In hospitality, hiring managers tend to read messages fast. A busy venue manager might skim a stack of applications in the ten minutes they have between service periods, so a winning resume typically has skills that are impossible to miss.
Today we’ll be looking at ten waiter skills worth putting on your resume, with wording for each that will make you stand out. Read on for our curated waiter skills list to learn the answer to the question: “what skills do I need to be a waiter?”.
Menu knowledge and upselling
Product knowledge is what separates order-takers from servers. Knowing which wine suits the chicken, and which dish comes out the fastest is a valuable skill that can lift the average spend of a table. Managers track that number, and it makes you look like a great employee. Where possible, attach results from previous jobs, such as “recommended wine pairings and daily specials, contributing to a 15% increase in average beverage spend per table over six months”. If you don’t have figures, describe the scope instead, such as “maintained working knowledge of a rotating 20-item menu and 30-bottle wine list”.
Responsible Service of Alcohol
If the venue is licensed, you’ll want to make sure you have a Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) certificate. With hiring, no certificate can sometimes mean no interview. An RSA certificate is required across every state and territory across Australia for anyone who serves, sells, or supplies alcohol. Express Online Training provides RSA courses for those intereted in getting the accreditation. Keep in mind that the rules regarding interstate recognition can differ depending on the state, so if you’re moving states for work, it’s worth checking the requirements of where you’ll be employed. Give your resume a specific certificates section with the date you completed your course. If you also hold a food safety supervisor certificate or first aid certificate, include these here too.
Point-of-sale and ordering technology
Modern floor service typically means using a bit of tech. This could be a handheld POS terminal, QR-code ordering, table management systems, and integrated payment devices. A manager who sees a familiar system on your resume knows your training time drops, which is great news for them! Name the actual platforms you’ve used so hiring managers can quickly see what you’re proficient in. If you haven’t used the specific system a venue runs, say so honestly, but mention what you have used. Most POS platforms work on a similar logic. It’s also worth mentioning the trickier functions rather than just the system name. This could include: splitting a bill six ways, processing a partial refund, applying a member discount, transferring a tab between tables, or sending a modification through to the right kitchen printer.
Working under pressure
Dinner rush can be the real test of the job! A manager will want to know that when the kitchen is running twenty minutes behind and a large group just walked in, you will keep moving rather than panicking. Show this on your resume by noting down times you’ve handled the stress, such as “managed a 10-table section at a 200-set restaurant, averaging 240+ covers per night’. Including numbers helps to sell your abilities, rather than writing something vague. It also helps to name the type of pressure, because it isn’t the same everywhere. A sports bar on State of Origin night, a bottomless brunch service, a 150-guest wedding with timed courses, and a fine-diner doing two seatings a night all test different things. Matching your experience to the venue you’re applying to is far more persuasive than a general claim.
Communication and active listening
Many service errors start as listening errors, like a missed dietary note or an allergy mentioned in passing. Good waistaff repeat orders back to their customers and pass information on clearly to the kitchen and bar. When writing this on your resume, frame the skills around accuracy, like “confirmed and relayed complex orders including dietary modifications”. This is a great section to also include any second languages you speak, as this can give you an edge on the competition!
Teamwork and coordination
Another important highlight of this waiter resume skills list is having good teamwork and coordination. Runners, bar staff, kitchen, and floor all depend on each other and if one person won’t clear a table or help during a rush, it slows the whole venue down. Explain exactly how you’ve worked in a team, rather than using generic statements. A good example of this explanation could be: “coordinated with kitchen, bar, and function staff during 150-guest weddings, including timed course delivery”. Note down any handovers you’ve managed. Passing a table to the next shift with the order status intact, communicating a dish that’s currently unavailable before it’s sold, or letting the bar know a large group is about to order all keep a venue running smoothly. Mention any times you’ve rained new staff, also.
Food safety and allergen awareness
Allergen management is incredibly important in food service roles. Understanding cross-contamination, being able to speak accurately about ingredients, and knowing when to check with the kitchen rather than guess is a safety issue, and has a lot of weight behind it. It’s a compliance area that venues tend to take very seriously. Be specific about what you’ve done in this area, like “applied allergen and cross-contamination procedures, including verifying ingredients with kitchen staff for guests with coeliac disease and nut allergies”.
Accuracy with money and orders
As far as skills of a waiter go, getting the bill right is pretty high up there. Split payments, discounts, vouchers, and cash handling all create opportunities for errors that cost the venue money, so a server with a reputation for accurate tills is highly valuable. On your resume, explain exactly what you’ve done in the past at previous jobs. This could look like: “handled cash and card transactions with accurate end-of-shift reconciliation; managed split billing for groups of up to 30 people”. Explain any more complex tasks you’ve handled, too, like applying member pricing correctly, processing a refund, or closing a tab that’s been running all afternoon.
Customer service and complaint handling
Every venue gets complaints, but it’s how you handle them that counts! You want to resolve the issues at the table, before the guests leave a one-star review. Managers value people who can apologise sincerely, fix the problem, and know exactly when to escalate. On your resume, this might look like: “resolved guest complaints at point of service, escalating to management where required; recognised in venue reviews for attentive service”. Keep it specific, so managers know where your strengths lie.
Reliability and time management
Having good reliability is invaluable in the food service industry. Prove your time management and reliability skills by explaining your past consistency. This could be written as: “two years of continuous employment with consistent weekend and public holiday availability; regularly opened and closed the venue as needed”. Stating the length of time you stayed employed at the one business (if it was a long time) shows good dependability to future employees.
Is a waitstaff a waiter?
Essentially, yes, but the words aren’t used to mean the same thing.
A waiter typically refers to one person who takes orders and serves food and drinks in a venue. Waitstaff is a collective term covering staff members that do the same job (plus sometimes runners and bussers too).
The distinction matters most when you’re job hunting. Australian venues are likely to offer waitstaff jobs more often than “waiter positions” as “waitstaff” is gender neutral. If you only search for “waiter”, you’ll miss a large share of what’s out there. Search both, along with “food and beverage attendant” on most large-venue job boards. For your own resume, either “waitstaff” or “food and beverage attendant” is a good job title to go with.
The good news is that if you’ve spent time working in the food service industry, you should already have at least a few of these skills. The gap is usually in how they’re written down, not in whether you can do them. Remember, applying for waitstaff jobs is largely a numbers game, but tailoring can help you out more than volume does!
If you don’t have your RSA yet, sort that out first. Serving alcohol in an Australian venue legally requires it, and plenty of managers won’t look past an application without one. It’s a short course you can complete online, and it’s the fastest single thing you can do to make yourself hireable. So, get the certificate, get the specifics down on paper, and start applying!
