Waiting tables isn’t as easy as it looks.

The same can be said for putting together a resume.

At least, if you want to do it right. If you want more calls and requests to interview than you know what to do with. 

The problem is, whether this is your first time serving or you’ve done your fair share of waiting tables, it’s one of the best and easiest places to start a professional career.

That’s great in terms of the job itself. 

But that means you can’t lean back on formal education or any special certification to wow recruiters.

You have to craft a resume that displays your experience and skills in a way that convinces recruiters you can handle the job. 

How do you do that? 

That’s what this guide is about. 

Let’s dive into what makes a great waiter or waitress resume, section by section, and how you can craft one that gets you noticed. 

This guide is for you whether you’re:

• Just starting out and crafting the very first professional resume of your life
• Or you’re a seasoned waiter or waitress looking to prove to recruiters that you’re the best qualified server for the job

So whether you’re new to job hunting or you’re looking for your next job in the foodservice industry, it’s time to learn how to make a delectable resume. 

What this guide will cover

In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know to craft an eye-catching waiter or waitress resume that clearly shows recruiters you have the skills and desire to serve their establishment better than anyone else.

We’ll show you:

• Templates you can use to instantly take your resume to another level
• How to format your resume so that your best qualities are the first thing recruiters will notice
• How to write an effective profile that sets the tone for the rest of your resume and impresses recruiters right out of the gate
• How to write a great waiter resume even if you have little to not experience
• And more

With how many applicants you’re fighting against for the average waiter resume, it’s easy to think you have to go overboard with the design to stand out. 

But making an eye-catching, effective design without going overboard– and ensuring recruiters throw your resume in the trash before reading a single line– isn’t easy. 

So, check out Resumebuild’s full library of high-quality, read-made resume designs and make the job of creating a resume that gets you noticed quicker and easier.

Resume templates

How to write a waiter / waitress resume that helps you stand out from the crowd

There’s writing a great resume. 

Then there’s writing a great waiter or waitress resume.

And then there’s writing a great waiter or waitress resume that’s so good, the restaurant recruiter says, “Wow, they’re perfect for the job.” 

The difference between those three things is the difference between you getting the interview (and maybe even the job)… or not. 

There are certain universal principles that go into writing a great resume. 

However, you need to do more than just put together a clear and professional objective, experience, and skills section.

You need to write those sections understanding what food establishment recruiters are looking for and how to format and word your resume in a way that shows them you’re a good fit for the job. 

So, let’s start with the first step to doing just that: how to format your resume so that your best qualities are impossible to miss.

1. How to format your resume to draw attention to your best qualities 

The presentation aspect of a great resume, your resume should be formatted in a way that makes your most attractive qualities stand out. 

Do you have extensive experience as a server? 

Do you have experience training other waiters? 

Or maybe you’re great at upsells and typically outperform the average waiter. 

Writing a great waiter resume is all about asking: How do I format my resume so that my best qualities stand out? 

Why is this so important?

Job applications are always crowded no matter the industry, but waiting tables is the 2nd most popular job in the U.S. according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

That means every job opening is going to be very, very crowded.

Your resume can’t just look like everyone else’s. That is, a block of formatting text.

Instead, it needs to help your most attractive qualities jump off the page, which will instantly help you both stand out and be memorable.

The ideal formatting for a waiter or waitress resume

The typical overarching format for a waiter resume is:

• Personal information
• Profile (objective or summary)
• Experience
• Skills
• Optional: Additional details (more on this later)

If you’re low on experience, a skills section might be better placed above experience.

However, in general, this is the best and most straightforward format for a waiter resume.

Now, let’s talk about how you would format your resume to help your best qualities, or “unique selling points” stand out. 

How to format your resume to help your best qualities stand out

There are two key elements to making your best qualities unmissable:

• Adjusting the position of elements so that the information is more prominent
• Using bold so that the recruiter’s eyes are drawn first to that information

Both strategies allow you to direct the recruiter’s attention to the information you believe will most effectively convince them to drop your resume into the interview pile. 

