Waitress CV Examples, Tips & Templates (2024)

To get your waitress CV to the front of the line, you must make an impression, clearly lay out what you bring to the table, and avoid the common mistakes that most waitress CV examples will contain.

With this guide, that will be easy. We will show you exactly which courses to include, and how to lay the plate, including tips on writing your waitress skills sections and job descriptio n. Sometimes, less is more, and it’s all in the presentation.

In this article, you'll find a well served waitress/waiter CV example to copy from and a step-by-step guide on writing a waitressing CV that conquers the hearts. You'll also find top waitress skills that your employer will love.

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Need a different CV example? Check these guides:

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Based on over 6 million CVs created in our builder, we found out that*:

Waitress CV example

That’s what to serve on your waitress CV. Here’s a guide on how to write your own CV and what to include in a CV document:

1. Write a waitress/waiter CV personal statement

What would look better on a restaurant menu? The following:

“Carbonara—spaghetti, guanciale, parmesan, pecorino cheese, eggs, olive oil, salt.”

Or:

“Carbonara—a 16-week-cured peppery guanciale with authentic pecorino and parmesan cheeses in the classic spaghetti dish”

The latter gets the imagination running. Your CV personal statement should be similar. Less is more, focus on what’s important, and don’t list the olive oil and sea salt of your work experience. Skip the bland. Everyone knows what the responsibilities of the waitress are.

Introduce yourself focusing on what makes you stand out, your performance, and what extra you bring to the table. Try and include some metrics where possible to put your experience into perspective and allow the employer to imagine the impact you can have. Like in this CV summary:

Waitress CV personal statement example

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2. Write a job description for your waitressing CV

So the personal statement was the tasting menu. Here, in the work experience section of your CV is the place to list more ingredients, even some more bland ones. Read the job posting carefully and determine what are their most important requirements.

If it’s a fine dining establishment, they will be more focused on somebody that can handle the sophisticated environment and menu knowledge, if it’s a tourist spot burger bar, they might just be interested in someone to fling the maximum amount of orders out.

Either way, list 3 to 7 bullet points, descending in order of importance. Put them into perspective with numbers where possible. Record your relevant waitress work experience under the following heading:

[Job Title]

[Employer Name, Location]

[Dates of Employment]

For your older positions, limit yourself to less bullet points, 3 being just right.

Having little to no work experience? See CV examples for UK students with no experience. Applying for a part-time position? See CV examples for part-time roles.

Waitress CV work experience example

3. List relevant skills in your restaurant waiter CV

For most waiter and waitress CVs, the education section can move down the page, as it doesn’t hold much importance over real waitress skills. It may be an advantage in certain situations, for example in fine dining establishments, being at university could be seen as an advantage.

Even in this case, however, you could simply mention it briefly in your personal statement that you’re studying, and still prioritise your waitress skills section. Once again, find out from the job posting what’s most important to them, and prioritise that. 

Don’t focus on banal things like punctuality. Focus on some hard and soft skills you bring to the table that most people don’t. Like so:

Waitress/waiter CV skills section

4. Include an education section in your waitress/waiter CV

As mentioned before, your education section is low in importance on your waitress CV, and can be relegated below your skills section. If you know any extra languages, you could also consider prioritising that.

Keep your CV education section short and sweet:

Waitress CV education section

5. Serve additional sections on your waitressing CV

Most waitress CVs can benefit from rounding out with some additional sections, like extracurricular activities, languages or volunteering. Something that shows extra initiative, skills, and multi-tasking, but not boring irrelevant hobbies.

Volunteering is great, as it shows a lot of initiative and strong morals. 82% of managers would rather hire someone with volunteering experience. Awards or certifications also look great, if they’re relevant, or really impressive achievements.

Restaurant waiter CV additional sections example

6. Write a matching waitress cover letter

Once you have finished your waiter CV, it needs a cover letter to be accompanied by. It’s another place where you can stand out from the rest and highlight your strong sides. So, how should you go about writing a cover letter?

In the first paragraph of your cover letter, hook them in with your most unique selling point, present the wealth of your experience and achievements in the body of the letter, or highlight transferable skills you have if you are sending a waitress CV with no experience. 

In the last paragraph, you should present exactly what you’re going to bring to the table for them. End your cover letter with a request for an interview. 

7. Waitress CV writing tips to keep handy

To make sure your waitress CV gets you a reservation—for interview, make sure everything is neat and organised by applying some simple CV format rules: 

• Use a legible, elegant CV font. Don’t get too fancy and keep the document simple and clean—that's what makes a good CV.
• Use bold headings for each section, and spacing between sections to create a CV structure you can skim-read.
• Unless asked otherwise, save your waitress/waiter CV in a PDF format.
• How long can your CV be? No longer than a page, especially it this is your first CV.
• When it comes to CV design, remember: best CV templates have simple layout (e.g., Word CV templates), which enhances readability.

If you don’t hear back after a week, give them a follow-up call. Sometimes, they haven’t got round to your perfect CV yet, and that will get it picked up. 

And that's it! Now you know what a CV should look like. Good luck!

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Did we answer all your questions on how to write a waitress CV? Got any job hunting tips and tricks you’d like to share? Did you find our waitress CV example useful? Use the comments section below. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

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Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.