

No more napping in the break room. It’s time you served the best server resume out there. With this guide, it’ll be ready on the fly.
Oops.
Your resume has gone dead. It’s been waiting too long for my article.
Read this server resume and make sure this time recruiters won’t miss it.
This guide will show you:
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Elizabeth Strauss
Server
elizabeth.strauss@email.com
519-771-8285
Summary
Detail-minded bilingual server with a principal focus on customer experience and satisfaction through first-class service and communication. In 2019, awarded the Server of the Year award for maintaining impeccable customer service and creating a welcoming environment for our guests. Ready to take on the role of a Fine Dining Server and cater to the needs of La Baguette’s dining guests.
Work Experience
Server
Hotel Harriet, Toronto, ON
July 2016–July 2019
Key achievement: Received the Server of the Year 2019 Award for ensuring exceptional customer service and creating a welcoming environment for the diners.
Barista
Sunshine Café, Toronto, ON
March 2012–June 2015
Education
Bachelor of Management
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2012–2016
Skills
Languages
Additional Activities
This is how to write a job-winning server resume:
Before you invite your diners to the table, you need to set it first. And here’s the exact same.
Let’s see how to format your restaurant server resume before you start serving your achievements up on a plate:
Splendid!
Now you’re ready to invite your guests to the table.
Get the entire recipe on how to make the most tasteful resume out there: How to Make a Resume
No recruiter wants to read a resume that’s packed full of responsibilities. It’s as if you served them a dried-out steak. Not the best customer experience, trust me. And it can’t be comped.
Instead, you should double down on your scrumptious professional achievements and make recruiters’ mouths water.
Let’s see examples of work experience sections just like that:
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Experience
Server Hotel Harriet, Toronto, ON July 2016–July 2019
Key achievement: Received the Server of the Year 2019 Award for ensuring exceptional customer service and creating a welcoming environment for the diners. |
And now the opposite:
WRONG |
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Hotel Harriet Server July 2016–July 2019
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Do you know those two belong to the same person?
Ouch.
They must have had a lot on their plate to write such a sloppy and irrelevant experience the second time.
The right example proves you have all it takes to take on new challenges with the action verbs (suggested, trained, focused, memorized) and numbers (97%, 3 servers, 25 menu items). At the same time, the other one is just a boring salad on the side with responsibilities as a poor refreshment.
So, you see, even though you have experience, you still can write a poor experience section anyway.
Now, how about the inexperienced candidates writing a server resume?
You, too, should focus on your accomplishments. But you’ll say that you don’t have anything relevant to write about. And you’re wrong!
Just because you didn’t have a job as a server specifically, it doesn’t mean you never performed shared activities.
See the below example:
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Experience
Barista Sunshine Cafe, Toronto, ON March 2012– June 2015
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WRONG |
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Barista Sunshine Cafe, Toronto, ON March 2012– June 2015
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Welcoming guests, memorizing menu items, promotion? It all sounds familiar, doesn’t it? wink
So now you know not to rush through the task, but to think and carefully craft your server resume with relevant achievements in mind.
Here’s what else you should do to write a successful server resume:
When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.
You can eat from a simple plate laid out just like that. It’s fine. But when the silverware shines the brightest, the meal just tastes better.
So whenever you’re polishing your server resume, don’t forget about the education section. It’s part of the resumeware.
Follow along to see the education section example:
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Education
Bachelor of Management University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC 2012—2016
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To achieve a result like the one above, mind these simple rules:
You turn the tables like no other and memorize the menu like chefs memorize recipes. You know whose table to wax and how to roll the silverware. There’s no one like you.
And that’s delightful. But, me and you, we can’t be the only ones to know it. You need to make recruiters realize that, too.
So create a skills section that sells.
Here are examples of server skills you can pick for your resume:
Now, if you were to make a selection, it might look something like this:
Skills
Before you copy and paste this onto your resume, remember that this section requires tailoring as well. You don’t want to shoot random skills at recruiters.