Let’s look at an example of positioning elements: 

WRONG

BJ’s Bar and Grill – Tampa, FL

Waitress – Jan 2016 – Present

In this example, the name of the employer stands out above everything else.

Consider this simple change:

RIGHT

Waitress

BJ’s Bar and Grill – Tampa, FL – Jan 2016 – Present

This might not seem like such a big deal, but every line they read is going to influence what they think of you. 

This becomes even more important if you have a variety of experience in the food industry, such as being a hostess or a busser. 

That way, the variety of roles– and, thereby, experience– stands out like a sore thumb, instead of just a list of previous employers. 

How to play with text to draw the recruiter’s eyes 

Next, let’s look at why playing with text with things like bold and, to a lesser extent, italics is useful in drawing a recruiter’s attention to the most convincing information on your resume.

Consider this example, a simple wall of text:

WRONG

Waiter

BJ’s Bar and Grill – Los Angeles, CA – June 2017 – Present

• Maintained wine and dessert upsells at an average of $195 a night, 30% higher than the average server
• Maintained 97% customer satisfaction rating over 2 years
• Trained 6 new hosts on how to provide the highest quality customer experience and maximize upsells
• Waited tables for a 140-seat establishment
• Answered customer questions beyond just my own tables to act in a semi-managerial capacity

Sure, the recruiter is likely to read the first point, but there’s no guarantee of that. 

What their eyes land on is up to chance, and you don’t want that. 

You want to control how they interact with your resume. 

Look at the same example with one simple change: 

RIGHT

Waiter

BJ’s Bar and Grill – Los Angeles, CA – June 2017 – Present

• Maintained wine and dessert upsells at an average of $195 a night, 30% higher than the average server

• Maintained 97% customer satisfaction rating over 2 years

• Trained 6 new hosts on how to provide the highest quality customer experience and maximize upsells
• Waited tables for a 140-seat establishment
• Answered customer questions beyond just my own tables to act in a semi-managerial capacity

All the information is in exactly the same place. However, how your eyes interact with it is entirely different.

By using bold to point out your unique achievements or skills from that previous role, you’re directing them to your most impressive points and making them more memorable. 

In the same way, you could have listed that same section out like this, burying those most notable points:

WRONG

• Trained 6 new hosts on how to provide the highest quality customer experience and maximize upsells
• Maintained 97% customer satisfaction rating over 2 years
• Waited tables for a 140-seat establishment
• Maintained wine and dessert upsells at an average of $195 a night, 30% higher than the average server
• Answered customer questions beyond just my own tables to act in a semi-managerial capacity

There are some really impressive points in that list. But many recruiters might pass up those key points altogether with the way they’re jumbled up.

Achievements are best put at the top of your experience list (if you have them) and other prominent parts of your resume. 

Plus, if you can cite something with real data, like, “Maintained wine and dessert upsells at an average of $195 a night, 30% higher than the average server,” you’ll impress recruiters in a big way. 

You can even separate your responsibilities and achievements like this to make them even harder to miss:

RIGHT

Waiter

BJ’s Bar and Grill – Los Angeles, CA – June 2017 – Present

Achievements:

• Maintained wine and dessert upsells at an average of $195 a night, 30% higher than the average server

• Maintained 97% customer satisfaction rating over 2 years

Responsibilities:

• Waited tables for a 140-seat establishment
• Bussed tables and presented menus
• Answered customer questions beyond just my own tables to act in a semi-managerial capacity
• Trained 6 new hosts on how to provide the highest quality customer experience and maximize upsells

However you choose to structure your resume, make sure you make your best qualities and most impressive selling points stand out using the abovementioned tricks. 

2. How do I know what recruiters are looking for?

What do recruiters want to see?

How can you make your resume more convincing so that your phone is ringing off the hook? 

Now that you know how to format your resume so that your unique selling points stand out, let’s talk about what skills, experience, and achievements you might want to make more prominent vs. others. 

As a waiter or waitress, your resume is centered mostly on the skills, responsibilities, and achievements you’ve acquired through previous experience. 

