McDonald’s Resume: Sample and Writing Guide [20+ Examples]

You need a resume for McDonald's—all premium and no dollar menu business.

Why?

McDonald's is a corporation that serves millions of customers in over 100 countries. According to Forbes, McDonald's is the world’s fourth-largest private employer. 

This isn’t the time to be complacent. You’ve got to stand out.

We’ll show you how to supersize your McDonald’s resume.

This guide will show you:

• A McDonald's resume example better than 9 out of 10 other resumes.
• How to write a McDonald's resume that will land you more interviews.
• Tips and examples of how to put skills and achievements on a McDonald's resume.
• How to describe your experience on your resume to get the McDonald's job you want.

Here's a McDonald's crew member resume sample made using our resume builder.

Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.

Sample McDonald's resume—See more templates and create your resume here.

Looking for resume guides for other restaurant and entry-level jobs? Check out our guides:

• Fast Food Resume
• Food Service Resume
• Line Cook Resume
• Restaurant Resume
• Server Resume
• Barista Resume
• Bartender Resume
• Barback Resume
• Waitress Resume
• Waiter Resume

And if you’re wondering how to add a McDonald’s part-time gig to your resume, check out this guide: Career Change Resume: Sample & Guide

1

What’s the Best Format for a McDonald's Resume?

For a McDonald's crew member resume or a McDonald's cashier resume the story is the same.

You need a format as classic as two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions—on a sesame seed bun.

It’s the reverse-chronological format.

It’s simple, put your most recent work experience first then work back from there. It’s easy to read and it’s the format most employers are familiar with. 

A McDonald's manager barely has the time to scan a resume before the lunchtime rush hits.

Good formatting means every second will count.

Use white space in your resume for ease of reading. It frames your text like a soft burger bun wraps the delicious filling inside.

Then make the resume as easy to read as a drive through menu with clear section headings.

McDonald’s Resume Sections

• Summary or objective
• Experience
• Education
• Skills
• Extra Sections

And don’t forget to include your contact details.

How about file format? We recommend PDF. It keeps your resume layout as crisp as a fresh batch of fries. But always save in an alternative format too, just in case you’re asked not to submit in PDF.

Pro Tip: The right resume font is crucial. Calibri is an excellent default choice. It’s professional and super easy to read.

How about how to create a resume with a different format? See our guide: Formatting a Resume: How to Structure a Resume for Greatest Impact

A resume summary or objective is the short paragraph that kicks off your resume. Remember our busy McDonald's manager?

This is make or break for them. Get it right and they keep reading. Get it wrong and it goes in the trash with that stale sausage and egg McMuffin.

Use a resume summary if you’ve got some relevant work experience in the food service industry. Add a numbered achievement or two and show that you’re the perfect fit for this particular position.

Let’s look at samples for a McDonald's manager resume summary.

McDonald's Resume Sample Summary

The difference is like a Whopper compared to a Big Mac. 

The right example kills it with impressive experience and a special sauce of achievements.

The wrong one is just a list of duties with nothing to back it up. 

What if you don’t have much professional experience?

We get it. In many cases, this is an entry-level job. 

If this is your case, write a resume objective. In it, mention your 2–3 top skills and explain exactly how you’re going to help the McDonald’s manager meet their goals.

Here are samples for a McDonald's crew member resume.

McDonald's Resume Sample Objective

Nice. This applicant shows they’ve got the basic skills and attitude to prove themselves on the job.

This is pointless. We all love McDonald's and nobody cares about your pile of future plastic pollution.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building your resume here.

Create my resume now

When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

Want more advice on creating a McDonald's resume objective or summary? Our expert guides are here to help: Summary Statements for a Resume: Best Examples and Resume Objective: Examples and Top Guide

3

How to Describe Your Experience on a McDonald’s resume

As with any job, practice makes perfect. Experience can still be a deciding factor on a McDonald's resume. A well-written work history section can show the hiring manager you’re a McRib among cheeseburgers.

So—

List your positions in the reverse-chronological order, starting with your current job first. For each position, list job title, company name, location, and employment dates. Just like in the example below:

McDonald’s Crew Member Job Description for a Resume

The right way to do it is to list responsibilities and then back them up with measurable achievements. 

Pro Tip: Don’t go overboard with pretentious descriptions of your duties. It might seem clever to say you ‘contributed to corporate profitability by leveraging strategic upselling strategies.’ But really, you just asked people if they wanted to supersize. Hiring managers will see right through it.

What if you haven’t got any experience at McDonald’s? Think of work experience you do have and make it relevant to McDonald's. Just like in the example below:

McDonald's Crew Member Resume Sample Without Experience

This is perfect for a McDonald’s cashier resume. The experience is directly relevant even though it isn’t specifically from McDonald's.

The key?

You just need to tailor your resume to the job description. The recipe is simple. Read the job ad. Note the key skills and duties. Then season your resume well with achievements that prove you can crush those skills and duties.

Pro Tip: Use power words in your resume. They’re like the natural beef flavor that makes McDonald’s fries so darn tasty. They’ll lift your resume from plain potato to addictively delicious. Help yourself to a large serving in our guide: 240 Resume Words: Action Verbs, Power Words, Adjectives, Buzzwords

If you’ve got no experience at all then we can help, too. Check out our guide: Little to No Work Experience? Here's How to Write a Resume

We know. A McDonald's job doesn’t need a Ph.D. from Princeton.

But—

You need to include it, especially if you want to move up the ladder.

