
50+ Best CV Tips, Writing Advice, Dos & Don'ts, and More
Writing a CV is hard work, but with our best CV tips and advice, it's a piece of cake. Here are over 50 of our professional CV dos and don'ts, along with CV mistakes to avoid.
You’ve got table waiting skills, a friendly demeanour, and an impressive background. Show the restaurant manager and score an interview with the perfect waiter or waitress CV.
From serving adorable couples at two-tops to troublesome parties of seven, you’re the best waitperson they could hire.
Thing is, they don’t yet know it.
You need a waiter or waitress CV that shows you’re a catch as rare as a Matchello's steak still mooing.
Want that job? No prob—
In this guide:
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Jasmine Young
Restaurant Waitress
jasmine.young@gmail.com
079 4272 6328
linkedin.com/in/jasmineyoung
Summary of Qualifications
Friendly waitress with 2+ years experience at busy restaurants in Centre City. Skilled at serving large parties, adept at pushing menu specials, and educated on extensive French and Italian wine list and proper pairing recommendations. Capable of serving 30+ tables and 120+ dining guests in a single shift. Seeking to leverage knowledge of fine dining and Central European fare to become the next waitress at Fiorello’s Restaurant.
Work Experience
Restaurant Waitress
Luigi’s on Littman St.
May 2018–July 2019
Key Qualifications & Responsibilities
Key Achievement
Restaurant Waitress & Hostess
Quentin’s Restaurant, Pub and Grill
March 2017–April 2018
Key Qualifications & Responsibilities
Key Achievement
Education
BA (Hons) Hospitality Management
University of East London
Expected Graduation: 2022
Relevant Course Review: Dining Room and Bar Management, Hospitality Industry Managerial Accounting, Food Operation Management, Food & Beverage Operations, Hospitality and Tourism Operations, Restaurant Business Fundamentals, Food Service Industry Laws & Ethics.
A levels: English Literature, French, Media Studies.
Woodside High School
2013—2015
Key Skills
Certifications
Memberships
Languages
Now—
Here’s how to write a waiter CV or waitress CV of your own:
Like any eatery about to open for dinner, you have to prep things on your CV before you begin to write.
It needs to be as organised as a kitchen on the brigade system.
So—
This is how to format a waitress CV template:
Make sure your CV has an eye-catching design. Know what to include and what to leave out, and don’t cram a tonne of tiny print in there or push out the margins to the edge just to fit it on one page. While what you say on your CV is paramount, how you format and design your CV can make a big difference, too.
Expert Hint: Save your CV as a PDF. The PDF format can be read on any device the restaurant manager views it on, unlike a Microsoft Word doc, which sometimes looks funny on certain screens.
When a dinner guest firsts walks into a dining establishment, the restaurant hopes to set the tone with appropriate lighting, scrumptious smells wafting from the kitchen, and a pleasant ambience.
The CV heading statement, an objective or summary, has to do the same thing—lure the employer in rather than turning them away.
But which introduction paragraph do you choose?
If you have years of restaurant serving experience, choose the CV summary.
The summary statement whets their appetite with a quick recap of your waitstaff experience and server skills. It adds a cherry on top by offering up a number or two to quantify your achievements.
Here’s how to write a waitress or waiter CV summary:
This first one comes from a CV personalised to one specific job offer, and that’s a key attribute of interview-winning CVs. On top of that, it offers up examples of just how good this person is as a waitress with the use of numbers.
But—
When you have little or no serving experience, use the CV objective.
The objective statement talks up any unrelated experience you have and transferable skills to make the case that you’d be better than any of the other waiters applying for the job. It then states your career goals at the restaurant or other establishment.
It also includes a numbered accomplishment to prove your talent.
Here’s how to write a waitress CV objective statement:
As in our previous set of examples, the first one here is tailored to the job and uses transferable skills to show how their earlier job sets them up for success as a waiter. Also, here we used achievements, in the form of the awards, to immediately be their top candidate.
Expert Hint: Write this CV profile statement when you finish all the other parts of your CV, even though it is positioned at the very top. This way, you’ll have a clearer image of the best items to talk about for maximum impact.