Preferably, in this order:

• Accomplishments within the foodservice industry
• Skills and responsibilities from previous experience within the foodservice industry
• Skills and responsibilities relevant to foodservice but from experience outside the foodservice industry

Think about it as a gradient in terms of how effective each level is at convincing a recruiter. 

The higher up on the list, the more effective the experience/skills you mention will be at convincing the recruiter you could be the right person for the job:

1. Accomplishments prove you have a certain skill to accomplish the job
2. Skills you cite within the foodservice industry strongly suggest you have what it takes to accomplish the job
3. And skills relevant to the foodservice industry but outside the industry suggest you might have what it takes

So, the more accomplishments you can mention the better. 

If you don’t have any or enough to fill your resume (not likely), list as much foodservice experience or relevant skills as you have from within the industry. 

And, if you’re just starting out, think of any and all experience relevant to the foodservice industry you acquired from another job (or other experience) and list that out.

Why?

Put yourself into the mind of the recruiter for a moment. What are they thinking as they scan your resume?

They’re thinking: “Can this person do what we need them to do? How convincing is their resume?”

By structuring the skills and experience you mention in your resume in this order, you’ll ensure that your resume will be more likely to convince them. 

Okay, that tells us what all recruiters want to see in general. But what about a specific job opening? 

How to target your resume to each application

Want to know how to find out what a recruiter is looking for? 

They already told you– it’s in their job listing.

Take a few minutes to review the listing. Look at the language they use and the skills they mentioned wanting in the “ideal candidate”.

Chances are, they mentioned a few things that you have. 

For example, this was taken straight from a real listing: 

“Has exceptional communications skills and demonstrates ability to get along well with others. Is flexible and patient when communicating with guests and staff.”

If you’re great with guests and have the proof to back it up, you could mention the customer satisfaction rating you had at your previous employer somewhere in your resume:

“Maintained 95% customer satisfaction rating over the course of my employment at Roadhouse Grill.”

If you don’t have data like that you can cite but are great with customers, you can say this:

“Consistently received warm praise and repeat visits from customers I served throughout my employment at Roadhouse Grill.”

And if you have no experience at all but you want them to know that you have good communication skills and are great with people, you could say:

“Great communication skills, easy to get along with, and patient when working with others.”

Also, some recruiters will value experience over skills or vice versa. Some specifically state wanting to see results or achievements you’ve accomplished. 

Instead of listing your experience first, you could consider listing your achievements or specific skills you have at the top of your resume. 

Like this:

RIGHT

ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Maintained 95% customer satisfaction rating while at Drum Roll
• Earned a 20% return customer rating through customer surveys, the highest of any survey while at Drum Roll

EXPERIENCE:

Waitress

Drum Roll – Seattle, WA – June 2015 – March 2017

Responsibilities:

• Acted as host by presenting menus, answering customer questions, and resolving issues
• Waited tables for a 100-seat establishment
• Handled allergy and special dietary orders

Keep in mind that you don’t need to have any special achievements to nab an interview (or the job). 

But if you do, use them.

In the next section, we’ll talk about the first of several ways to stand out when you have little to no experience. 

3. How to write a resume objective (with examples) 

At the top of every resume should be some kind of summary of your most attractive qualities.

Something that immediately hits recruiters the moment they start reading your resume. 

Not only is this valuable because it’s at the top of your resume, so it’s often the first thing they read. 

It’s also valuable because, if done right, it can be a summary of the “highlights” listed throughout your resume.

Why is that so important?

The truth is, most recruiters don’t look at your resume for more than 6-7 seconds.

Ouch.

To put salt to the wound, they’re not reading, they’re glancing. Hence, why formatting properly is so important. 

For that reason, a well-written objective or summary at the top of your resume can help ensure that you communicate the best of what you have to offer to said recruiter.

Even if they only scan through a small portion of the rest of your resume.

When it comes to the profile at the top of your resume, you have two choices:

• A summary
• Or an objective

A summary is great if you have previous experience. It’s typically a 2-4 sentence breakdown of your relevant experience.