Here’s how to format it right.

Your McDonald's Manager Resume—Education

Only got a high school diploma? List it like this:

Want to know more ways of listing your education on a resume? Take a look at our guide: Best Examples for the Resume Education Section

We’ve just discussed your experience and education so what comes next? 

Skills.

Through experience, you learn skills. The two go together like McNuggets and tangy barbecue sauce.

The hiring manager wants to know what you can do and how well you can do it.

The best place to start is with a list of soft skills and hard skills. What’s the difference?

Soft skills are learned through life experience. Think adaptability and people skills.

Hard skills are specific abilities you learn on the job. Like operating a cash register and point of sale equipment.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

McDonald’s Skills for a Resume

• Point-of-sale system and PAR software
• Store inventory
• Operating deep fryer
• Operating automated beverage system
• Operating clamshell grill

• Verbal communication
• Time management 
• Self-motivation
• Teamwork
• Ability to work under pressure

• Project Management
• Foreign Languages
• Fund Raising
• Presentation Skills

• Problem Solving Skills
• Organizational Skills
• Stress Management
• Decision-Making Abilities

Next, you’ve got to match your skills to the job description. 

Let’s work with a McDonald’s crew trainer job description resume as our example.

Crew trainer responsibilities: 

• Training crew members for day-to-day work 
• Serving customers 
• Preparing food 
• Keeping restaurants and kitchens clean and tidy
• Working well as part of a team
• Assessing crew members' skills and offering them extra help with any tasks they may have problems with.

Read that description. It’s taken from a real job advertisement. Extract the skills and you’re set.

Sample McDonald’s Resume Skills List

The first example? These skills are exactly what a good crew trainer needs to succeed.

We’ve got even more information on listing skills in our expert guide: Most Sought-After Job Skills to Boost Your Resume in 2019

6. Add Extra Sections to Your McDonald’s Resume

If you’re going for an entry-level job, chances are you don’t need fancy extra resume sections. Or do you?

Try a hobbies section. It’s as underrated as a Filet-O-Fish but use it right and it’ll give you the edge above other candidates.

McDonald’s Resume Examples—Hobbies

This one is a little harder to spot the difference. The right example though demonstrates more than just a love of baseball.

Team sports, you’re a team player. Coaching i.e. mentoring, you communicate well with others and have leadership skills.

What you’ve done there is show off skills that would make you a good employee. Smart move.

A languages section could help, too.

Think outside the box. There are more than 40 million people in the USA who speak Spanish at home. Are you one of them?

If you live in an area with a high concentration of Spanish speakers then this could be a valuable addition to your resume.

McDonald’s Manager Resume Examples—Languages

To learn more about putting language skills on your resume, check out our guide: How to Put Language Proficiency Levels on a Resume

7. Do You Need a Cover Letter For a McDonald's Resume?

Is it really a Big Mac without the special sauce? No way.

And your McDonald's resume isn’t complete without a cover letter.

Don’t believe the hype. Cover letters aren’t dead and 53% of employers still expect one.

And a good cover letter gets the hiring manager’s attention and sets them up for your perfect resume.

Keep it nice and simple. Explain why you’re eager to have the job and sell your skills and work ethic.

You can find out more with our cover letter tips. Then check out our guide that will tell you exactly what to include in a cover letter.

Pro Tip: Find out the name of the hiring manager and address your cover letter to them. This personal touch gives your application an added boost.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

See more cover letter templates and start writing.

8

How to Make McDonald's Look Good on A Resume

What do Jeff Bezos, P!nk, Shania Twain, Paul Ryan, and Fred Durst have in common?

They all worked for McDonald's.

Former CEO of McDonald's, Jim Skinner, began work as a regular restaurant employee. A significant proportion of its top managers took the same route.

As for more than 1000 of its franchise owners. They started behind the counter too.

There’s no need to be ashamed of having McDonald's on your resume. In this bonus section, we’ll show you how to make a McDonald’s crew member job description for resume look good.

As we said earlier. Don’t exaggerate or stretch the truth. It won’t work.

Instead, look at the job description for the role you’re applying for. Then think about the transferable skills that could apply.

Here are some ideas:

• Ability to work under pressure. A McDonald’s packed with hungry customers is an incredibly demanding environment.
• Time management. Mention how you’d use quieter periods productively to clean and restock. Bonus points for saying you did so without supervision. That shows initiative.
• Team work. At McDonald’s everyone pitches in to help. The emphasis is on getting the job done.

These sorts of soft skills are exactly what employers are looking for.

In fact, a 2016 study showed that 93% of employers consider soft skills as “essential” or “very important” when hiring.

McDonald’s work experience is respected by many employers. It shows work ethic, customer service skills, persistence, and perseverance.

So put it on your resume and make it work to your advantage.

Key Takeaways

There’s no need to treat your McDonald’s resume like junk food. Do it right and make getting that job as easy as McDonald's apple pie.

Here’s the happy meal sized version as a reminder:

• Make a killer first impression with a snappy McDonald’s resume objective or summary.
• Supersize your experience section to show you’ve got what it takes.
• Don’t forget your education, especially on a McDonald’s manager resume.
• Include a focussed skill section. Match it to the job description.
• Try out a hobbies section for added impact.
• Write a McDonald’s cover letter to stand out from the crowd.

Want to upsize your resume order? Don’t know how to add your McDonald’s experience to your resume? Ask away in the comments section. We’ll be happy to help!