5 Starbucks Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

Thinking about how to write a resume for a Starbucks barista position? It’s all about mixing your passion for coffee and excellent customer service into one irresistible blend. As one of the largest coffee chains globally, Starbucks brews up nearly 80,000 barista opportunities each year across its 32,000+ locations. But with the coffee industry’s steamy challenge of a high turnover rate—often topping 70% annually—what makes a good resume is one that shows your stability and dedication alongside your skills.

Your resume should not only highlight your ability to craft the perfect cup but also demonstrate your commitment to staying part of the Starbucks team. Let’s fine-tune your resume with the essential skills and a personal touch, ensuring it’s as compelling as the aroma of freshly ground coffee beans. This way, your application will stand out in the frothy sea of potential hires.

Why Starbucks?

Securing a job at Starbucks can be beneficial for several reasons, particularly if you’re looking to build skills and experience in the retail and service industries.

Here are some key advantages:

1. Skill development: Working at Starbucks offers extensive training in customer service, sales, and food and beverage management. These skills are transferable and valuable in many other sectors.
2. Benefits: Starbucks is known for offering strong benefits for part-time and full-time employees, including health insurance, stock options, and tuition reimbursement through its College Achievement Plan in partnership with Arizona State University.
3. Career opportunities: There’s potential for career growth within the company. Starbucks often promotes from within, offering pathways to management positions.
4. Flexible scheduling: The flexible shifts at Starbucks can accommodate different needs, making it suitable for students, parents, or those with other commitments.
5. Inclusive culture: Starbucks places a high emphasis on diversity and inclusion, creating a welcoming environment for employees of all backgrounds.
6. Global brand recognition: Experience at a globally recognized brand like Starbucks can be a valuable addition to your resume.
7. Employee discounts: Starbucks offers discounts to employees on food, beverages, and merchandise, which is a nice perk on top of the salary.

These factors make working at Starbucks appealing, especially for those starting their career journey or looking for stable employment with benefits in the retail and hospitality industries.

As with almost any company you apply for, do your research! Find out more about Starbucks, including reviews, salaries, current job openings, Q&A, and interviews with people just like you.

Let’s take a look at some real examples.

Starbucks resume sample

Below is an example of a barista resume of an individual looking to start their professional history with a reliable, international, and conscientious company. This will be the applicant’s first job and you can see their choice to emphasize their skills instead of work experience.

This resume version is crafted to show Brandon's potential and readiness for his first job, focusing on his education, volunteer experiences, and soft skills relevant to the Starbucks Barista position. It highlights his ability to interact effectively with the public and contribute positively to team dynamics, key traits for success in such a role. To achieve this, careful attention to resume formatting is essential.

How to format a Starbucks resume

When crafting a resume for a Starbucks barista position, blending your skills and work history into a cohesive document is essential. This is done by choosing the best resume format for the position.

Here’s a streamlined approach, combining both sets of advice:

Preferred resume format: Opt for a hybrid resume. Like the perfect cappuccino, it mixes the chronological format depth with a functional resume’s focus on skills, allowing you to effectively highlight your capabilities, whether you're a seasoned barista or a newcomer. The structure gives flexibility in how you present all the parts of a resume.

Resume design tips

• Margins: Set your resume margins between 0.5" and 1" to balance white space and text.
• Template: Use a modern, clean template with a hint of color for a professional look.
• Fonts: Choose legible fonts such as Exo2, Rubik, or Lato, in sizes 10-12 pt.
• Columns: Use to organize information clearly, avoiding clutter.
• Length: Keep your resume to one page, concise, and impactful like an espresso shot.
• Colors: Use a primarily black and white resume color scheme with minimal accent colors for headings to keep the appearance clean and professional.
• Layout: Consider a double-column approach when it comes to your resume layout. This clearly separates and organizes sections like skills and certifications.
• Lines: Employ thin lines sparingly to delineate sections without cluttering the visual flow of your resume.
• Icons: Avoid using icons unless they’re simple and contribute to the clarity of the resume.