An objective is great if you have little or not experience. It includes an explanation of your ambition or goals for the position and your career, giving them a glimpse into who you are. 

In general, you’ll want to focus more on one or the other depending on where you’re at in your career. 

For example, using a summary might be best if your experience speaks for itself.

Having said that, let’s first talk about what makes a great resume objective. 

As I mentioned earlier, an objective is one of the best tools if you have very little experience. 

So, if that’s you, read on. 

What makes a great, memorable resume objective?

The majority of a resume is centered around reporting pure facts about your experience and history.

An objective is unique, however, because it’s all about expressing who you are. 

Sure, you could mention some impressive past experience as a waiter or host, but it’s more about communicating your passion and ambition for the role.

A good objective makes the recruiter feel something about you that leaves an impression and helps you stand out. 

The great thing about that is it doesn’t matter how much experience you have, you can write a compelling objective with the right structure and wording.

A good objective generally includes 3 things:

• A short 1-2 sentence summary of your experience
• 1-Sentence summary of a key achievement or skills
• 1-Sentence statement describing your passion and interest for the position and, most importantly, what you’d like to accomplish

Let’s look at an example.

You’re applying to a job where the description specifically mentions wanting someone who is a people person with customer service experience.

Let’s say you don’t have experience as a waiter yet or in any customer service industry, but you did serve food to the homeless for the holidays over the past 3 years with some friends.

You could write:

RIGHT

Ambitious entry-level server with a patient, cheery disposition and experience serving food during charity events for the past 3 years. Looking to leverage my knowledge serving and delighting others to grow and develop as a waiter at Marriott Bonvoy. 

Now that’s an objective that would get you noticed, and definitely helps tip the scales in your favor if you don’t have any prior experience. 

Let’s look at another example.

The job post says they’re looking for someone who has experience managing a heavy serv9ce load while working as a host and occasionally bussing tables. 

Let’s say you have a bit of experience: 1 year at a local diner. 

Better than nothing, but you’re still not sure how to sell what little experience you have.

You could say:

WRONG

Waitress with 1 ½ years of experience serving tables at a local diner. Looking to leverage my experience as a server into a waitress role at your restaurant. 

Hmm… this one needs some work.

Why?

First of all, you worked at a diner. 

Chances are, you have some experience hosting and bussing tables. And some experience is enough. 

Next, if you can, you always want to personalize your objective by mentioning the company’s name at the end instead of just “your company/restaurant/hotel/etc.”

Lastly, let’s add a little more emotion. 

So, let’s try that again:

RIGHT

Waitress with 1 ½ years of experience as a server at Sid’s Kitchen. As a server, I waited tables for the 80-seat diner and often served as host to many parties and bussed tables. Looking to leverage my experience as an eager, multi-faceted server and host into a waitress role at Darryl's. 

Much better. Same role but you sold yourself far better. 

After all, if you sat new parties, took drink orders, food orders, and often cleaned up, you are a multi-faceted server. 

So, don’t sell yourself short by thinking you don’t have enough experience to write an impressive resume. 

Even if you only have one good point you can mention relevant to what the job posting said they’re looking for, that’s a point you should emphasize and sell in your objective.

4. How to write a resume summary that brings together your best qualities

While many who get into serving are putting their feet into the workforce for the first time, if you have prior experience, it can go a long way. 

With a resume summary, you can hit recruiters with the valuable skills you’ve learned in previous positions, immediately helping you stand apart from those without any experience. 

How does this differ from a resume objective?

They’re similar but the main thing is this:

• No objective
• More about your experience

Let’s look at some good and bad examples.

This one is for a senior waitress and host: 

WRONG

Waitress with 6+ years of experience as a server. Experience with waiting tables, managing payments, taking special orders, seating customers, offering recommendations, upselling, cleaning tables, and training new hosts. 

That’s pretty much just a big list of points ripped right from your experience section. 

