Hostess Resume Example

You're the face people see upon walking into a restaurant and the one that leads them to a table to have a lovely meal with friends or family. As a host or hostess, it is your job to welcome patrons and help ensure service and satisfaction.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that currently in the U.S., there are 316,700 job opportunities for hosts and hostesses. In addition, there is a 1.5% growth rate in the industry, which may not seem like a lot, but those jobs can add up.

As a host or hostess, you can work in the following places:

• Restaurants
• Lounges
• Coffee Shops
• Bars
• Other eating locations

Moreover, the states with the highest employment levels for hosts and hostesses are:

1. California
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Georgia
5. New York

If you're looking to update your host/hostess resume, you've come to the right place.

In this article, we are going to cover 6 steps to help you land that hostess job you're applying for.

We'll teach you how to:

1. Format your resume
2. Write a resume summary
3. Describe your work experience
4. List your key skills
5. Include your education
6. Include your known languages

1. Format your resume like a professional

Did you know resumes are only looked at for approximately 6-7 seconds? Therefore, how your resume looks and is formatted is important.

Here are some details you should always include in your resume:

• Contact information
• Work experience
• Skills
• Education

Tip: Feel free to include other details, like your LinkedIn profile, languages and interests on your resume, too.

When it comes to formatting your resume, there are three ways you can do so:

1. Reverse-chronological, which emphasizes your previous work experience
2. Functional, which highlights your key skills
3. Hybrid, which combines the previous formats

As a host or hostess, selecting the hybrid format would be to your best advantage as you can showcase to hiring managers that you are both skilled and have the experience to back it up.

Tip: If you're just beginning to be in hospitality and work as a host or hostess, consider using the functional format to highlight your key skills since you don't have much work experience.

Take a look at our guide on how to format your resume if you want to learn more.

2. Write an attention-grabbing resume summary

Resume summaries are like elevator pitches. They are 1-2 sentence blurbs that highlight what's in your resume and are quick and easy ways for hiring managers to see if you're a good fit for the job.

Since not everyone writes a resume summary, it may be what makes you a better candidate.

Tip: Include your resume summary at the top of your resume.

Here are some elements you should always include in your resume summary:

• Years of experience
• Achievements
• Some personal characters

If you're still stuck on how to write your resume summary, here's a good and simple example:

Energetic hostess with 3 years experience in seating guests 20% faster than average and scoring 100% on menu knowledge. Commended 10x by management for excellent customer service at Bull & Bear Restaurant.

‍Tip: Sometimes, it's easier to write your resume summary after you have already written your resume. That way, it's easier to pick and choose what characteristics to include.

Are you still struggling with your resume summary? Our guide on writing resume summaries has tons of examples.

3. Describe your work experience

Being a host or hostess means you're constantly working with and helping other peoples.

While previous work experience is not always necessary to become a host or hostess, if you have been a host or hostess before, be sure to include this in your work experience.

When listing your work experience, it's important to highlight the specifics you did on the job, and do so using good verbs.

Your work experience should include the following:

• Company name
• Job title
• Years worked
• Location
• Job description

Here are some examples of job descriptions you may be able to include in your host or hostess resume:

• Welcomed guests and ascertained their dining needs
• Seated guests and managed the seating chart
• Monitored restaurant activity to determine seating and dining flow
• Performed opening and closing duties, as needed
• Assisted others with side work including, but not limited to cleaning, stocking, folding silverware, etc.
• Ensured knowledge of menu
• Responded to guest inquiries and requests in a timely, friendly, and efficient manner
• Assisted fellow team members and other departments wherever necessary to maintain positive working relationships
• Held the door for incoming and departing guests
• Rotated seating with different servers to ensure even workloads for Servers
• Advised guests of the server’s name and daily specials
• Provided guests with silverware and menus
• Suggested new menu items from limited-time offerings
• Received payment and making correct change
• Assisted with beverages

Tip: If you have no prior work experience as a host or hostess, it's important to really highlight your skills on your resume.

Want more tips and tricks on how to write your work experience description? Check out our guide on describing your work experience.

4. List your key skills

If you haven't got that much host or hostess experience, letting your key skills shine may be what still lands you the job.

Tip: Listing impressive and relevant skills gives hiring managers more reasons to hire you.

Here are some examples of key skills you can include in your resume as a host or hostess:

• Customer Service
• Greeting Guests
• Seating Guests
• Resolving Complaints
• Taking Phone Reservations
• Efficiency
• High Energy
• Communication

Tip: You can even include skills such as multilingual and CPR certified to impress hiring managers.

Having trouble identifying your skills? We have a guide with 100+ key skills you can include in your resume.

5. Include your education

You can become a host or hostess as soon as you're of age to work. In other words, you do not need a diploma.

However, it is still important to include your education on your resume.

Be sure to mention the following when listing your education:

• School name and location
• Years in school
• Degree

Here's what adding your education to your resume can look like:

Valencia College

Orlando, FL

2016 — 2020

Bachelor of Arts in Communication
‍

‍Tip: If you are still in high school, be sure to include your high school education on your resume. In that case, you would include the aforementioned information as well, except the degree.

Don't know if to put your GPA on your resume? Take a look at our guide on adding your GPA to your resume, which includes tips and examples.

6. Include your known languages

Working as a host, you're the face of the establishment, and sometimes, people come in who do not speak the local language.

Therefore, it is important to add to your resume a language section that shows hiring managers that you are bilingual or multilingual.

Here are some languages you can include on your resume if you know them:

• English
• Spanish
• French
• Italian
• German
• Russian
• Chinese
• Japanese
• Romanian

Tip: Next to the languages you know on your resume, add if you're fluent, intermediate or a beginner in the language to show hiring managers just how well you know the specific language.

Need more help writing the perfect resume? We have a guide that can help you do just that.

Key Takeaways

Now that we've helped you perfect your resume, it is time for you to start being a host or hostess and help others have a good time while dining.

Here's a summary of everything we covered:

1. Format your resume
2. Write a resume summary
3. Describe your work experience
4. List your key skills
5. Include your education
6. Include your known languages

Good luck!