Think of your CV as a many-course meal, each course being a particular CV section.
In that case, you’ve just come to the main dish—
The waiter or waitress work history section.
Here’s how to describe previous waiter duties on a CV for waiter jobs:
Now, here are waiter or waitress CV examples of job descriptions:
Restaurant Waiter Luigi’s on Littman St. May 2018–July 2019 Key Qualifications & Responsibilities Key Achievement Restaurant Server Luigi’s on Littman St. May 2018–July 2019 Restaurant Job Responsibilities:
How about that?
If you compare the first example with the second one, you’ll easily see what makes one far more palatable than the other. In the good example, we spelled out waiter duties in detail, removed any obvious ones, and added quantifiable achievements.
One’s medium well, while the other is well done.
Another thing to keep in mind—
Many larger and more modern restaurants use an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to manage the dozens of server job applications they receive each day.
An ATS helps the employer screen large amounts of CVs for waitresses and waiters by digitally scanning them for particular CV keywords.
And, if your waiter or waitress CV lacks a keyword, it could mean you’re 86’d right out of the candidate pool.
How to find the right keywords to use on a CV for waitresses and waiters?
Go back to the job ad.
The original job description tells you exactly the kind of applicant this restaurant is searching for. Look at the job responsibilities section of the advertisement, in particular. If you’re having doubts about how to phrase such-and-such, use the wording from the ad to be on the safe side.
After a waiter or waitress description for CVs, it’s time to list the perfect CV skills to pair alongside.
You need to portray yourself in a way that gets attention.
That’s where a server skills list comes in.
Here is a list of sample waitress and waiter CV skills:
Don’t just pick any server skill you think of and add it to your CV. Remember to tailor it to this one waiter job by looking at the job ad.
Use the job responsibilities section to understand the kind of waitress they’re looking for. If you are blessed with a skill they value, add that to your restaurant server or cocktail waitress CV.
The ResumeLab builder is more than looks. Get specific content to boost your chances of getting the job. Add job descriptions, bullet points, and skills. Easy. Improve your CV in our CV builder now.
Nail it all with a splash of colour, choose a clean font, highlight your skills in just a few clicks. You’re the perfect candidate and we’ll prove it. Use the ResumeLab builder now.
Expert Hint: Always add a healthy mixture of both hard skills (those you can build, such as knowing how to use the POS) and soft skills (those you develop through life, such as communication skills).
Not adding your education correctly on CVs for waitress jobs is a quick way for you to be removed from their “specials” board.
Since you don’t want that—
Here’s how an academic entry should appear on your CV for waitressing:
BA (Hons) Hospitality Management University of East London Expected Graduation: 2022 Relevant Course Review: Dining Room and Bar Management, Hospitality Industry Managerial Accounting, Food Operation Management, Food & Beverage Operations, Hospitality and Tourism Operations, Restaurant Business Fundamentals, Food Service Industry Laws & Ethics. A levels: English Literature, French, Media Studies. Woodside High School September 2013—June 2015
To break it down, here’s what we did:
Finally, if you have completed a degree in university, don’t add high school. If you’ve never been to university or are in the middle of working on a degree, add high school as a secondary entry.
Expert Hint: Is your education more impressive than your work history so far? If you have an impressive academic section but no real-world working experience, place your education area above the employment section.
Show the restaurant manager you’re an item from the secret menu rather than any ol’ blue-plate special.
How?
By including a few additional CV sections to really impress them.
Here are some of the best extra sections you can add, followed by some prime waiter and waitress CV samples:
Double your impact with a matching CV and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter builder and make your application documents pop out.
Want to try a different look? There’s 18 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.
Expert Hint: Want to know the best side dish for any waitress or waiter CV? A waiter or waitress cover letter. How important are cover letters? More than 80% of recruiters and hiring managers prefer it.
It’s not so hard to serve up a plate of your skills, experience, and education as a mouth-watering CV.
But it’s not so hard to mess it up, either.
So, to recap—
Here’s how to write a CV for waiter and waitress jobs:
Have any questions on how to write a waitress job description CV section or how to make waitressing sound good on a CV? Need more waiter CV samples? Let’s chat below in the comment area, and thanks for reading!
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