People of all ages and genders work as waitresses. It is one of the most common and widely available job professions to work regardless of where you live. Every restaurant or diner in every town and city needs waitresses to work for them.
The good news is that a college degree is not required to become a waitress. The bad news is that waitressing is a very competitive profession. Even though waitressing jobs exist everywhere in the hospitality industry, there are high numbers of people applying for those positions. In fact, the number of job-seeking applicants usually outnumbers the number of vacant waitressing jobs available.
The best way to stand out from the competition is to create an impressive and comprehensive waitress resume. It might seem unusual for a waitress to make a resume, but employers in the industry now expect it. They want to see which applicants have the kind of skills and experience needed to become a successful and productive waitress.
The Top 7 Steps to Writing a Waitress Resume
Writing a high-quality waitress resume will put you ahead of many other applicants who fail to write one. All you need to do is learn the basic steps involved in writing a resume that tells employers who you are and what you can bring to their service business and its customers.
Below are the top 7 steps to writing a waitress resume that highlights all your education, skills, abilities, work experience, career objectives, and other notable achievements.
1) Figure Out Where You Want to Be a Waitress
You might not want to use the same resume for every waitressing job you wish to pursue. After all, every restaurant or service environment has slightly different job requirements for their waitresses.
For example, if you want to work as a waitress at a five-star restaurant in a big city, it will have much stricter hiring requirements than those at a rural diner in a small town. That means you would have to do an extra special job of writing a solid resume to impress the employer of that five-star restaurant.
Here are some examples of different types of waitressing jobs:
- Fine dining service waitresses
- Casual dining service waitresses
- Room service waitresses
- Banquet service waitresses
- Buffet service waitresses
- Fast food waitresses
- Bar waitresses
- Café waitresses
The average person will probably go for casual dining or fast-food waitressing positions because they are the most common. If that is what you’re planning to do, you should still put in the extra effort to make your waitress resume the best it can be.
Remember that your employer might consider you for a higher-level service position either now or after you’ve been waitressing for a few months. They will continue to keep your resume on file and could look at it again if they think you could handle working in a higher position when it becomes available.
2) Start Writing Your Resume by Adding Contact Information on the Top
Start your waitress resume with your contact information listed at the top of the page. Employers will want to see the name and last job title of the person who is applying for the job before they read anything else on the resume.
Feel free to list all your general contact details, such as your first name, last name, physical mailing address, phone number, and email address. Your name should be in large or bold font to make it stand out among all the other details. In addition, if you have worked in the hospitality industry in the past, put your last service job title in italics underneath your name.
Your contact information might look something like this on your waitress resume:
Julie Anderson
(Fine Dining Waitress)
9999 Hospitality Blvd
Sugar Land TX, 73235
Phone: 555-555-5555
Email: julie@anderson.com
Do you notice how the job title is listed as “fine dining waitress” rather than just “waitress?”
If you want to capture the attention of employers, it might be helpful to be more specific in your job title to make it stand out from other people’s ordinary “waitress” titles. Using a specific title indicates the type of waitressing you have done in the past, which could be what the hiring manager is looking for.
3) Write a Job Summary or Mission Statement
A job summary (or mission statement) summarizes your skills, job experience, abilities, personality traits, and career objectives. There will be a separate waitress resume skills section, so you don’t need to list all your skills in the job summary. Just highlight the most important ones, along with the most valuable contributions you could make to the waitressing job you wish to pursue.
Here is an example of what a job summary on a waitress resume could look like:
Friendly and enthusiastic waitress with over 5 years of experience in fine dining and casual dining restaurants. Skilled in accurately taking orders, recommending menu items, and welcoming customers into the dining establishment. Mastered the ability to manage several tables simultaneously to achieve maximum customer satisfaction.
Job summaries don’t need to be more than 2 or 3 sentences to get the main points across. All you’ll want is for the hiring manager to read your job summary and immediately know which unique qualities you can bring to the waitress job that you want to fill.
4) List Your Previous Education
The next section on your waitress resume should be your previous education. You only need to list the highest education you received, such as a high school diploma or two-year degree.
Here is what a typical education listing looks like:
High School Diploma
Newtown High School, Sandy Hook, CT
Graduated: June 2020
Employers in the service industry are not really looking for college graduates. If you at least have a high school diploma, that is the only real educational background you need to land most waitressing jobs. The only exception might be if you’re pursuing a more high-end waitressing job, like on a cruise ship or in a luxury resort hotel restaurant.
Overall, a high school diploma is good enough for your resume.
5) List Your Previous Work Experience
The work experience section of your waitress resume is probably the most important part. It is where you list your past job positions, preferably ones in the hospitality industry. The waitress job description for resume writing must include all the duties and responsibilities you had for each listed job. You can write them in a bulleted list format rather than a text description.
