see by being more valuable to an employer