Instead, let’s try something with a bit more intention:

RIGHT

Waitress with 6+ years of experience providing top-level customer service to diners and hotels in the Detroit Area. Experience with POS terminals, hosting, and managing orders as everything from a waitress to a host, catering assistant, and most recently senior waitress. Certified Food Handler with experience taking allergy and other special dietary orders. 

First, mentioning you have extensive experience in the area where the establishment exists is a positive because it means you know the people. 

Second, since you’re applying for a senior waitress/host position, mentioning your experience with payment terminals and managing orders sounds better than just rattling off a bunch of random skills. 

Lastly, you’ve further isolated yourself by mentioning you can handle special orders and have certification in food handling. 

That communicates that you can act in a managerial role in terms of orders, all things relevant to being a senior waitress. 

If you don’t have enough experience to craft the kind of summary that’s as compelling as this, an objective is ideal. 

However, if you have several years of experience in multiple roles, a resume summary is likely the route to go vs. an objective as your experience will help you stand apart from the pack. 

5. How to write a waiter / waitress resume with little or no experience

I know what you’re thinking...

“The objective part was useful, but I still don’t have any/much experience. Once their eyes scroll down… I’m a goner.”

It’s true that a good objective won’t typically seal the deal, but it’s a great start.

And it’s not all you can do. 

If you have 2-3 previous roles worth of experience, you’re doing really good.

Just make sure to format your resume so that your best qualities stand out and include a great summary. 

However, if you have one-to-no previous roles as a waiter or waitress, you still have options to beef up your experience section.

Let’s say this is all you have down:

WRONG

Waitress / Dec 2018 – Jan 2020

The Big Pie – NYC

• Presented menus to guests
• Waited tables
• Bussed tables

That definitely needs some work. 

First, let’s start by sprucing up those descriptions.

Try to pull from any kind of data you have, such as how many tables the establishment had or number of guests you may have sat or bussed per night.

Quantifying the work you did really helps you look more impressive and it’s an easy thing to do.

Plus, by just adding a bit more description, particularly adjectives, you can make the same description sound so much more powerful.

Let’s put those two things together and see what we get:

RIGHT

Waitress / Dec 2018 – Jan 2020

The Big Pie – NYC

• Presented menus, offered recommendations, and took drink orders from over 200 guests per night
• Waited tables and provided friendly, prompt service to customers for a 120-seat establishment
• Bussed tables in a timely and efficient manner

Not only does that look far better, you just added 2 lines to your resume to help fill in the page. 

We’re not done yet, though.

Chances are, you have 2-4 more points you can get down per previous employer to help beef up your resume further. 

At the same time, that will allow you to display a wider diversity of skills and experience. 

Let’s see what that would look like in our example:

RIGHT

Waitress / Dec 2018 – Jan 2020

The Big Pie – NYC

• Presented menus, offered recommendations, and took drink orders to over 200 guests per night

• Waited tables and provided friendly, prompt service to customers for a 120-seat establishment

• Bussed tables in a timely and efficient manner
• Implemented new menu introductions and recommendations efficiently
• Trained 3 new servers on how to provide top-level service and balance a large table load while executing effective upsale strategies
• Took additional steps to ensure allergy and other special orders were handled with care

Now that’s extensive. 

It makes you look like senior waitress material just having fleshed out the experience you gained in your one previous role. 

Plus, you just added 4 new lines to your resume. 

Even if this is the only previous experience you mention on your entire resume, it looks so impressive it won’t matter as much. 

And keep in mind: you can do this whether you need to fill out your resume with more content or not.

Writing your experience section this way simply makes your resume look more impressive.

If you have 3 or more previous employers, you might want to cut down the number of less-compelling bullet points you mention so that you can get another section of experience in. 

However, make sure you always expand each point and add adjectives to make your bullet points as persuasive as possible. 

Other duties and responsibilities you can mention 

“That’s an awesome idea, but I have no idea what else to mention.”

It’s easy to forget about all the little things you handled while serving tables.

Chances are, though, you have a ton more you can mention under the bullet points in your experience section.

