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According to Study.com, approximately 2.5 million job positions were occupied by servers, in which, part-time employment was common. Server jobs are predicted to grow opto 3% in the next six years.
Creating a Server resume can be hard.
We know this because we have had hundreds of clients who had a lot of questions on what skills and achievements to showcase in their Server resume.
Thanks to our reasearch, our experts have finally nailed the art of creating the perfect server resume with details on resume sections including the objective, summary, experience, skills, achievements, etc.
Moreover, be it a fine dining server resume or a sushi server resume, we have collated all the answers in this in-depth guide along with real restaurant server resume examples.
After reading our 2022 Guide on Restaurant Server Resume, you'll be able to answer:
- What should a server put on resume?
- Identify the right skills to put in your food server resume key skills section.
- How to make a server resume with no experience?
- How to craft server resume summary section?
- How to create the professional experience section?
When it comes to qualification for this position, a degree is not required as the employees are taught in the training process itself about the nuances of this profile. However, those who want to pursue a degree for this field can opt for a degree program in food services or restaurant operations.
Server Job Description For Server Resume
To create a professional server resume, you need to first understand the job description for a server. The server job description for the server resume includes the following:
- Answering the customer's questions related to the special item of the day, ingredients used, and food preparation in case of daily changing menus.
- Processing Payments
- Cleaning dining area and tables
- Greeting customers
- Setting tables
- Solving customers problems and complaints
- Keeping kitchen staff informed on meal progression by noting the time
- Refilling food and water glasses
- Being attentive towards special needs of the customers
- Give proper information about menu over phone orders and provide an accurate estimated delivery time
What should a Server put on Resume?
An ideal server resume should have the following sections, these can be edited based on your qualifications and job requirements.
- Header
- Personal Information
- Title
- Summary
- Key Skills
- Professional Experience
- Education
- Certifications
- Awards and Recognition
- Languages
Hiration Pro-Tip: Use the reverse chronological order to write your restaurant server resume. In this format of server resume making, the most recent information in terms of date is written first. Then the second most recent and so on.
Writing Server Resume Header
So, now you must be thinking: What is a restaurant server resume header?
The header is the very first section in the server resume. This section consists of only one thing, and that is your name. Are you wondering what is so important about this section?
It is important because it differentiates your restaurant server resume from other server resumes. The header should be the largest text in your resume. The ideal point size for writing the header is between 14-16 font size. And of the most important things in the header is the correct spacing in the name.
People with a middle name tend to make the most errors while writing the header. So, here's the correct way to write it: 'Justin R. Timberlake'. Write only the first initial of your name and then put a full-stop after it.
Server Resume Header Sample
Personal Information Section In Your Server Resume
The section of personal information comes second in the server resume. It includes your personal information like your personal mobile number, your personal e-mail ID along with the current location of residence.
Personal Mobile Number
- Write only one number which you're available on 24x7
- Add the International Subscriber Dialing (ISD) code of your country followed by a plus sign (+)
- Give a single space after the ISD code and then write your mobile number
- Then within the mobile number, give a single space after the first five digits
Personal E-mail ID
The second thing to write in your include in this section is the e-mail ID.
Do not write e-mail ID names like 'cutecathy@xyz.com' as they are taken to be very unprofessional. So, make sure you use an e-mail ID name that is professional and at the same time ideal for writing in a server resume.
For example: 'justin@xyz.com' looks professional and is suitable to be included in a restaurant server resume.
You can also provide hyperlinks to other social media sites at this point, but only if they are relevant to your profile and are on the same page in terms of information.
They should be updated properly with the information regarding your professional experience, and this implies especially for professional social media sites like LinkedIn.
Hiration Pro-Tip: When providing links to your social media handles, do not write the whole link. Just give the hyperlink for them.
Also, if you have any portfolios and personal websites, then you can provide their hyperlink as well in the professional information section.
Current Location
The third thing to include in the personal information section is the current location.
