Writing a restaurant server resume is somewhat similar, you need to present yourself politely to the hiring manager and serve them a restaurant server resume that is really intriguing.
How to do that? What to include in your restaurant server resume? What should your restaurant server resume look like? What should be the outline of your restaurant server resume? How to increase your chances of getting hired with your restaurant server resume?
Answers to all these questions will be discussed throughout this article. Once you have read this article, you will have much better clarity on writing your restaurant server resume.
As of May 2022, there are 2,122,210 waiters and waitresses employed across the USA!
(Source: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes353031.htm)
Job market for restaurant server is quite competitive and your resume surely needs some extra efforts to get you your dream job! So let's learn how to write a job winning restaurant server resume!👇
Who is a restaurant server?
Let's first define a restaurant server job. Restaurant server is responsible for greeting customers, providing them with a menu, and telling them special menu items.
They also assist customers with specialty drinks and updates on how long the food will take to arrive.
Once the food is ready the server brings it to the table and serves it to the customers. Servers also ensure customer satisfaction by asking them for feedback and helping them with any issues they face.
Servers also take care of special requests or information such as customer's allergies or modifications in the menu items.
After the customers have completed their meals, the server brings the bill and helps the customer with payment as part of the server job.
Servers often help the customers find a place as well, in case the restaurant doesn't have a host or hostess.
The responsibilities may vary depending on which staff members the restaurant have or doesn't have.
How to write a job winning resume?
To write a server job winning resume, you need extensive knowledge of professional resume standards, language, presentation and such aspects of a perfect resume.
For professionalism you need to use such a language that reflects the professional aspects such as politeness, in-depth yet concise information, relevant details, and neat presentation.
When you are writing your restaurant server resume, you need to avoid pronouns in all sentences for the formal tone of language. Use past tense and write the details from a third person perspective.
Choose the right resume format for the neat presentation in an outline that focuses on important parts of your resume and professional profile. We will discuss formats in a while.
When you are done writing your resume, make sure you proofread it at least twice. remove all the spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. Double check the accuracy of details.
Any error (especially spelling & grammar) could immediately disappoint the hiring manager and your first impression will not be good at all.
Your restaurant server resume should be saved with a simple label with your first name, last name and the word 'resume' or 'CV'. When the hiring manager sees the document, it should be easy to know that this document is your resume.
Your restaurant server resume will be viewed by a number of hiring managers along with various applicant tracking systems. Hiring managers might view your resume through various document viewing mediums and not all applicant tracking systems are the same.
Meaning, the document format of your resume should be compatible for every medium and the applicant tracking systems. Most compatible document formats are Word document and PDF. You need to save your resume as either the word document or the PDF document.
These are some of the important aspects to keep in mind to ensure your professional resume is impressive and effective. It will help you stand out as a job candidate.
Research Your Role
Before writing your resume, you need to research your role. Some research of your role as restaurant server, research of the food service industry, research of the job description closely can go a long way in your clarity.
The clarity of what are the current trends, what are the usual expectations of hiring managers, which are the new team members or roles in the industry, what more can you offer- can really help you understand the best way to present your profile of restaurant server in the professional resume.
Your clarity and improved understanding will also help you write your resume in a manner where you will stand out as a candidate, which will raise the chances of you getting your job significantly.
During your research, you need to note down the relevant keywords to use them later in your restaurant server resume.
Choosing the right resume format
The resume format decides the outline of your restaurant server resume, which makes a big difference in visual appeal of the resume, presentation of details and readability and ease of comprehension for the information included on your restaurant server resume. You may find them all on a perfect restaurant server resume example that you may refer to.
All of these are important when you want to make an impact on the recruiter. There are various formats that you can choose from however, few are professionally preferred by the recruiters as well as the job seekers.
Functional resume format provides an outline suitable for freshers or recent graduates. This format focuses on skills and education section rather than experience which is important for new professionals.
The reverse chronological format allows the job seeker to emphasize the experience section which is important for a fairly experienced or seasoned professional. This format is defined by the reverse chronological order of experiences described in the experience section.
The combination format is for the people looking for career change because it focuses on important skills as well as relevant experience. It is a combination of the above two formats.
For you, the reverse chronological format may be suitable.
Now, let’s talk about various sections on your resume and how to write them.
Accurate information in the header
On the top of your resume, you will be adding the contact information section. First, you need to type your name in a slightly larger font. Then comes your mobile phone number with the area code- in a formal manner.
Next up would be your professional email ID which is simple with your name. the one that you use for professional correspondence. The details in this section must be written with accuracy and professional manner.
Your own resume should have the details that are accurate so that the recruiter can reach you.
You can also add your photograph in professional attire and the home address. However, these two are not mandatory and you can skip them as well.
