Server Resume Examples

A server’s job description includes handling POS systems, working well in a high-stress environment, and — most importantly — serving, attracting, and retaining customers. Showcase your ability to perform these duties in your resume with the four following tips

1. Include these key server skills

Restaurant hiring managers are looking for strong server skills to decide if you’re a worthwhile candidate. So what are my skills as a server? As a server, you should list both soft and hard skills.

Soft skills are essential for a server because they relate to how you interact with colleagues and customers, handle your workload, and adapt to new situations.

Here are the top soft skills to highlight on your server resume:

• Customer service skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Good memory
• Time management skills
• Ability to keep calm under pressure
• Knowledge of food–wine pairings
• People skills

There are also key hard skills you need to handle a service industry role.

Hard skills are skills you learn through training or education, and important ones for server candidates include:

• Point of sales (POS) systems
• Foreign language skills (for example, if you’re serving Spanish-speaking customers)
• Math skills
• Knowledge of alcoholic beverages
• Ability to use restaurant appliances (blenders, ovens, etc.)

When you’re writing the skills section of your resume, try to include these key server skills if you have them. And if you have other abilities relevant to service-industry work, include these skills on your resume too.

2. Write a convincing server resume summary

Your resume should start with an effective resume summary so that the hiring manager can see you’re a skilled server who can handle a heavy workload while retaining customer loyalty.

To write a server resume summary:

• State your years of experience.
• Highlight earned titles or certificates.
• Emphasize your knowledge of the business.
• State the position you want to fill.

Here’s an example of an attention-grabbing server resume summary:

This example works because it draws attention to the candidate’s areas of expertise and professional qualifications, showing hiring managers why they’re a suitable candidate for the role.

3. Describe your server experience with hard numbers

Adding hard numbers to your resume bullet points helps the hiring manager understand the scope of your responsibilities as a server and emphasizes the depth of your experience in the industry.

The easiest way to include numbers on your server resume is to state the size of a restaurant you worked at, or mention how many seats it had.

These examples show how to include numbers on a server resume:

• Take and memorize order and enter them into Square POS to direct the kitchen staff in 150 square yard restaurant

• Present menus to patrons, answer questions about menu items, and make recommendations upon request in a 70+ seat restaurant

Additionally, most restaurants — especially big chains — track their servers’ sales statistics for the purposes of budgeting. Ask your manager to see these statistics and include them on your resume, like in this example:

• Memorized restaurant’s wine stock and the meals they should accompany, leading to daily wine sales averaging $150, fully 20% higher than company average

Adding numbers to your server resume makes it more compelling because you provide context to your achievements.

4. Use strong action verbs to begin your bullet points

Strong action verbs are key to presenting your accomplishments on your resume in the best possible way. Use action verbs to replace overused phrases like “Responsible for” and “Tasked with” to highlight your accomplishments as a server instead of telling hiring managers what duties you performed.

Below are some server-oriented action verbs to start your bullet points with:

Action verbs for your server resume

These action verbs make you seem like someone who takes the initiative rather than someone who simply performs the serving duties your supervisor gives you.