Resume header

• The first thing in your resume header should be your full name and contact information including a professional email and the city/state.
• Create a concise resume headline that encapsulates your professional identity and highlights your experience and skills as a barista.
• Provide links to your LinkedIn profile or a professional portfolio that showcases additional certifications or training relevant to the coffee industry.
• Add a small, professional resume photo only if it aligns with the brand's culture or enhances your application.

File formatting

• Name your file clearly, for example, "BrandonJamesonBarista_Resume.pdf".
• Save your resume as a PDF to ensure formatting remains consistent across different devices.

ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems)

• Keep your resume formatting simple and avoid headers, footers, tables, and other elements that might confuse the ATS.
• Use standard resume headings like "Experience," "Education," and "Skills" to ensure they’re correctly interpreted by the ATS.

This combined approach ensures that your resume not only showcases your technical skills and experience but also presents them in an aesthetically pleasing and organized manner, making it easier for hiring managers to recognize your potential.

Ready to ensure your resume is Starbucks-ready? Test it with our free resume checker! It simulates the ATS used by Starbucks, helping you tailor your resume to impress both machines and managers. Check today—make your first impression count!

How to write your Starbucks resume experience

Your work experience section narrates your path in the world of coffee. Big chains like Starbucks often welcome applicants without prior experience due to their thorough on-site training programs. Yet, emphasizing your experience is crucial, especially for those aiming to carve out a career in coffee crafting or participate in barista competitions.

Let's examine an actual job description and strategize how to refine your resume accordingly.

Mold your experience to suit the barista job description

Tailoring your experience to fit a barista's job description is much like selecting the perfect coffee blend for a customer's favorite drink. The key is to customize your background to align with the specific requirements of the role.

Start by closely reviewing the job advertisement, identifying the core resume keywords, and ensuring your application reflects these qualifications. For example, if the listing emphasizes customer service, teamwork, or proficiency in POS systems, make sure these aspects are highlighted in your experience.

Also, use strong action verbs to illustrate your achievements and make your Starbucks resume more engaging. Pair this with relevant certifications, like the Coffee Master Program or leadership roles, to show your commitment and alignment with Starbucks' values.

Now let’s build that amazing Starbucks resume work history section!

Below we’ve crafted a well-targeted work experience entry to the job ad above. To make it clearer, we’ve also highlighted the key information that we repeat from the job description.

Have a look:

Here are just a few things that these entries did right when it comes to using the job description to target your resume:

• The entries focus on strong customer service skills, backed by metrics, directly reflecting the job ad’s focus on creating a positive Starbucks Experience.
• By showcasing leadership roles, such as training new baristas and improving team productivity by 15%, the entries address the job ad’s emphasis on teamwork and collaboration within the store environment.
• The inclusion of specific metrics like increasing sales by 10% and maintaining high-quality standards highlights the ability to handle responsibilities like cash handling, inventory management, and maintaining store standards, aligning with the ad’s focus on operational excellence.

As you may have noticed above, quantifying your achievements with numbers is highly recommended. Let’s take a closer look.

How to quantify your experience on resume

Including numbers and results on a Starbucks barista resume illustrates your tangible contributions, like improving customer satisfaction or boosting sales. To quantify them properly, focus on specific metrics such as the number of orders handled per shift, accuracy rates, or increases in sales from upselling.

Below are some specific examples that could help you with your next Starbucks application:

• Give the percentage increase in customer satisfaction scores due to your direct interaction and efforts to improve service delivery.
• Demonstrate the reduction in order preparation times you achieved by implementing more efficient workflow techniques.
• Feature the growth in sales numbers during your shifts, specifying exact percentage increases.
• Quantify the decrease in product waste you managed by improving inventory tracking and optimizing order volumes.
• Present the number of successful promotional campaigns you participated in and the consequent rise in store traffic or sales metrics.

