Most importantly, your resume has the greatest impact in the job hiring process.  Get it wrong and you’ll never get the interview.

First you have to decide on a particular format for your resume. The two main formats in use today are chronological and functional format. Which one is best to use will depend greatly on your situation. We’ll use both so you can see the difference.

We’ll also provide you with some templates you can use and basically just fill in the blanks. Plus we’ll walk you through crafting your waitress resume.

The basic resume outline would include the following sections:

The Heading

Always start your resume with the heading. You list your basic details so the employer can contact you. You should include your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.

NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE NUMBER
EMAIL ADDRESS

Job Objective

This is a very important section. Managers, such as myself look here to find your goals and aspirations.  If it’s too generic, it means you lack clarity and direction.  So pay close attention when writing this section. This is where you let the manager know what position and most importantly – how you will benefit the organization. It also frames or supports the skills and experience you will be adding later on in your resume.

Example:

Seeking a waitress position with a medium to large restaurant.  Utilizing my skills while working as part of a team to efficiently and effectively serve our customers.

The “Body” is the largest section of your resume outline
This is where you can enter details about your education, work experience and additional information.

The body contains:

Education

Here you can list your educational background in decending order.
Educational Background Format:
College, Degree, Major, Honors, Relevant Courses, Dates
High School, Diploma, Major, Honors, Relevant Courses, Dates

Sample Education Section:
Boston University BA Educational Leadership, January 2004 – Present
Lincoln High School, Mathematics Major, 4.0 GPA Honor Roll, 2001 – 2004

Usually you don’t need to list your High School information if you have College information. UNLESS it contains information that directly applies to the job you are applying for. You can also list any honors for academic excellence in this section of your resume outline.

If you are a graduating senior or looking for an internship, you can add a relevant courses section to your resume outline. In this situation if you are obtaining a degree related to the food industry.

Employment History

This is an important part of the resume. This is where your past work experience or life skills come in. If you are using a chronological resume format, start with the most recent job and go back 7 years..

Example:

Block Buster Video, Dallas, TX
Cashier, June 2002- Present
Handled Video rentals and returns.
Handled the cash register
Managed and stocked merchandise
Handled Customer Service desk.

If you don’t have job experience, you can list other types of life related skills:
Chair person for Annual Church Fund Raiser
Organized teams for bi-monthly convalecent home visits.
Treasurer for youth club

Achievements

This section is where you list major achievements or special awards:
Cut down overtime by 5%, while increasing sales at Block Buster.
Voted Treasurer two years in a row at Heaven Valley Church
Class Treasurer, Lincoln High School 2003
Received Girl Scout ‘Gold Star” for organizing the most consistent Convalescent visits.

Special Skills

This section is your skills that will be a benefit to the company or makes you unique:
Bilingual – Fluent in Spanish, English
Won contest for balancing 20 glasses across a football field in shortest time without spilling a drop.
Created spreadsheets to track monies for Church and Youth Club
Created schedules for Convalescent visits for 50 participating members.

References

References are not required at this point.  Simply put

“References available upon request”

Additional Optional Sections

Adding additional information helps build your character.  This is where you would list group memberships you belong to, any organizations you are with that support your social activities, like church, sports and clubs.

You’ll want to use a layout that is consistent throughout, including your cover letter.  Use the same font throughout. Generally a 12point font is fine.  The font should be easy to read and easy to scan.  Sections should be bold, underlined or italicized and consistent.  Try to stick with fonts like Times New Roman, Arial, or Verdana.

You can also use bold or a slightly bigger font in the heading where your personal information is.

Remember, when a manager scans your resume, they will usually look at the first line of each section.  So you must put your most relevant information that relates to the position you are applying for.

As an example in the Achievements section. -
“Voted Treasurer two years in a row at Heaven Valley Church”
“Received Girl Scout ‘Gold Star” for organizing the most consistent Convalesent visits”

Being Treasurer means you are dependable, reliable, trust worthy, organized, honest, can handle money and responsible.
Receiving a Gold Star means you are, organized, a leader, caring, compassionate and so on

Both are important but “trust” is a high priority when obtaining your first waitress job.  You’d be surpirsed by how much theft happens in the restaurant business.

