Barista Resume Example

Successful baristas build their career on a foundation of relevant skills, experience, and qualifications. Whether you’re applying for a job at Starbucks or any other coffee shop, it’s crucial to show them your competence as a barista on your resume.

Here’s how to tailor your resume to land the barista job you’ve got your eye on.

1. Start With a Strong Barista Resume Objective

A resume objective is the best way to start a resume for most baristas, because it lets them tailor their application to the coffee shop they want to work at.

Resume objectives showcase your strongest single qualification, and immediately capture the hiring manager’s attention:

Friendly and professional SCA-certified barista with 4+ years of experience in the coffee brewing and customer service sectors. Adept at efficiently and hygienically operating a variety of coffee machines and POS software. Experienced in managing junior colleagues. Seeking a supervisory role.

Your “strongest qualification” can be a certification, a course you’ve completed, or a relevant degree you’ve earned. Or simply whatever you think your strongest qualification for landing work as a barista is.

Your objective should also make a reference to the skills you have that are most relevant to the coffee industry, and clarify the specific type of role (entry-level, manager, etc.) you’re applying for.

As an alternative to a resume objective, a resume summary is an effective introduction if you have more work-related achievements to highlight.

2. Impress With Your Work Experience

As someone applying for barista positions, experience from your current and past coffee shop jobs is more relevant to your next role than your education. Format your resume so your work history is the focus, as our candidate does in the barista resume example above.

Do this by listing your jobs in chronological order, with your current job at the top. Then, list four or five key barista duties under each job on your resume.

You should also include relevant numbers in each statement. Adding numbers turns each responsibility into an achievement, making it easier for you to impress the hiring manager and land an interview.

Here are examples of work experience bullet points for baristas with different levels of experience:

Entry-level

• Prepare (from memory) a wide variety (100+) of coffee, tea, and chocolate beverages to complete hundreds of customer orders each day
• Sanitize coffee equipment multiple times during each shift; maintain store cleanliness at all times
• Participate in various store promotions, such as handing out coffee and cookie samples outside the store and dressing up in seasonal attire
• Won the “Employee of the Month” award 4 times

Experienced Barista

• Serve 150+ customers during the busy 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. shift, maintaining high service standards at all times
• Oversee in-store execution of sales and promotions as directed by store manager (4+ seasonal promotions per year)
• Make individualized coffee recommendations, and educate interested customers on the sources and processes of the store’s premium beans
• Track and fulfill the online store’s coffee bean and coffee brewing equipment orders (average of 47 orders per week)

Coffee Shop Supervisor

• Manage the late shift team (4 employees total) from 2 p.m.–10 p.m.
• Oversee store closure procedure, ensuring store is locked and secure before leaving
• Provide on-the-job training (trained 17 new baristas so far), making sure staff is familiar with store procedures
• Approve work schedule and oversee staffing levels, approving time-off requests to make sure service levels fall within our labor model
• Participate in candidate selection and led one-on-one interviews (7 to date)

3. Showcase Your Barista Skills

Reinforce your best characteristics and skills by listing them in your resume skills section. Some of the skills you should showcase on your resume as a successful barista include:

Hard Skills

• Coffee-brewing methods
• Latte art
• Foreign languages
• Operating point of sale (POS) equipment
• Operating and maintaining coffee equipment
• Math

Soft Skills

• Customer service skills
• Attention to detail
• Communication skills
• Creativity
• Interpersonal skills
• Multitasking
• Time management skills

4. Target Your Resume to the Barista Job Description

Because many employers use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to filter resumes, you should use keywords and phrases from the job description in your resume and cover letter. An ATS scans your resume to check it includes keywords the hiring manager has set, and rejects resumes without them.

Here’s an example Starbucks barista job description with some resume keywords and phrases underlined:

If you were writing a Starbucks resume to apply for this job, you’d try to fit the key words and phrases from this job description into it.

For example, you might list “cash handling” in your work history section, and mention your organizational skills in your skills section.

By making sure you include words and phrases from the job description in your resume, your application is more likely to make it past the ATS and be seen by a hiring manager.