Fine Dining Server Resume

Fine dining servers work at upscale dining establishments, like Michelin-starred restaurants, country clubs, and resorts.

There’s a greater potential for higher take-home pay compared to other serving jobs, but that fact means competition might be fierce, and restaurant hiring managers will have high expectations about your resume.

Follow these three tips to stand out and get noticed by restaurant hiring managers:

1.  Highlight your fine dining skills

Increase your chances of getting an interview by including relevant skills on your resume. Fine dining server resumes should emphasize both hard skills, such as operating point of sales (POS) terminals, and soft skills, like communication.

Here are some hard and soft skills to use on your fine dining server resume:

Hard skills:

• Upselling
• Basic math skills
• Computer skills
• POS terminals
• Management skills
• Language skills

Soft skills:

• Problem-solving skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Critical thinking
• Teamwork
• Customer service skills
• Positive attitude
• Communication skills

Helping to create memorable dining experiences for guests is crucial for the success of fine dining servers. Be sure to include a mix of skills that show hiring managers you have what it takes to succeed in this industry.

2. Showcase your fine dining serving experience with hard numbers

Attention is a limited commodity for everyone these days. That reality is especially true for hiring managers, who sort through countless resumes as they look for candidates to interview.

Make your resume stand out by using hard numbers to illustrate your experience.

Take a look at how this applicant uses numbers in their work experience section:

• Provide excellent table service to 50+ patrons a night by memorizing, presenting, and answering questions about menu items, making recommendations upon request
• Advised and provided rundown of menu changes and specials to 25+ waitstaff members during daily staff meetings

Make it as easy as possible for hiring managers to see the value you would bring to the table. Using specific numbers helps them understand your skillset and abilities. It also displays a level of professionalism that they’ll want to have on their team.

3. Tailor your fine dining resume to the job post

One of the quickest ways to catch a restaurant hiring manager’s attention is to tailor your resume to their job listing.

Tailor your resume by picking out keywords and phrases from the job listing, and then use them in your experience section and skills section.

Effectively using keywords from the job ad allows the hiring manager to see exactly how you would be a great fit for their team and makes it easy for them to offer you an interview.

Notice the bullet point with keywords underlined in orange from the job description for a country club server, shown below:

You can incorporate these keywords into your work experience by saying something like:

• Provide excellent table service to 50+ patrons a night by maintaining knowledge of all menu items, including beverages and wines, and make recommendations upon request

Take a look at the following bullet point from this fine dining server job posting, with the keywords underlined in orange:

Working those keywords into your resume might give you something that looks like this example:

• Effectively communicate with guests and co-workers to ensure guest satisfaction

By using keywords from the job posting, you’re more likely to attract the attention of hiring managers. Using keywords also increases your chances of passing through any applicant tracking systems (ATS) that the restaurant may be using to filter out resumes.