How do I write a Starbucks resume with no experience

Starbucks provides comprehensive on-site training for all new baristas, so you don't necessarily need to have prior coffee-making experience or attend external programs before applying.

Here's a breakdown of how training usually works:

1. Initial training program: When you start, you'll undergo an initial training phase, which typically includes both computer-based learning and hands-on practice. This training covers everything from coffee knowledge and drink preparation to customer service and store operations.
2. Coffee and tea education: Starbucks places a strong emphasis on product knowledge. You'll learn about the various coffee blends, tea products, and the specifics of brewing.
3. Barista certification: After the initial training period, you’ll undergo a certification process that tests your ability to make drinks to Starbucks' standards and demonstrate your customer service skills.
4. Continuous learning: They encourage continuous learning through advanced training programs as you grow with the company, which can mean leadership training and specialized coffee-making techniques like latte art.
5. Safety and compliance: Training also includes safety procedures, health regulations, and compliance, ensuring all employees understand how to maintain a safe working environment.

This structured training program provided by Starbucks is designed to equip you with all the skills needed to excel as a barista, regardless of your previous experience.

Lack of experience resume additions

If you don’t have direct work experience, a well-structured resume can still help you stand out.

Here’s what to do:

• Focus on relevant skills that align with the Starbucks barista job description. Highlight areas like customer service, teamwork, and communication, which are essential in this role.
• If you have any certifications, such as food handling or customer service training, provide them. Even basic certifications illustrate a commitment to learning.
• List your educational background, including any relevant coursework or extracurricular activities that may reflect skills needed in a barista role, such as leadership or teamwork experience.
• If you’ve volunteered or participated in activities that required collaboration, customer interaction, or managing tasks under pressure, add these experiences to demonstrate transferable skills.
• Consider using a functional format if you lack work experience. This format prioritizes skills and achievements over job history.

Objective statement

Introduce yourself with a short, clear objective statement that displays your passion for customer service and your interest in a barista role at Starbucks.

• Be specific: Tailor your objective to the job by mentioning Starbucks and the barista role.
• Highlight key strengths: Focus on relevant qualities like customer service, teamwork, and enthusiasm for learning.

Here’s an example to follow:

Experience certainly counts, but it's your skills that truly make a difference. Let's explore one of the key elements to catching the eye of your Starbucks recruiter—your skillset.

How to list your hard and soft skills on a Starbucks resume

Skills are crucial on a Starbucks resume, particularly in the resume skill section, because they demonstrate your ability to perform the job effectively. They value a blend of core competencies that include both interpersonal skills and practical abilities to ensure excellent customer service and efficient operations.

Displaying practical abilities

Hard skills are the concrete abilities that every barista must master, such as grinding coffee beans, brewing espresso, steaming milk, and crafting latte art. These skills are imperative because they directly influence the quality of the beverages you prepare and the overall customer experience.

On a resume, hard skills and technical skills can be listed in their own section if you have many, or incorporated into the work or education sections if fewer. This helps a recruiter quickly see your technical qualifications.

Employers will expect you to be proficient in at least a few of the following:

Demonstrating interpersonal skills

Employers highly value soft skills like communication, adaptability, and teamwork. These are essential for managing a busy coffee shop environment and ensuring a positive customer experience. Highlighting them shows your ability to thrive both technically and interpersonally.

Weave soft skills throughout your resume. Emphasize their application in the work experience section, showcase your strengths in the summary, and illustrate interpersonal growth within your education. This provides a holistic view of your capabilities.

Here are the top sought-after essential skills for this position:

Besides going through your skills to strengthen your candidacy, your educational background also deserves attention. Let’s explore this area in more detail.

How to list your certifications and education on your resume

Even without barista experience, a strong education section can make a difference. A well-crafted entry shows commitment, attention to detail, and task efficiency—qualities valued in a fast-paced Starbucks environment. Tailor your education to highlight relevant academic background, training, or certifications for a better fit.