If you're living in a city that's not your home town, then write the current location where you're living and not the city which is your home town.
Do not write the complete address as again, it will take up unnecessary space in the server resume and at the same time.
Server Resume Sample for Personal Information Section
Also Read: Things to avoid while writing the contact information section
Customizing Server Resume Profile Title
To let the recruiter know for which profile you're applying for, adding a profile title is important.
For example: Restaurant Server, Cocktail Server, Senior Restaurant Server, etc.
It is of utmost importance to write the profile title so that as soon as the recruiter sees your server resume, he's able to make the decision of whether or not to read your restaurant server resume further.
Profile Title of Server Resume
Server Resume Professional Experience Section
The server resume professional experience section exhibits the work experience that a professional has had as a server.
This section is of utmost importance for those people who have an extensive work history as a server.
Use the following steps while writing your server resume:
- STAR format
- Create one liner points starting with power verbs and cause & effect
- Grouping similar points under one subheading & highlighting important phrases
We'll display two samples, one with all of the above mentioned steps and one without and you be the judge:
Example 1:
Providing delightful food & beverage and responsible for taking orders. Working on versatile shifts. Adept at anticipating and delivering. Managing customer reservations. Recommending alternatives and up selling items. Training new junior servers
Example 2:
Customer Service
- Providing delightful food & beverage services to 100+ customers every day and responsible for taking orders from multiple tables
- Recommending alternatives for up selling while successfully up selling items worth an average of $ 1,000 per week
- Adept at anticipating and delivering on the requirements of the customers
Miscellaneous
- Managing 150+ customer reservations and bookings every week
- Working on versatile shifts including on holidays, weekends etc.
- Training new junior servers who join the restaurant and trained a total of 15 servers till date
Professional Experience Section Sample for Server Resume
Server Resume: No Experience?
If you are a fresher in the field of serving then worry no more. We're here to tell you how to make the server resume for a fresher.
In a restaurant server resume for freshers, the professional experience section will be replaced by the certifications section. They will write the certifications section instead of a professional experience section.
Writing certifications in a fresher resume for server adds value to your server resume. These certifications can be in the area of food protection management, food handling or alcohol serving.
The following needs to be mentioned in the certifications section:
- Certification Name
- Affiliating Institution
- Institution Location
- Dates of enrolling and competition of course
Use the below given format to write this section:
{Certification Name} | {Affiliating Institution} | {Location} | {Date (in mm/yy)}
For those people who have prior experience as a server, the certification section will come after the education section.
Also Read: How to add certifications to resume?
To get more clarity on how to write this section, look at the below-given restaurant server resume example.
Server Resume Education Section
The education section contains all the details related to your qualification, like the courses you did, the name of the institutions, their locations, dates of enrollment and graduation and the CGPA acquired.
Use the below given format to write this section:
{Name of the University/School} | {Location} | {Dates (in mm/yy format)} |
{Name of the Degree}
{CGPA}
All the information in this section needs to be true as the recruiter decides on the basis of this section whether you are qualified for the position you've applied for or not.
Education Section for Server Resume
Server Resume Awards And Recognition Section
In the awards and recognition section, you will write all the relevant and important awards that you got in your previous work engagements, college or school.
Refrain from writing awards and recognition like 'Best Handwriting' and 'Best Student'. These are not value adding awards and recognition and at the same time, they do not fit well in a professional restaurant server resume.
Use the below-given format to write the awards and recognition section.
{Name of the award}| {Award giving Institution} | {Date of getting the award}
Server Resume Languages Section
Language is another very important aspect of the working of a server. Many servers do language courses in order to cater to foreign customers.
Knowing a second language always works as a benefit for the servers as by knowing how to speak a second language they can serve and provide a better customer experience to the customers who don't know the regional language of the place.
In this section, mention all the languages that you speak and are fluent at. There is also a specific way to write this section. A bullet will come before each language name. For example:
- English
- French
- Spanish
All the languages should come in just one line and not more. This will help make your restaurant server resume stay within one page and won't take up unnecessary space.