Refer to the job ad and make an informed decision about which skills to pick. Creating a list and then crosschecking it with the employer’s requirements works best, and it’s the easiest way to ensure a match.
Who doesn’t appreciate a supersized meal?
Well, recruiters love it, especially if it has to do with the qualifications or qualities they need in a candidate.
So another way to make sure you two are a match is to include an additional portion of the information on your server resume.
Depending on the province or territory, you may be required to obtain a licence for serving food and liquor. As for certification, always make room to include relevant diplomas or certificates proving your skill. You may even get better pay; such things don’t go unnoticed.
Inexperienced candidates gather around! Have you done some volunteer work? Include it as a separate section or under the experience. Just remember to highlight the skills needed for the job.
Tourists are everywhere, and as a restaurant or banquet server, you’ll be the one talking to them. Let the employer know you speak more than one language and get yourself some bonus points.
If you thought hobbies and interests on a resume were redundant, you were wrong. They’re low-hanging fruit for which you can get rewarded, provided that your hobbies help you grow your skill set or build knowledge related to food and beverage.
Now have a look at how to write additional sections in your resume:
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Languages
Additional Activities
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It’s time for the last course.
As a runner, you know how to push it, so use that skill to pepper the experience and skill onto one more section on your resume. Depending on how much relevant experience you have as a food server, it'll be a resume summary or an objective.
A resume summary is a short introduction at the top of your resume that describes your experience and skill set. As with introductions, they need to make an impression to be remembered. So here’s what you can do to make your food server resume memorable:
Check the below examples to see good and lousy server resume summaries:
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Summary
Detail-minded bilingual server with a principal focus on customer experience and satisfaction through first-class service and communication. In 2019, awarded the Server of the Year award for maintaining impeccable customer service and creating a welcoming environment for our guests. Ready to take on the role of a Fine Dining Server and cater to the needs of La Baguette’s dining guests. |
WRONG |
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Server looking for the chance to join the La Baguette team. Always taking customers’ orders with a big smile to create a pleasant experience. At Hotel Harriet I won a prize for being the server of the year. |
The bad example is mashed-potatoes-kind of bland. It says nothing about the value added to your application and uses almost no keywords required for the ATS to let you pass the scanning.
Now, let’s speak of a resume objective: a brief statement about your goals towards joining a company.
You should know, though, it’s not about you. You need to tickle the employer’s taste buds with your objectives aligned with their plans for the position.
Take a look at the below example to see what a resume objective is:
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Objective
Focused barista seeking an opportunity as a server at Salad Town to thrive in a fast-paced environment through attention to detail, excellent memory, and friendly demeanour. At Sunshine Cafe, promoted and recommended custom coffee drinks, increasing loyalty base through personalized experience by 6%. |
WRONG |
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Barista with a year of experience in customer service. Seeking an opportunity as a server at Your Diner. |
Yummy.
The right example is a perfect combination of one’s transferable skills that have the potential to grow into a relevant experience. The other, however, is just a boring statement of fact, not giving away any insights into one’s capabilities or personality.
Ah! Don’t be a one-star.
Recruiters tend to turn down applications without a cover letter, so stop finding reasons to get out of writing it.
It’s your chance to add personality to your application, which you can’t achieve so easily with a resume alone since it’s solely fact-based.
Without further ado, let’s get down to writing a cover letter. Here are the basic rules:
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.
Here’s how to write a server resume step by step:
And that’s it. Check, please!
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Let me know. Let’s get the discussion started!
You’re done with high schooling, but yet again, you’ve got to hit the books and learn how to write a high school student resume. No worries. You’ll pass with flying colours.
Before you get to satisfy customers, you need to impress hiring managers with a customer service cover letter that shows you’re the hero customers deserve. Here’s how to write it.
Sweep employers off their feet with a cleaner resume that lets your strengths shine like a freshly polished chrome doorknob.