Intriguing resume summary
The resume summary is the introduction and abstract of your restaurant server resume. If you cannot grab attention and intrigue the recruiter in this section, you are likely to not get the job because the recruiter will not care much about what is written in the rest of the resume. They might not even read the rest of the resume.
To grab attention, you need to note your job title. Details should be described in bullet points. You need to include crips and concise sentences.
The details should include your total years of experience and a bit of a background. Follow it up with the notable accomplishments and relevant skills. You can also add anything else that may be a highly relevant and valuable aspect of your restaurant server resume.
Close the resume summary with some information on what kind of opportunity you are seeking and how you will leverage your skills and experience along with the extensive knowledge.
Do not exceed the limit of 5 bullet points and write a minimum of 3 bullet points.
Carefully curated experience section
After the summary, you will be faced with the experience section. In the experience section, you will describe the details of your past jobs and work history.
While writing your experience section, you need to mention your job title, the name of your previous employers and the period of each employment.
While describing the details, use bulleted points. Describe your usual responsibilities even if they seem obvious because they will cover the important keywords.
Do not undersell yourself and highlight your accomplishments, exceptional performances and relevant skills. As a restaurant server, your soft skills are just important as other skills, do not forget to mention them.
You can also try to quantify some details whenever possible so that numbers can add more value to those details.
You can also mention any experience of tasks that were outside of your job description such as conveying customer feedback to the chef. If you have worked in relevant roles such as barista or sous chef, you can include those briefly as well. It can be a good indicator of your dedication and help you impress the recruiter.
Education Section
As a restaurant server, you might not have specific education, however you can mention your formal education details.
You can mention the name of degree or level of education and the name of the education institute. If you have done any relevant courses, you can mention those as well.
Adding Skills section
The skills section on your resume can make a huge difference even when they are listed with one or two words only. Skills are a checklist of what all you have to offer that the recruiter needs.
You need to mention the relevant skills that are soft as well as important top skills/server skills. We have curated a list for you here which you can take advantage of, you can also add more skills on your own resume.
- Server skills
- Handling customer complaints
- Guest satisfaction
- Customer satisfaction
- Providing exceptional customer service in timely manner
- Able to work in fast paced environment
- Guest service
- Serve food
- Excellent communication skills
- Answer questions (Customer questions)
- Interpersonal skills
- Verbal communication
- Collect payments
- Meet sales targets
- Take customer orders (food orders)
- Advice on wine pairings
- Able to handle busy shift
These skills are also keywords that you can utilize throughout your resume. Skills should be mentioned in profile summary, experience and skills section.
Extra
If you are among the entry level applicants, you need to focus on relevant skills more than the experience. you might also want to go for the functional resume format. This will help you impress the restaurant manager.
If you have any employment gaps, you can provide some details that may help you out such as relevant courses or part time jobs or any other relevant detail.
A perfect resume will have top skills, experience of fine dining & high volume restaurant. If your job history does not include these, you can compensate with other relevant details that may be valuable such as language proficiency to help you out with customers, relevant hobbies and so on.
Keywords-Weapon for ATS
Applicant tracking system or the ATS is a software that recruiters use across the world and industries. This software scans the resume and filters them based on the presence of relevant keywords on them.
To beat the software and be shortlisted, you need to include the relevant keywords throughout your resume. Do not stuff the keywords anywhere or repeat them without making any sense.
Do not compromise the readability of the information. Try to use them carefully in a meaningful manner.
📌 Some of the keywords you can include are:
- Menu items
- Exceptional service
- Restaurant environment
- Food server
- Server skills
- Customer satisfaction
- Customer complaints
- Restaurant manager
- Restaurant server skills
- Food service
- Restaurant server
- Repeat business
- Interpersonal skills
- Verbal communication
You can add many more relevant keywords from the research you did before getting down to writing your resume.
Conclusion
In conclusion, keep in mind these important points while writing your restaurant server resume:
- Include keywords
- Use past tense, third person
- Use bullet points and be concise
- Include all the relevant details
- Include restaurant server skills
Use this article as your checklist when you write your restaurant server resume. You can also check out our resume writing guides, resume examples and resume template.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do restaurant servers need a bachelor's degree?
In most cases, No. You need communication skills and literacy to read the menu and assist the customers. You should always confirm with the job description or the recruiter though.
Should I put my sous chef experience on my restaurant server resume?
Yes, any and every relevant experience should be mentioned on your resume. Sous chef experience is very valuable and could help you impress the restaurant manager.
Should my restaurant server resume be two pages long?
Resumes should be one or two pages long, if your resume is two pages long, it is okay. Do not exceed the limit and write a three page resume, it could have an unwanted effect on the resume viewer.
