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Bar Staff Resume Examples
These free bar staff resumes range from entry-level to experienced job opportunities to help you properly phrase your experience. Pair these samples with our customizable resume templates to create professional application documents in moments.
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Bar Staff Resume Resume Example (Text Version)
[Your Name]
[City, State ZIP Code]
[Email Address]
[Phone Number LinkedIn]
Resume Summary
[Insert your summary here. This should be a brief statement highlighting your core qualifications and career goals.]
Summary of Qualifications
- [Insert qualification #1]
- [Insert qualification #2]
- [Insert qualification #3]
- [Insert qualification #4]
[Type of] Skills
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 1]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 1]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 1]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 1]
[Type of] Skills
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 2]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 2]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 2]
- [Add relevant accomplishment or responsibility related to Skill 2]
Education
[Degree Earned]
[High School Name, Location]
[Graduation Date or Estimated Graduation Date]
- [OPTIONAL: Add relevant coursework or academic achievements]
- [OPTIONAL: Add any honors or awards received]
Work History
[Job Title #1 | Club or Employer Name #1]
[Location, Year]
[Job Title #2 | Club or Employer Name #2]
[Location, Year]
How to Write a Bar Staff Resume
Follow this simple resume writing guide to learn how to phrase barkeeping, mixology and basic business management skills throughout your resume. Read on for bar staff-specific advice, skills, and professional language to appeal to bar managers.
Professional header and contact info:
Add your name, phone number and email address. Try opening a dedicated email to track job applications and responses.
Compelling summary statement:
A brief resume summary or objective highlighting two or three customer service-related skills, experience or accomplishments.
Highlight your skills:
A bulleted list of up to eight hard and soft skills specific to barkeeping, like your ability to multi-task, handle payments and maintain bars.
Emphasize your work history:
List your work experience in reverse chronological order. Include job titles, company names, dates of employment and key responsibilities and achievements for each role in a bullet list.
Supporting education section:
Add your relevant education or training. Get extra points for adding where you staged, bartending courses or wine-tasting classes.
Additional sections:
You can add resume sections for licenses, certifications, union memberships, awards, volunteer experience or spoken languages.
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How to Write a Bar Staff Resume Summary
A resume summary is your first, and sometimes only, chance to impress hiring managers. Use this strategic introduction to highlight a notable accomplishment or skills, like how many customers you can handle during a rush, how many drinks you can successfully mix, or new cocktails with their projected profits.
The goal is to impress the hiring manager and encourage them to read further than seven seconds.
Strong and weak Bar Staff Resume summary
Energetic and friendly bar staffer with over three years of experience in high-traffic downtown bars. Skilled in managing cash registers and delivering excellent customer service in fast-paced environments. Dedicated to crafting a positive guest experience and collaborating with fellow staff.
Why this sample bar staff resume works:
This job seeker uses specific information, including years of experience and key skills like mixing drinks, handling payments and customer service, to reflect their proactive approach. This candidate also focuses on the interpersonal skills that enable them to create a collaborative workplace and warm guest experience.
Hardworking and dependable. Looking for a job where I can use my skills. Good with people and work well under pressure. Ready for new opportunities.
How this sample bar staff resume fails:
This statement is vague, doesn’t share any information about the job seeker’s experience, and doesn’t share relevant skills related to bartending or food service. Although this job seeker refers to some socializing and task management skills, these mentions are vague and won’t impress a hiring manager.
You can improve this introduction by specifying the average number of drinks per hour and upselling skills or niche talents like wine pairing and cocktail creation.
Pro tip: Write a resume objective if you’re changing careers and need to highlight your transferable skills and knowledge. Whether you’re rejoining the workforce, leaving office life, or switching from a different customer-facing job like retail, this introduction helps you explain how your matching skills help you perform the job requirements.
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How to Add Your Bar Staff Work History
Hiring managers rely on a detailed work history section to learn about your previous bartending, food service and customer service experience. Remember to back each previous job with notable accomplishments instead of listing your daily duties.
Adding your achievements helps the hiring manager measure your abilities and determine if you align with the needs of the job opening. For example, a seasoned server in a wine country might only transfer well to a bar with specialty cocktails and relevant experience.
Strong and weak Bar Staff Resume work history
- Serve and prepare a wide variety of cocktails, beer, and wine for 200+ patrons per night in a fast-paced bar environment.
- Ensure accurate cash handling and balance registers at the end of shifts, managing up to $6,000 in transactions daily.
- Provide exceptional customer service, leading to a 15% increase in repeat business.