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Come back often as we’ll be adding more helpful information daily.

Have a great day.

your key to unlock the door

Resume Crafting – No Work Experience

If you’re looking for a waitress position and you have no work experience.

This is for you.

Just because you haven’t had a job yet, doesn’t mean you aren’t employable.  Sure you may need to start at a smaller restaurant, buy hey, you gotta start somewhere.

So how can you create your resume and get it to the top of the stack?

You need to project the right image a manager is looking for.  This is where your life skills pay off and can shift things in your favor.  Projecting yourself as a reliable, dedicated, sincere, and thoughtful person.  You could potentially out-class some applicants who actually do have experience.

Here’s a great tip.  If at all possible, personally hand your resume to the manager. But you’ll need to do some preparation prior to handing it over.  If you make a good first impression, that could be just the edge you need.

Here’s what you do.  Make it a point to have a meal there and pay attention to the staff.  Look for the person who makes the customers most happy.  What qualities do they have?  If it’s a woman and you are a woman, how are they dressed?  How did they do their hair?  How do they smile and make gestures?

Why do you want to do this?  You want to psycologically position yourself.  If you can remind him/her of their best waitress when you hand over your resume, you’ll have an edge.

So make sure when you seal the envelope, that they can quickly and easily open it.  Why? So they can right something on it right away as their first impression.  Look them in the eyes with confidence and be cheerful… just don’t over do it to a point where you may sound fake.

So getting back to your resume… sorry got side-tracked…

Your first resume will need to boast your people skills.

You’ll want to list things like:
Team oriented activities – Team sports, school projects
Activities where you were the lead – Projects, head of commitees, offices held,
Acitivies that show you are outgoing – social clubs, church groups
Activities that show you are reliable – offices held
Things that show you are courteous – convelescent homes, charity work
Things that show you learn quickly – musical instruments, mastered an art
Things where you made people happy – plays, performances, organized parties
Skills that apply to being a waitress – cooking, serving, cleaning

I’ll be showing examples of wording to help give you a better idea.  i know it’s hard when putting together a resume.

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But imagine earning more than twice the minimum wage by earning tips. I know of some people who make a really good living from their tips alone.

Of course this will depend heavily on the restaurant and the prices of the menu items. The higher the prices, the more you stand to make in tips. The downside is that everyone wants to work at these places and so it’s difficult to get in.

Just to give you an idea of how big a tip you can receive, let me tell you a true story.

My boyfriend and I went to a neighborhood restaurant. The average menu item was about $10. Our total bill came out to $30.

Now usually, people tip between 10 and 15 percent. The waitress was so good, that he gave her a $10 tip which is about 33%!

Why did she get such a big tip? Well for one, maybe he was trying to impress me. But I too was very happy with the waitress. She always filled his coffee cup, came by the table more than a few times to check on us and basically made our dinner there very enjoyable.

So even though you may work at a more inexpensive place, you can still get big tips! All it takes is your willingness to go the extra mile to pamper your guests and make them feel at home. Heck, everytime we go to that restaurant, we ask to sit at one of her tables… even if we have to wait.

She knows us by name and not because we go there all the time, but because she took the time to get to know us. And remember us! It may seem trivial, but it’s what sets her apart from 99% of the other waiters and waitresses.

I can only imagine how much she could earn if she worked at a place where the average meal was $30 an item!

Not to brag or anything, but I once made a $100 tip. This was a special circumstance though because it was Christmas time and the elder gentleman was in a giving mood. Generally, my tips averaged around 22% and it paid my way through college.

So the big secret to getting better tips is to connect with the customer. Make them feel special and comfortable and you’ll have a fan for life.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not how I started out, but it’s what I learned as I went along. And I’m a very shy person! So if you suffer from shyness as well, it becomes easier as you go. you’ll notice regulars and can bond with them. Once you know them, there’s no reason to be shy.

In future posts, I’ll be getting into more details.