Server Skills To Put On A Resume
This is the fourth section of the server resume but it is the second last section to be written.
Writing it at this stage will give you more skills to include in your restaurant server resume key skills section than writing it at the starting of server resume making stages.
Here is a list of skills you can add to your server resume:
- Customer Servicing
- Order Processing
- Up-Selling
- Issue Resolution
- Compliance with Industry Standards
- Training
Read On: How to add skills to your resume?
Key Skills Section Sample for Server Resume
To get a clear understanding of how to make this section, look at the below-given sample.
Personalizing Server Resume Summary Section
This section is written in the end. Writing it at the end is the best way to optimize your summary as you can go through the rest of your server resume to pick out the points that are the highlight of your career to put in the summary section.
In the summary section, write what you can do for the company by utilizing your skills and not what you expect from the company.
Look at the below-given sample to get an idea of how to optimize your summary section.
Server Resume Objective Section
The server resume objective section is for the freshers whereas a summary section is for those professionals who already have experience in this field. Just like the summary section, you will also write this section at the very end, after you're done making the rest of your server resume.
By doing so, you can scan the rest of your restaurant server resume to pick out valuable points to include in the server resume objective section. When writing these points in the server resume objective section don't write them as it is. Rephrase them a little and then write them. By doing so, your efforts of making a server resume will clearly reflect in the server resume objective section.
Hiration Pro-Tip: Your Summary/Objective section should be written in 3-4 lines and in a paragraph form. Not in bullet points.
Server Sample Resume
In order to get more clarity on how to make a server resume and how it should ideally look like, see the restaurant server resume sample given below:
- Providing delightful food & beverage services to 100+ customers every day; Responsible for taking orders from multiple tables
- Recommending alternatives for up selling; successfully up selling items worth an average of $ 1,000 per week
- Adept at anticipating and delivering on the requirements of the customers
- Gained a thorough knowledge of food and beverages (alcoholic & non-alcoholic) menu
- Ensuring that the highest quality of customer service is delivered and the customer experience is made memorable
- Managing 150+ customer reservations and bookings every week
- Working on versatile shifts including on holidays, weekends etc.
- Training new junior servers who join the restaurant; trained a total of 15 servers till date
- Ensuring 100% compliance with the health and safety procedures of the steakhouse chain
- Assisting in backend kitchen operations including supply management, negotiations with vendors etc.
- Took orders from and served food, wines and beverages to 50+ customers every day
- Gained a comprehensive understanding of the exquisite food and bar menu with 500+ options
- Coordinated with the chefs to continuously improve the menu as per the feedback of the guests
- Ensured the utmost cleanliness and hygiene of the dining area
- CGPA: 3.5/4
- Successfully completed IV levels of certification in Hospitality Management and Customer Service from the International Institute of Hotel Management, NYC, ’14 – ‘16
Server Resume Tips
- Do not include full stops in your server resume except for the summary/objective section.
- Write “by deploying” or “via”, however applicable, instead of “using” in professional experience section.
- Make sure your restaurant server resume points don't exceed the limit of one line. All your points should be one-liner bullet points.
- In case any of your points exceed the limit of one line, split them into two points of make sub-points.
- Highlight all the important words, phrases and numbers throughout your server resume.
- Write a one-line description of all the restaurants where you've worked beneath the designation to give information about that restaurant to the recruiter as there are chances that the recruiter might not have heard of that restaurant before.
- Bold all the buckets that you make in your professional experience section.
- Dates should be written in mm/yy format throughout the restaurant server resume.
- Also, make sure that the font that you are using to make the server resume is consistent throughout the restaurant server resume.
Go to Hiration Online Resume Builder and create a professional resume for yourself. Additionally, reach out to us at support@hiration.com and you can get 24/7 professional assistance with all your job & career-related queries.