What to include in the education section

A well-crafted education section should be clear, concise, and relevant to the barista position.

Here's how to structure it:

• Name of institution and location: Clearly state where you studied, whether it's high school, a college, or a training program.
• Degree and major/minor: Mention your degree and both your major and minor on your resume, if applicable.
• Graduation year or expected graduation date: If you’re still in school, give the expected graduation date on your resume.
• Grade point average: Only include your GPA if it’s 3.5 or above, as it can highlight academic excellence. However, don’t lie on your resume—lying about your GPA or any other details can be easily discovered and harm your credibility.
• Coursework: Display relevant courses that align with barista responsibilities.
• Honors and awards: Achievements like making the dean's list or earning honors like cum laude show dedication and can differentiate you from other candidates.
• High school or GED: If you haven't attended college, list your high school or GED on your resume.

Tailoring your education section to the Starbucks role

Consider how your academic experiences apply to the barista role. Coursework in communication shows customer engagement skills, while leadership roles emphasize teamwork. Connecting your education to the skills and values Starbucks seeks helps create a compelling story that aligns with the job and improves your hiring chances.

Here’s a targeted education entry to the Starbucks job offer from above:

This education entry aligns well with the Starbucks barista role, highlighting customer service, communication, and teamwork—essential job components. Activities in hospitality and coffee events show early interest, while honors like the Dean's List and anticipated cum laude distinction demonstrate a strong work ethic and commitment to excellence.

Another vital aspect of the barista field is your training. If you’ve already completed any related programs, be sure to visibly list these certifications on your resume.

Here are the top certificates out there for a Starbucks barista:

If you’re an experienced barista then there’s one last thing you’ll want to consider—your resume summary.

How to write your Starbucks resume summary

A resume summary is a crucial elevator pitch, offering a quick snapshot of your skills and fit for a Starbucks barista role. It’s a great way to distinguish yourself, especially if you're aiming for higher-level positions like lead barista or café manager.

Your summary should:

• Highlight key skills: Showcase qualities like customer service, teamwork, and communication, along with quantifiable achievements (e.g., "boosted customer satisfaction by 20%").
• Convey unique talents: Mention skills such as latte art, equipment maintenance, or specialty coffee knowledge that align with Starbucks’ focus.
• Include certifications & passion: List any relevant certifications and express enthusiasm for the craft, like creating the perfect pour-over or educating customers on coffee varieties.
• Avoid first-person pronouns: Write your summary in the third person, without using "I," to maintain a professional tone and focus on your qualifications rather than telling your story.
• Tailor to the job posting: Incorporate keywords from the specific role to show employers why you're a strong fit for their team.

Below is an example of a summary tailored to the previous Starbucks job ad:

The summary effectively highlights relevant skills, experience, and certifications, while also showing a passion for coffee and customer service, making it well-tailored to the Starbucks barista role.

Still, have some room on your resume? Looking for some possible extras that will benefit your application? Have a look at the next section.

Additional sections for a Starbucks resume

It’s not always necessary to add more sections to your resume. However, doing so can showcase skills, experiences, and qualities that make you more of a well-rounded candidate and help emphasize your suitability for the role beyond just your work history.

• Awards & achievements: List any awards or recognitions received for work performance, academic accomplishments, or extracurricular achievements that demonstrate dedication and excellence.
• Languages: Mention any additional languages spoken, especially if the Starbucks location serves a diverse customer base.
• Hobbies & interests: Share interests that relate to coffee culture, customer service, or teamwork, such as coffee brewing techniques, community events, or food and beverage knowledge.

In conclusion

Crafting a strong resume for a Starbucks barista position means blending your passion for coffee, customer service skills, and relevant experiences into a compelling story that reflects the brand’s values. By tailoring your resume format, skills, and achievements to the role’s specific requirements, you can elevate your application and boost your chances of being noticed among the thousands of potential hires.