How to Write a First Job Resume for Fine Dining Restaurants

Fine dining restaurants are frequently hiring new staff. As in most jobs in the food service industry, fine dining restaurants have a high turnover of employees, meaning job vacancies occur often. Wait staff, hostesses (or hosts), bartenders and dish washers are some of the most common openings in these establishments. Because these jobs typically don't require much, if any, experience, they make good first jobs for young people. The tips aren't bad, either. If you're interested in getting your first job in a fine dining restaurant, a good resume is the first thing you'll need. Read on to learn how to write your resume.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Write a "Summary" section first, which should be no longer than a single paragraph. This section will state why you're seeking a job in a fine dining restaurant, what you will bring to the job and what you hope to get out of it. If you have any long-term career ambitions in the fine dining industry, include them in this section as well.

2. List your skills next. Since you haven't had a job before, your skills take on even more importance than they normally would. In a bulleted list, write down every skill you have that is relevant to the job you're seeking. People skills, multi-tasking skills and patience under pressure are all good skills for employment in restaurants.

3. Summarize your relevant experience. Even if you've never had a job, chances are you have some related experience, such as being a waiter at a church banquet, acting as cashier for your school store or cooking breakfast for hundreds at a neighborhood fund raiser.

4. Write about your education and availability. If you're currently a student, you can combine these things into one section of the resume. Make sure you include the names of schools you've attended and the dates you were there. For your current school, list the hours and days of your classes.

5. Give the names, addresses and phone numbers of two to three people who can confirm what your resume says is true and who will vouch for your character. These can be teachers, neighbors or family friends.

Tips & Warnings

• Get server certification, such as what's offered nationwide by the Professional Server Certification Corporation (see Resources below). This will help you greatly if you want to get a serving job in a fine dining restaurant.
• Wait staff jobs often pay less than minimum wage. Restaurants are legally able to do this because the tips the wait staff earns are counted as taxable income by the IRS. In many of the finer restaurants, the tips that wait staff can earn may end up making their hourly wage meet or even greatly exceed minimum wage. However, tips vary widely, so no restaurant can ever really guarantee the amount that you'll make. It all depends on the service you provide and the generosity of your customers.

Resources

• Professional Server Certification Corporation for server training

Who Can Help Sponsored

• Earn your degree from industry experts at University of Phoenix. Take the next step in your career.

[janga]

on 6/11/2009 most fine dining restaurants do not hire kids or people without serving experience, let alone those without any job experience whatsoever. the article is very misleading.