The professional bartender’s guide to writing a perfect resume

A guide for bartenders on how to create the optimal resume to land a high-paying bartending position. Topics covered include formatting, resume summaries, bartending skills, work experience, and education. 

So – you want to be a professional bartender. The food and beverage industry is certainly a lucrative one, and bartenders are some of the highest-paid professionals within the field. As such, the competition for these jobs is steep, meaning you need to create a resume that wins the attention of employers over your competitors.

In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about writing an effective resume as a bartender.

Keep reading to learn the answers to the following questions: 

• Which resume format is best for bartenders?
• How and why should a bartender write a resume summary?
• What key skills should a bartender include on their resume?
• How can a bartender grab an employer’s attention with their work history? 
• What level of education should a bartender include on a resume? 

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1. Which resume format is best for bartenders?  

Without a shadow of a doubt, the best resume format for bartenders is the reverse-chronological resume.

The reverse-chronological resume places the primary focus on work experience, starting with an applicant’s most recent job and working backward from there. Hiring managers in restaurants and bars will almost always look for bartenders with experience, as the job is extremely fast-paced and leaves little room for training. 

For applicants who do not have very much experience working as a bartender, the key is to search for positions such as “Server” or “Bar-Back” that provide opportunities for advancement to Bartender. If this is the case for you, you may want to consider one of the following alternative formats:

• Functional resumes: A resume format that focuses on education, skills, and unpaid experience instead of work experience. This format is often used by recent graduates who have relevant academic experience in a certain field but lack formal work experience. 
• Hybrid resumes: Hybrid resumes combine elements of both functional and reverse-chronological resumes, spreading out the focus of the document more evenly between all sections. This format is often used by applicants who have limited work experience, are changing career paths, or have large gaps in their work history. 

2. How should a bartender write a resume summary? 

A resume summary is a brief statement at the start of the document that helps to introduce the applicant and their skills to an employer.

For bartenders, the resume summary is an excellent opportunity to showcase their prowess within the field, particularly if they have held leadership positions or key responsibilities not always assigned to a general bartender. 

Below we have provided an example of a weak bartender resume summary, followed by a corrected explanation and example. 

What's wrong with this example? This example is incredibly non-specific when it comes to this applicant’s skills, experience, and accomplishments. To improve this summary, the applicant should focus more on their experience as a bar manager and provide more quantifiable details regarding their skills and background. 

Why is this better? This example offers the specificity employers are looking for from a resume summary. The applicant has included eye-catching details and impressive descriptions of previous responsibilities they held as a bar manager. Their skills are clearly outlined and their experience is plainly evident.

3. What key skills should a bartender include on their resume?

Bartenders often play a jack-of-all-trades role within restaurants and bars. Not only do they need to mix drinks, but they must also communicate with customers, keep their workstations organized, and much more. 

As such, a professional bartender should always include examples of both their hard and soft skills on a resume. Hard skills refer to technical abilities, such as mixing drinks, while soft skills refer to interpersonal abilities, such as talking with customers.

4. How can a bartender grab an employer’s attention with their work history? 

An employer will expect you to be able to mix drinks and speak with customers – those abilities are the core foundations of the job, after all! This means that your work experience entries should go above and beyond detailing the minimum requirements for the job.

To grab the attention of employers, bartenders should strive to include their accomplishments and key responsibilities that set them apart from other applicants. 

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5. What level of education should a bartender include on a resume?

On any resume for any job, it is always important to list your highest level of education. For a bartender, the education section is also a great place to list any additional training or certifications they have completed, as these will give them a greater competitive edge.