What does a Waiters and Waitress do?

Take orders and serve food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment. Day to day that includes work like take orders from patrons for food or beverages and Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals, and take action to correct any problems.

What skills should a Waiters and Waitress put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Service Orientation, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, and Coordination among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Waiters and Waitress list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Blink, Compris Advanced Manager's Workstation, Compris software, Facebook, and Hospitality Control Solutions Aloha Point-of-Sale. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Waiters and Waitress work?

O*NET records 37 titles for this occupation, including Waiters and Waitresses, Food Server, Server, and Waiter. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Waiters and Waitress need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 57% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Waiters and Waitress role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Waiters and Waitress resume example

A resume for a Waiters and Waitress needs to show the work itself: take orders and serve food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment. Day to day that means work like this: take orders from patrons for food or beverages; check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals, and take action to correct any problems. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Waiters and Waitresses
Food Server
Server
Waiter
Waitress
Banquet Server
Buffet Server
Cocktail Server
Food Runner
Restaurant Server
Waitstaff
Banquet Waiter
Banquet Waitress
Bar Waiter
Bar Waitress
Buffet Waiter
Buffet Waitress
Car Hop

O*NET records 37 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Take orders from patrons for food or beverages.
Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals, and take action to correct any problems.
Check patrons' identification to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Collect payments from customers.
Write patrons' food orders on order slips, memorize orders, or enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff.
Prepare checks that itemize and total meal costs and sales taxes.
Present menus to patrons and answer questions about menu items, making recommendations upon request.
Remove dishes and glasses from tables or counters, and take them to kitchen for cleaning.
Serve food or beverages to patrons, and prepare or serve specialty dishes at tables as required.
Clean tables or counters after patrons have finished dining.
Prepare tables for meals, including setting up items such as linens, silverware, and glassware.
Explain how various menu items are prepared, describing ingredients and cooking methods.

25 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Take orders from patrons for food or beverages, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals, and take action to correct any problems, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Check patrons' identification to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Collect payments from customers, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Blink
Compris Advanced Manager's Workstation
Compris software
Facebook
Hospitality Control Solutions Aloha Point-of-Sale
Intuit QuickBooks Point of Sale
MICROS Systems HSI Profits Series
NCR Advanced Checkout Solution
NCR NeighborhoodPOS
Point of sale POS software
The General Store

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Alphanumeric paging equipment
Carving knives
Cash registers
Credit card processing machines
Personal digital assistants PDA
Point of sale POS printers
Point of sale POS terminals
Point of service workstations
Portable bar code scanners
Touch screen monitors

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Service Orientation
03Speaking
04Social Perceptiveness
05Coordination
06Monitoring

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Customer and Personal Service
English Language
Sales and Marketing
Food Production

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

57%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
28%Less than a High School Diploma
7%Bachelor's Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Some Preparation Needed”. These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Common questions

What does a Waiters and Waitress do?: Take orders and serve food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment. Day to day that includes work like take orders from patrons for food or beverages and Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals, and take action to correct any problems.
What skills should a Waiters and Waitress put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Service Orientation, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, and Coordination among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Waiters and Waitress list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Blink, Compris Advanced Manager's Workstation, Compris software, Facebook, and Hospitality Control Solutions Aloha Point-of-Sale. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Waiters and Waitress work?: O*NET records 37 titles for this occupation, including Waiters and Waitresses, Food Server, Server, and Waiter. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Waiters and Waitress need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 57% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Waiters and Waitress role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.