Bartender Resume Example

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the food and beverage industry hard. Despite this, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects extremely promising growth for the employment of bartenders over the next decade. Between 2020-2030, employment opportunities are expected to grow by 32%, far faster than the average of 8% for all occupations.

As job opportunities increase, you may have your eye on the most lucrative establishments for bartenders, such as fine-dining restaurants, cocktail bars, and high-end resorts. However, competition for high-end bartending job opportunities can be fierce. That’s why it’s important to have a resume that’s tailored for the bar industry.

Follow our tips below to ensure that your resume has all the right ingredients.

Highlight bartender skills on your resume

Hiring managers want to know that you can perform the job, and a quick scan of your resume should prove that you have mastered the necessary hard and soft skills a bartender needs to be successful. List your applicable skills in your resume’s skills section.

Here are some examples of bartending skills for your resume:

Hard Skills for Bartending

• Proficient in POS systems
• Language skills
• Mixology
• Knowledge of drink recipes & garnish
• Knowledge of glassware
• Product knowledge
• Wine pairing
• Knowledge of state liquor laws

You’ll need hard skills to prove you can actually bartend. These abilities require training, and you’re sometimes given a certification to prove you have them.

Soft skills, on the other hand, relate to your personality and ability to interact with customers. For a service job like bartending, having strong soft skills is essential, and should be featured prominently on your resume.

Soft Skills for Bartending

Showcase your relevant certifications

Depending on your state or employer, you may need a license to tend bar. If you can show you’re already licensed, it may just tip the scales in your favor. A busy hiring manager will be on the lookout for these certifications, especially if required by the state.

There are other relevant certifications that may impress a hiring manager. One is bartending certification, which involves mixology training. Other certifications related to the food and beverage industry prove your transferable skills and knowledge, and are especially useful if the establishment you’re applying for a job at serves food.

For example, here are some helpful certifications to include in your bartending resume:

• TIPS certification
• State bartending license
• Bartending certification
• Food handler permit
• CPR certification

Having the certifications is important, but knowing how to list certifications on your resume properly is essential. Certifications should be listed in either a certifications section or a combined skills & certifications section of your resume, depending on how prominently you want them displayed.

Make sure to include the following:

• Name of certification
• Name of the organization issuing the certification
• Completion date
• Location (or, if taken online, write “online course”)

Here’s an example of how to list certifications on your bartender resume:

CERTIFICATIONS

• TIPS Certification
  TIPS Training Program, Boulder CO
  2020

Pay attention to the job description

Job descriptions are useful tools when it comes to filling in your professional experience section. Many job seekers get caught up in this section because they aren’t sure what to write. They overlook all the clues that the job descriptions provide.

Take a look at a piece of an actual bartender job description:

The job description above is littered with keywords that the employer is looking for. All you have to do is include them in the bullet points of your resume. Now, this doesn’t mean that you should just copy “Helping guests be aware of and choose menu items” in your professional experience section. You should address that key phrase like this:

• Took food orders from guests at the bar and recommended beverage pairings to go with their meals, which boosted spending by an average of $10 per customer

This bullet point is great because it not only addresses the key phrase, “Helping guests be aware of and choose menu items,” it also adds a simple, yet measurable statistic to your experience (boosted spending by an average of $10 per customer).

Adding numbers to the accomplishments on your resume helps illustrate to employers how successful you were in your previous roles.

Use action verbs to describe your bartender duties

Bartenders are always on the move, either prepping the bar or serving back-to-back customers. Your resume should reflect how active your profession is by including descriptive action verbs throughout your experience section.

Action verbs grab a potential employer’s attention and present you as an active (rather than passive) employee. Instead of starting your work experience bullet points with “responsible for” or “tasked with”, start them with a verb that showcases the actions you took.

Here’s an example of how to put bartending verbs to good use in your work experience section:

• Expanded the drinks menu to include new drink specials each season, resulting in a sales increase of 7% over one year
• Trained and supported 10 new bartenders, ensuring that they developed the skills and knowledge to excel behind the bar
• Created and sustained a safe, welcoming environment by monitoring customer consumption and making sure that staff were adhering to safe serving practices
• Implemented a new system for tracking inventory, streamlining processes and saving 3 hours of labor per week