Alternatively, you can also spin some of these to mention in your skills section with the right wording:

• Managed customer discrepancies efficiently
• Watched tables to make sure all customers were satisfied or needed service
• Frequently assisted other waiters and waitresses when they needed help
• Processed orders through POS terminal
• Kept the condiments station refilled
• Restocked dining area supplies including utensils, napkins, and menus
• Regularly upsold desserts to customers
• Cleaned up the restaurant during closing
• Greeted customers and seated them at their tables
• Provided customers with menus
• Managed order slips
• Provided wine recommendations
• Offered wine and food pairings
• Regularly set up dining tables and chairs for opening
• Sanitized dining area before opening
• Offered new menu recommendations and specials

And these are only some of the things you can mention to fill in your experience section.

Still not sure what to put down to flesh out your previous experience?

Take a few of the points here down that are relevant to your past experience and add them to your resume in the relevant section to show you have a wider diversity of skills as a waiter. 

What if I have absolutely no experience to mention on my resume?

“Hah!” You say. 

“I have zero experience, how could you possibly have a solution for me?” 

We’ve got you. 

Whether you’re in high school, college, or you’re picking up your first job for another reason, there’s likely experience you can mention that you don’t even realize.

Remember the example earlier where we talked about mentioning your experience giving out meals to the homeless during the holidays?

Charity work like that where you applied the same or similar skills to what you’d use as a waiter or waitress are perfect to mention if you have no previous experience to put down on your resume.

Let’s take that previous example and see what their experience section might have looked like:

RIGHT

Volunteer Server / Dec 2019

Dallas Food Bank – Denver, Colorado

• Served meals with prompt and efficient service 
• Took and managed orders from over 150 visitors
• Cleaned tables and reorganized facility equipment

Not bad! 

That looks a lot better than a blank page. 

In fact, that’s probably more impressive than what some with experience submit with job applications. 

What if you haven’t donated your time in a similar capacity, though?

Likelihood is, you can come up with something you can mention in your experience section. 

In fact, it doesn’t even have to be food industry or serving-specific experience.

You could mention:

• Experience helping with a school event where you served families, managed orders, or took payments
• Time helping at the family business, especially anything involving customer service, clean up, or taking orders
• Or any basic non-food industry experience where you applied similar skills that you’d use as a waitress or waiter

Whatever you can get down on your resume relevant to the skills you’ll use in your role as a waiter or waitress will help convince recruiters you’re a good fit for the job.

And by formatting it in a way that looks organized and professional, your minor experience will turn into a positive, helping flesh out your resume. 

6. Which skills will impress recruiters?

A resume’s skills area is often treated as less-than important compared to virtually everything else.

And, in some ways, it is.

However, whether you don’t have much experience or you have a ton, you can use your skills section to really take your resume to another level.

If you do it right.

First, let’s talk about what skills to mention.

Remember earlier when we talked about targeting your resume to each individual application? 

Your skills section– in addition to your objective/summary and experience– is another place you can do that.

This is especially useful if you don’t have much experience, as fleshing out your skills section, like the bullet points under your previous experience, is a good way to fill up the page.

Plus, done right you can speak directly to what they’re looking for.  

Skills you can mention on your waiter or waitress resume

Let’s look at a few of the skills you can mention:

• Experience with POS systems
• Waiting tables
• Seating guests
• Offering recommendations
• Upselling
• Bussing/cleaning up
• Handling customer disputes
• Set up for opening / Clean up for closing

Let’s say a job post mentions wanting someone with experience opening and closing, as their person just left for college.

You could say:

RIGHT 

• Experience opening and setting up restaurant for service, including setting up tables, condiments, menus, sanitizing, and greeting first guests
• And have experience closing, including clean up, batch settling through POS system, cashier management, and equipment and electric check 

Something like that will speak directly to the recruiter and show them that you have exactly the experience that they’re looking for. 

You might have already mentioned this in your experience section under the relevant employer.

Mention it again.

If they’re specifically looking for something, you want to make sure they see that you have it and mentioning it again in your skills section will really hammer home the point.  

