Waiter / Waitress Resume Sample

Being a waiter or waitress is often described as a thankless job. Not only is pay low, but you’re on your feet for long periods of time and have to deal with difficult customers.

However, if you’re in a transitional moment in life, need a steady paycheck, or want to jumpstart a career in food service, a waiter/waitress job is just what you need.

As the economy picks up after COVID-19, restaurant doors should reopen and waiter/waitress job openings should start to be advertised again.

If you want your resume to stand out from the crowd, here are some tips for when you’re crafting an eye-catching waiter/waitress resume:

1. Start with a strong career objective

Your career objective has to do a lot of work in a short space. Think of it as your elevator pitch where you only have a short amount of time to get out as much relevant information about yourself as possible.

Notice how each sentence of this applicant’s career objective has a purpose behind it:

• Prior experience: “Waitress with 5+ years of experience in providing excellent service to diners at quality establishments.”
• Skills she has: “Possesses familiarity with POS terminals and common restaurant machinery.”
• What she will bring to the team: “Expert with a proven ability to “upsell” alcohol, dessert, and appetizers to customers.”
• Role she’s applying for: “Looking to leverage my knowledge and experience into a waitressing role at your restaurant.”

A well-written career objective should draw in the attention of your future employer and give them a clear idea of whether you would fit in with his or her vision for the restaurant.

2. Quantify your professional experience

Most applicants aren’t aware that their resumes have six seconds to impress. Because of the limited time employers dedicate to each resume, it’s important to convey the level of professionalism you have as succinctly and clearly as possible.

For example, notice how this applicant uses numbers in her professional experience bullet points:

• “Memorize restaurant’s wine stock and appropriate entrée pairings, leading to daily wine sales averaging $180, fully 15% higher than company average”
• “Write patron’s food orders on slips, memorize orders, and manage food resources in a 120+ seat restaurant”
• “Implemented new menu introduction strategies, increasing customer purchases of wine by 10% on average”

Your employer will appreciate your efforts to quantify your experience. A resume that features specific details is stronger than one that’s vague and seems to be written to cloak inadequacies.

3. Choose your skills carefully

When selecting which skills you would like to showcase, pay attention to whether your skills are hard or soft skills.

While both types of skills are important, hard skills should be more prominently featured.

Take a look at the skills our applicant lists on her resume. Notice how she has a healthy mix of hard and soft skills:

Hard skills:

• Salesmanship
• Customer Service
• POS Terminals
• Bilingual (English/Spanish)

Soft skills:

• Problem Solving
• Critical Thinking
• Strong Memory

The specific skills you spotlight in your resume may be a deciding factor for your future employer. This is because the skills you list let your employer know how much training you’ll need. If you already have most of the skills necessary for being a waiter/waitressing, that saves your employer a lot of resources and energy — something they’re sure to appreciate!

If you have further questions about how to write your waiter/waitress resume, peruse our how to write a resume guide for the answers you need.