Here is an example of a job description in the work experience section of a typical waitress resume:
Waitress
Denny’s Restaurant, New York, NY
(March 2020 – April 2022)
- Greeted and seated guests as they enter the restaurant
- Took orders and recommended daily specials from the menu
- Served over 40 tables per shift in a high-volume restaurant
- Addressed guest concerns and handled complaints professionally
- Processed customer payments and overcame billing issues
It is possible to get hired as a waitress without any experience in the hospitality industry. However, if you’re seeking a job in a high-end establishment, the employer may require you to have previous waitressing experience of some kind before considering you. It can be a low-level experience in casual dining or fast-food restaurants. Just having any experience is better than having no experience.
6) List Your Job Skills
The skills section of your waitress resume is actually very important. Some might argue that it is even more important than the education section. Since waitressing requires you to possess several different skills, hiring managers want to see if you have any or most of those skills.
Here are the most common waitress resume skills that hiring managers want to see:
- Cash handling
- Excellent communication
- Attention to detail
- Teamwork
- Food safety
- Sales
- Handling and serving multiple food items
- Working POS systems
- Multitasking in fast-paced environments
- Table setting
- Clearing tables
- Conflict resolution
It is a good idea to list several skills on your waitress resume. That way, it will differentiate you from all the other waitresses who are applying for the same job as you. The chances are that they aren’t going to list as many skills on their resumes as you will on yours. So, it will give you a significant advantage over them during the interviewing and hiring process.
Read More :- Personal skills For Resume
7) Achievements or Certifications
Waitressing is not typically a profession that requires professional certifications or any special achievements. However, if you have any certifications or achievements relevant to your waitressing job, you might as well put them on your waitress resume in the “Achievements/Certifications” section.
Here are some waitress resume examples of relevant achievements and certifications:
- Winner of National Waiter & Waitress Championship 2023
- Achieving Food Safety Authorization 2023
- CPR Certification
- First Aid Certification
- Alcohol Server Certification
- ServSafe Food Handler Certification
You can probably guess how these achievements and certifications are relevant to waitressing. Including them on your resume could give employers an extra incentive to want to hire you if they think those accomplishments are useful at your new job.
Final Tips
You won’t have to search hard to find a waitressing job available. The difficult part is getting hired for the job due to all the other people competing for it. That is why good resume writing is essential for a waitress. If you can show employers that you’re no ordinary waitress, they will want to hire you over everyone else.
Would you like to see some waitress resume examples to help you get started? We have included two waitress resume templates to show you what a typical waitress resume looks like. Let them be your inspiration when writing your resume.
Waitress Resume Example #1 – Inspired by this Resume Sample
Sophie Perez
Waitress
Contact:
1482 Ritter Avenue
Grand Rapids, Michigan 48234
Phone: 555-555-5555
Email: Sophie Perez
Mission Statement:
Results-driven waitress with more than 7 years of experience delivering extraordinary customer service in fast-paced, high-volume restaurant environments. Proven ability to multitask by taking accurate orders, managing tables, delivering food on time, and processing payments. Communicates exceptionally well with customers and regularly receives positive feedback from them.
Education:
High School Diploma
Grand Rapids High School (2016 to 2020)
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Work Experience:
Waitress
Friendly’s – Grand Rapids, MI
(Summer 2022 to Present)
- Accurately take customer orders and input them into the POS system
- Manage cash and credit card transactions
- Answer customer’s menu questions and explain menu items to them
- Collaborate with other waitresses and kitchen staff
- Efficiently deliver orders and manage tables
Key Skills:
- Cash handling
- Table setting
- Point of Sale (POS) systems
- Food safety
Waitress Resume Example #2 – Inspired by this Resume Sample
Jessica Green
Cocktail Waitress
Contact:
4344 Rover Road
Pittsburgh, PA 23423
Phone: 555-222-2222
Email: Jessica@Green.com
Mission Statement:
Determined and energetic waitress with over 6 years of experience in waitressing and delivering high-quality customer service. Progressed from a fast-food waitress to a cocktail waitress in a luxury restaurant. Known for efficient multitasking, acting friendly, and providing excellent customer service. Seeking to contribute my unique skills and abilities to enhance the dining experience of customers.
Education:
Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality Management
Fall 2018 to Summer 2022 – Pittsburgh State College
Work Experience:
Cocktail Waitress
VIP Lounge & Restaurant / Pittsburgh, PA
(Fall 2022 to Present)
- Greet guests with a friendly demeanor and show them to their tables
- Make personalized cocktail recommendations to guests
- Maintain a professional appearance to align with the upscale environment
- Serve VIP guests with knowledge and expertise when delivering drink orders
Key Skills:
- Alcoholic beverages
- Bartending
- POS systems
- Cash handling
- Cocktail preparation / Mixology