Restaurant servers attend to guests at dining establishments, serving them food and beverages. They seat customers, inform them about specials, and answer questions about the menu. They take their orders and deliver the meals to their tables. Very much like waiters, which is the less fancy term for restaurant servers.
Being polite and patient is essential in any profession dealing with customers, and this applies to restaurant servers just the same. They communicate with kitchen staff as well, which is no less of a feat, and contribute to keeping the establishment clean and safe. Taking payment and dealing with customer complaints is also their duty.
A high school diploma will suffice to get you started on the job. Being energetic and positive, thriving in a teamwork atmosphere, and performing well under pressure will be what really matters. You will have to be fast and on your feet during your entire shift, though, so physical stamina is also essential.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a restaurant server. For example, did you know that they make an average of $11.5 an hour? That's $23,919 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 170,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many restaurant servers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed detail oriented, communication skills and customer-service skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a restaurant server, we found that a lot of resumes listed 12.6% of restaurant servers included beverage orders, while 9.0% of resumes included guest service, and 8.0% of resumes included food preparation. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the restaurant server job title. But what industry to start with? Most restaurant servers actually find jobs in the hospitality and retail industries.
If you're interested in becoming a restaurant server, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 44.3% of restaurant servers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.3% of restaurant servers have master's degrees. Even though some restaurant servers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a restaurant server. When we researched the most common majors for a restaurant server, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on restaurant server resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a restaurant server. In fact, many restaurant server jobs require experience in a role such as server. Meanwhile, many restaurant servers also have previous career experience in roles such as cashier or sales associate.