- Train and supervise new staff, ensuring they meet service standards.
Bartender | Saints and Spirits
New York, NY | March 2023
Why this sample bar staff resume works:
This job seeker focuses on their ability to handle high foot traffic and increase repeat business through a friendly demeanor and good customer service. They also focus on the leadership skills that enable them to train and supervise staff in service standards and menu updates.
- Served drinks to customers.
- Worked the cash register.
- Cleaned the bar and restocked supplies.
Bartender | Saints and Spirits
New York, NY | March 2023
How this sample bar staff resume fails:
This example is generic. The job seeker shares duties but fails to provide any context or specific achievements that could help the hiring manager calculate their potential contributions to the team.
You can improve this by adding the average number of customers served or average profits per night.
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How to Write a Bar Staff Education Section
Your education section should be the shortest section of your resume and highlight relevant schooling, training and certifications related to handling drinks, cash and customers.
Information you can add, if relevant, includes:
1Diplomas:
Most job openings only require a high school diploma or equivalent degrees, but you can add degrees if they are related to the job. Consider majors in hospitality, culinary arts or business management.
2Certifications:
Add bartending training like ServSafe Alcohol, Certified Food and Beverage Executive (CFBE) or mixology programs.
3First aid or safety certifications:
In addition to food and beverage programs, demonstrate that you can assist guests in a health emergency.
Example of an Education Section:
Education
High School Diploma
Central High School, New York, NY
Graduated: 2019
Certifications
- TIPS Certification – Responsible Beverage Service — Completed: 2023
- Mixology Certification – New York Bartending School — Completed: 2022
- ServSafe Alcohol Certification — Completed: 2022
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15 Skills for Your Bar Staff Resume
Employers look for a combination of soft, hard and technical skills that show you can provide excellent service, handle bar operations, and manage the demands of a busy work environment. A dedicated skills section enables you to showcase eight additional skills outside your other resume sections.
The following skills can help you meet your bartending responsibilities:
Soft Skills
Hard Skills
Technical Skills
Beverage and liquor law knowledge
Cocktail recipe software (e.g., BarCloud)
Draft beer system maintenance
POS system operation (e.g., Square, Toast)
Stock control software
Pro tip: Consider a skills-based format like the functional resume to highlight your accomplishments under barkeeping skills instead of previous jobs. This will help, especially if you hold multiple part-time jobs, frequently change jobs, are relatively new to barkeeping, or need to change careers.
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20 Bar Staff Action Verbs
Action verbs reflect your ability to charm and entertain patrons as they wait for drink orders. Consider using these dynamic words to help enhance your bar staff resume:
- Assist
- Balance
- Communicate
- Deliver
- Engage
- Ensure
- Greet
- Handle
- Interact
- Inventory
- Maintain
- Manage
- Mix
- Monitor
- Operate
- Pour
- Prepare
- Resolve
- Serve
- Stock
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Additional Resume Sections
Consider adding the following sections to your Bar Staff resume based on your specific circumstances and to enhance your qualifications:
Use a Cover Letter to Express Yourself
A resume is a concise overview of your skills and experience — a cover letter expands on this foundation. Add a cover letter to share one or two examples of how you excelled in similar roles or how your skills match a company’s needs. Use this sample as a guide or visit our helpful resources to boost your application.
Bar Staff Resume FAQ
What salary can you expect if you apply for a bar staff position?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average bar staff member can earn between $16.40 and $12.59 before tips. However, income can change depending on federal, state and local minimum wages and tipping culture.
How should I format my resume for applicant tracking systems (ATS)?
Of the three resume formats, timeline-based formats like the chronological resume and hybrid resume are the most ATS-friendly formats because they use the five standard resume sections and section headings these programs recognize.
To ensure these programs accurately read your qualifications, use an ATS resume template with optimized heading labels, font sizes, margins and line spacing.
How can I highlight my experience if I haven’t worked for a bar staff before?
Focus on transferable skills, including these universally requested skills, to impress a hiring manager. Narrow in on customer service, communication, teamwork or cash handling.
Add relevant experience from hospitality or service roles to demonstrate your ability to transition to a bar setting. Be sure to emphasize your ability to adapt to fast-paced environments.
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Last edited by: Gabriela Barcenas, CPRW, Content Writer II - November 12, 2024
Gabriela Barcenas
CPRW, Content Writer IIGabriela is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and career adviser. With 10 years of digital media experience and five years of resume writing expertise, her publication history includes fashion, education, travel, social justice, equitable design and career advice.