INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Waiter positions are at a 20% growth rate, which is much faster than average. With that said, there are currently 2,023,200 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 407,600 to 2,430,800 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Waiter jobs was $23,740 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $8.42 per hour, and the highest 10% more than $20.46 per hour.
Our conclusion? The Waiter job market is wide open for candidates.
Top Waiter sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a Waiter resume experience section
Waiter Resume’s Job Experience Checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real Waiter resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Delivering outstanding food and beverage service to customers.
- Taking orders from guests and offering advice on the menu.
- Keeping the Place of Work and surrounding area clean and organized at all times.
- Taking orders from customers and serving food or beverages.
- Preparing hot, cold, and mixed drinks for clients, and chill bottles of wine
- Collecting payments from customers and assuring everything runs smoothly
- Greeting new customers and escorting them to their tables
- Presenting menus and answering questions about the cuisine, making recommendations upon request
- Cleaning tables and other areas as needed
- Communicate to the guest and provide assistance with their queries, inform them about the special items for the day.
- Observes guests and ensure their satisfaction with the food and service.
- Co - ordinate with the busperson, kitchen staff, bar staff to ensure smooth operation and guest satisfaction.
- I started as a cashier, but promoted to waiter due to excellent performance.
- Providing great customer service and having a lot of happy clients.
- Managed 17 hour long shifts without making mistakes, excuses or appearing tired.
- Customer service - Greeting new customers
- Presented menus and answered questions about the cuisine, making recommendations upon request
- Recommended wines and other drinks to customers.
- Wrote customers’ orders and conveyed to kitchen staff.
- Took orders from customers and served food, drinks and deserts.
- Prepared bill/receipts and collected payment from customers.
- Making alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
- Inventory management
- Cleaning glasses, utensils, and bar equipment
- Greeting customers and presenting them with menus and beverage lists
- Setting and arranging tables
- Taking orders and relaying them to kitchen and bar staff Serving food and beverages
- Clearing tables and returning dishes and cutlery to kitchen
- Greeting arriving guests and representing the restaurant
- Taking orders and serving food/beverages
- Work in the kitchen
- Advising guests about the features of the restaurant dishes and drinks.
- Taking orders from a customer of the restaurant.
- Control of timely preparation of dishes.
- Submission ordered dishes to guests.
- Preparation and control of payment of accounts.
- Good knowledge of the last wines each week
- Great people skills with a warm and outgoing personnality, and capacity to remain and look calm under pressure
- An ability to multitask and organize my environment to work more efficiently
- Provide Excellent customer service
- Coordinated with restaurant manager and performed all service
- Work well under the pressure in busy day with turn over 1500 customer visiting on busy day
- Provide Excellent customer service
- Taking orders for food and beverage items
- Coordinated with restaurant manager and performed all service
- Sound knowledge of all food and wine available in restaurant
- Ability to maintain optimal standard of service at all times
- Handle pressure in a fast paced restaurant
- Working here has allowed me to work closely with customers, which enhanced my knowledge on customer needs, satisfaction and behaviours.
- Development of customer service skills
- Cash handling (including EFTPOS)
- Hospitality basics
PRO TIP
Make sure to relate your experience to your job description, but never lie. That’s not tolerated and will show up in the face-to-face interview later on.
Action Verbs for your Waiter Resume
Recommended reads:
Waiter Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume Skills Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Skills for your Waiter resume
- Serving Food
- Food & Wine Pairing
- Knowledge of Dining Styles
- POS Operation
- Food Safety
- Knowledge of Common Allergies
- Patience
- Multitasking
- Listening
- Attention to details
- Communication
- Memorization
PRO TIP
Don’t feel obliged to spend a separate section for your soft skills - you can weave them throughout your job experience or career summary. But, don’t just write empty words - back them with examples.
Recommended reads:
Waiter Resume Header: Tips, Red Flags, and Best Practices
CHECKLIST For Your Waiter Resume Header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have non-discrimination policies about what kind of information can be included on your Waiter resume. This might include a photo (which is often included in a resume header and might be on personal web pages you link to). You can always email the company’s HR department to ask about their policies before you apply.
Waiter Resume Summary Best Practices
Checklist: What to include in your Waiter resume summary:
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
Resume Summary Formula:
PRO TIP
You’re not going to get hired simply because of a good summary or objective. However, your recruiter can bump you up in front of similarly experienced candidates who didn’t demonstrate such passion and drive.
Recommended reads:
Listing Your Education, Certifications and Courses
Resume Education Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Certifications for your Waiter resume
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
There are dozens of certifications that you can claim as a Waiter. But, some are more effective than others. That’s why you mustn’t include every certificate other applicants might have. Try instead to earn and list a few of the difficult ones.
Waiter Resume: Additional Writing & Formatting Tips
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
Waiter Resume Summary best practices
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Test your draft Waiter resume by sending it out to peers and mentors in your circles. Ask them to review it as if they are hiring you for a project and implement the feedback afterwards.
Other sections to include in your resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Waiter resume:
Waiter Resume: How to Make Yours More Creative & Stand Out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Waiter resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What Makes a Great Waiter Resume: Key Takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