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Typical guest duties:

• Greet guests
• Seat guests
• Hand them menus
• Take drink order
• Describe and recommend wines
• Check ID if alcohol beverage
• Know ingredients of menu items
• Know how menu items are prepared
• Answer questions regarding menu or menu items
• Fix drinks
• Offer appetizers
• Take food order
• Recommend specials
• Serve drinks
• Use computerized order transmittal system
• Prepare and serve specialty dishes at tableside
• Serve appetizers
• Serve soup and salads
• Server meal
• Periodically check if they need anything
• Offer refills on drinks
• Offer dessert
• Serve dessert
• Clear dishes when finished
• sing happy birthday or whatever the custom is for celebrations.
• Prepare itemized checks
• Clearing and setting up tables
• Use cash register

Non guest related duties:

• Clean tables
• stock service areas
• Refill napkins
• Refill condiments
• help co-workers
• Alert chef of food complaints

Don’t worry, you will not have to do all these tasks as it will vary from place to place.  These are actually the easier part of the job.  The most difficult waitress duty is to handle the customers.

The most important thing is to keep the customer happy. If they are upset, find out if you can do something to make it better.

Know when to escalate a problem to your manager.

Be courteous, sincere and pleasant.

Go out of your way to please them. Your tips depend on your “people skills”

Then next post will be about the tasks that aren’t written down. But they are even more important than the standard duties of a waitress.

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Resume Help

Why you need a great resume.

Picture yourself already as a waitress.  You’ve been there for a year and it’s time for your annual review.  During the past year, you’ve done a great job and your manager is thrilled with your work ethics.  He can give you an awesome review because he has seen your work.

Now, getting back to your resume – the manager doesn’t know you from the other 100 people who have applied for the waitress position.  Where does he/she start?  Why should they select you?

This is where your great waitress resume comes into play.  The hiring manager must be able to visualize you in the position based on what you have written on your resume.

Sounds simple right?  Think again…

Sure you have good qualities and skills that would effectively serve your employer.  However, a resume is just a snapshot of your life and how it will benefit the company.  Problem is… all this needs to be on a single sheet of paper (2 pages at the most).

It’s a known fact that most managers sift through resumes in a similar fashion. And the mojority will end up in the trash can or buried deep in the back of a file cabinet.

Here are some reasons why they end up in the trash -

• Too long
• Doesn’t make sense
• Too hyped up
• Unprofessional
• Childish
• Too many grammatical errors
• Too many mis-spelled words
• Difficult to ready

and much more…

Basically a manager doesn’t have time to read thoroughly through all the resumes that come across their desk.  So if you don’t pass the “glance” test, you won’t be a candidate.

I myself as a manager look for these things -

• Neatness
• Professional looking
• Easy to read
• Good grammar
• Good spelling

and those are just to pass the “glance” test or first round of elimination.

Why are these points important?  Remember, the manager doesn’t know you.  You could be the best employee ever, but if it’s too difficult to read what you are about.  Then the manager feels you would be a difficult employee to supervise.  That’s why it’s imperative to have a clean resume.

Once the stack of resumes have been sifted through the 2nd round of elimination takes place.

This is where your experiences, education, skills, objective and references come into play.

Since this may be you first real job, your resume qill need to focus more on your qualities and skills. Most managers realize that entry level positions usually have applicants with little to no work experience.

So what could you possibly write that would persuade a manager to hire you?

They want someone who is

• Honest
• Friendly
• Courteous
• Faithful
• Loyal
• Dependable
• Quick learner
• Prompt
• Independent
• Even tempered
• Forgiving
• Energetic
• Motivated

So consider these terms and how you have proved these points thorugh paste activities.

I’ll go over resume format or layout in another post. I just wanted to emphasize the importance of a quality resume and how important it is to put some thought into it before just submitting anything.

If the place you are seeking a waitress position is a corporate company, they may have a Human Resources department.  What they do is sift through the applications and resumes and file them according.  When a location has an open position then they forward the relevant resumes to the hiring manager.

In other words, your waitress resume would only be sent to the manager if you stated that you are seeking a waitress position.

In the next post, we’ll dive deeper into the parts of a resume.

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