As you apply for hostess jobs, you need something to help you stand out from the competition. Providing a hiring manager with a well-crafted resume is the best way to do this. A strongly written resume explains what you can do and your background to show how you are the perfect fit for the job. Your resume can make a huge difference between getting hired and losing out on an important job opportunity.
This page contains a resume example and tips on how to write an effective resume. You can use our hostess job description for creating a resume to assist you as you begin to work on your own. Use this information as a guide to enable you to put together a resume that showcases your skills and abilities in the best light possible.
Each person may have a different background when applying for a hostess position. However, hiring managers look for some specific things that should show up on anybody’s resume who is applying for this type of job. Knowing what these points are and ensuring you include them on your resume can give you an edge.
Hostess Summary
The summary of your resume must provide a compelling reason for the hiring manager to continue reading. You cannot simply list your skills or explain that you have experience. You have to showcase what makes you special and the benefits you will provide to your employer. Make sure to draw attention to unique attributes you have and major accomplishments you have achieved. Do keep it short, though. Try to precisely explain your most important points in just a few sentences.
Hostess Education & Certification
Typically, education is not a major condition for employment as a hostess. However, many employers are starting to desire someone with a strong background and training in hospitality or food service. You need to ensure your education is specific to this position. Do not list something that is not related. If you have hospitality certifications or have completed any training in the field, such as a training course in restaurant service, even if you didn’t earn a degree or certificate, do include it in this section of your resume.
Hostess Duties & Responsibilities
This section of your resume is where you really want to focus on the information provided in the job description. Using the job description, explain your past job duties and responsibilities using the terms and phrases the employer used. Be sure to showcase the things you did that went above and beyond, such as redesigning seating configurations to seat more guests. Also, make sure to use quantifiable data, such as how you helped increase sales by 15% or your achievement of increasing customer satisfaction ratings by an average of three points.
Hostess Skills
Your skills section can be the thing that really tips your resume over the edge and impresses the hiring manager. Pack it with keywords you found in the job description. Draw attention to unique skills you have, such as your naturally friendly personality or your exceptional organizational abilities. Emphasize the skills that match the hostess position and avoid listing anything irrelevant. Focus on showing the value you will bring as an employee. Remember that the strongest statement you can make in your resume is that you will be an asset for the company. This is what the hiring manager will look for in each section.
Professional Summary
Energetic, friendly, and outgoing hostess with experience in a variety of restaurants. Strong knowledge of the inner workings of a waitstaff and hotel management. Demonstrated ability to serve as a leader who excels at improving the workplace and increasing customer satisfaction and sales.
Skills
• Naturally friendly personality with the ability to put people at ease
• Ability to manage a dining room efficiently
• Strong skills in handling customers and ensuring complete satisfaction
• Ability to optimize space to improve customer experience
• Strong leader and team manager
• Ability to soothe upset customers encourage repeat business
• High energy and outgoing personality
• Superior communication skills
• Excellent organizational abilities
Experience
Hostess – Morningview Restaurant
2010 – present
• Greet customers as they enter restaurant
• Take reservations via phone and website
• Manage table reservations and assign tables
• Handle customer complaints and issues
• Provide extra service to ensure customer satisfaction, such as free drinks and birthday desserts
• Hire and manage waitstaff
• Coordinate front of the house with the kitchen
• Review menus for accuracy
• Created new dining room table organization to increase seating capacity, which resulted in an increase of 30% in sales
• Trained all new waitstaff for a total of 20 employees
Hostess – The Highland in the Hills Restaurant and Catering
2005 – 2010
• Managed waitstaff, including training and assisting with hiring
• Coordinated front of the house with the kitchen
• Monitored service to ensure customer satisfaction
• Created menus for catering events
• Managed reservations and catering appointments
• Answered questions and did the intake for catering events
• Created new system to manage reservations and appointments that reduced errors by 20%
• Assisted with upgrade of restaurant from casual dining to fine dining to improve sales profits by 15%
Hostess – Bob Evans
2008 – 2010
• Greeted customers as they entered restaurant
• Managed seating charts and seated customers
• Maintained reservation system for large parties
• Cashed out customers at end of meal
• Served as liaison between waitstaff and kitchen
• Sold products from store
• Increased product sales by 15%
Education
Professional Food Service Certification – Current
Restaurants of American University, Billings
CPR Certification
Red Cross, Salt Lake City
Associate in Hospitality Management – 2010
University of the Sky, Hallmark
Many employers now utilize applicant tracking systems. The ATS scans your resume and matches it to the job description. It looks for keywords, terms, and phrases that match what the employer wants in a candidate for the job. If you do not optimize your resume for an ATS, it may never get read by a human. This makes it essential to know what you must do to get your resume past the ATS.
It is your job to ensure you scan the hostess job description to look for keywords. Then, you must use the hostess job description for creating a resume. You can do this by taking these terms you found and implementing them throughout your resume.
A good place to start is to look for specific terms that relate to employment as a hostess. For example, the job description may use terms to describe the ideal applicant that include professional, outgoing, or friendly. Other terms you may see include organized, detail oriented, customer service, and leadership. By noting such terms and then using them in your resume, you make it easy for the ATS to green light your resume for a hiring manager to then look at.
To start customizing a resume to pass an ATS scan, begin by looking over the sample resume here. It contains many keywords you may find in a hostess job description. Notice how they are natural sounding and worked in so they match the terms used in the description exactly. You want to make sure the terms are the exact same because that is what the ATS looks for.
As you work on your own resume, use ours as a guide. Also, keep in mind there are some other things you must do. This includes using a standard font because an ATS is a computer, so fancy fonts may not be readable. Don’t try to get creative with headers. Stick to the typical ones you see in the sample. Finally, do not forget to proofread and correct any errors.