Also, notice how I didn’t just say:

WRONG

• Experience opening and closing restaurants for service

You don’t want your skills section to be bland and basic like so many other resumes. 

Make sure to place each skill in context. 

You didn’t just open the restaurant for service. What did you actually do? 

You “set up tables, condiments, menus, sanitized, and greeted first guests”. 

That says a whole lot more than just “Experience opening and closing restaurants for service.” 

It proves you have a variety of the necessary skills to open and close properly.

Even if you have a ton of experience, writing your skills section in this bland and basic way will only ensure you’re underselling yourself. 

So, placing your skills in context is a useful technique for fleshing out your skills section whether you have a lot or a little experience.  

7. How to list any additional details such as certifications, hobbies, interests, and volunteer experience

Given the combination of:

• How many are out there looking for serving jobs, and
• The chance that you might not have any experience yet as a waiter

You may be wondering what additional things you can put down on your resume to help flesh it out. 

It all depends on what you’re looking to put down.

First, let’s start with some ideas:

• Cooking experience: Are you going to cooking school? Are you just an avid amateur cook? 
• Certifications: Food safety or food handling are big ones. However, even something first-aid related can be helpful to mention.
• Technical-esque skills: Such as other languages, drink and wine knowledge, marketing, and sales knowledge. 
• Fitness: Sounds odd, but if you’re starving for things to mention (no pun intended), it’s helpful to note that you’re a fitness junky who can easily handle a large number of tables and lots of running around on a busy night. 
• Courses: Similar to certifications, you may have taken a course on food preparation, food and wine pairing, or even upselling that would be worth mentioning. 

So, where do you put this stuff?

Even separating your skills section into something like “Serving Skills” and “Other Relevant Skills” is effective.

However, you can also list a “Certifications”, “Courses”, or “Technical Skills” section after your skills section if you have 2 or more points to put down. 

Keep things focused

Remember, the most important point to keep top-of-mind is to write to the job description.

What are they looking for?

If you put down an additional skill, certification, course, hobby, or technical-type skill like some of the ones mentioned above, have a reason for it.

In the case of a certification, it might help amp up your resume just because it sounds impressive. Perfect. 

If not but it’s relevant to something they specifically mention they’re looking for, that kind of targeting could mean the difference between getting the interview and not. Awesome.

And in case that sounds like a lot of work, don’t be intimidated.

Over time, you’ll likely notice a pattern of certain skills that are often mentioned under a recruiter’s “ideal candidate”.

Include these in your resume and you’ll always be covered when they’re mentioned.

Other times, you might notice a point which you have on your resume but isn’t highlighted to help stand out in any way.

A few minutes to customize your resume for that job opening will be well worth the time, as again, that too can mean the difference between getting the job– or not. 

Let Resumebuild help you make a better resume, faster

Ready to make your best resume yet?

Throughout this guide, you learned: 

• The best way to format your resume so that it draws attention to your best qualities
• How to know what recruiters are looking for and the art of targeting your resume to each job posting to increase your chance of getting the interview significantly
• How to write a resume objective and summary that captures recruiter’s attention immediately
• And how to write a waiter or waitress resume even if you have little to no experience
• Which skills you should mention on your resume and how to make them compelling
• Plus, how to list additional details such as certifications and hobbies to amp up your server resume

Whether you’re:

• Looking for your first paycheck, or
• You’re a longtime waiter or waitress that wants to move to the next level in your serving career

Now, you know everything you need to really stand out. 

Not only how to structure your resume so that the good stuff is impossible to miss, but what to put down so that you look like the perfect person for the position. 

Putting all this together while having to design your resume can be a lot to handle, though. 

Especially if most of your time is going toward looking for a new job in the first place. 

To save the time and hassle of putting together your next resume alone, let Resumebuild help. 

Check out our full template collection, pick an awesome template, then use our resume builder to easily drop your information where it needs to go. 

Bam– 5 minutes and you’ve got your best resume ever. 

Start putting together your resume by checking out our full template library here.