There’s more to bartending than pouring beers and refilling bowls of pretzels. Today, a bartender is expected to master dozens of cocktails, understand the ins and outs of various brews, and perhaps even concoct a few of their own signature drinks. They must also have excellent customer service skills.

Finally, most bartending jobs also require other administrative skills.  Bartenders are often responsible for dealing with food and beverage vendors, helping with carryout orders, and doing other back-of-the-house functions.

That’s a lot of duties, but there’s good news. A good part-time bartender working at a great spot can easily make a couple hundred dollars a night. Some full-time bartenders even make up to six figures per year or even more!

But to get there, you have to first land an interview. That means writing a great resume. Let’s start with a few tips. Later we’ll share great resume examples for bartenders (on the house!). 

Resume Example For A Bartender (Word Version)

Download resume example (.docx)

A Resume Example for Bartenders (text version)

Sample Resume for Bartender With No Experience

Bartender and Server Resume Example

What to Put on a Bartender Resume?

A compelling bartender resume provides a snapshot of your professional skills and abilities. 

The must-put information includes:

• Your mixology skills (and portfolio)
• Wine, spirits, and beer knowledge 
• Soft and customer service skills 
• Back-of-the-house abilities  
• Certifications and training 

Most hiring managers want to know your levels of experience and the type of establishments you’ve previously worked in. Moreover, they’d want to understand your personality (i.e., if you’re reliable and customer-oriented) and your ability to meet the venue’s standards in customer service. 

All of the above information should be organized across the key resume sections — a resume header, work experience, and education section. 

Below, we further explain what to put in each of these sections. 

Bartender Resume Objective

A resume objective is a short statement about the type of position you’re after. It’s a common option for entry-level bartenders who lack practical experience and seek mentorship. 

Sample bartender resume objective:

2023 graduate of the LA Bartending Academy, looking for a trainee position with a wine bar. Practical experience with drink presentation and serving. Strong knowledge of Californian wines and spirits.

If you’ve handled drink services before, opt for a resume summary instead. 

Bartender Resume Summary

A resume summary is a catchy preview of your most marketable qualifications and skills. Its goal: capture the employers’ attention by introducing your core strengths as a candidate and make them interested in reading your entire resume. 

Things to include in a bartender resume summary: 

• Current job title
• Key qualifications 
• Achievements
• Specializations
• Number of years in the industry
• Degree, certifications, professional memberships 
• Personality and work ethic describers 

Sample resume summary for bartender: 

Trained sommelier and mixologist with 8+ years of experience. Worked in hotel lobby bars, banquet venues, and wine restaurants. Member of United States Bartenders Guild

Bartender Resume Skills

Each open bartending position comes with a list of job-specific skills, better known as hard and soft skills. For example, knowledge of specific cuisines, food service experience, high self-management abilities, and so on. 

Your bartending resume must clearly communicate your areas of experience when it comes to: 

• Drink preparation and presentation 
• Customer service and selling 
• Front-of-the-house duties
• Back-of-the-house duties 

Before you sit down to write your resume, take a moment to list all your key abilities in the four above areas. Next, think about other soft competencies you have like strong conflict resolution skills, great memory, personal adaptability, exceptional time management, and so on. Once you’re done, add some of these keywords into a featured Skills section and sprinkle them throughout your work experience section too. 

Stuck on ideas? Here’s a list of sample bartender skills for resume:

Bartending skills 

• Mixing techniques 
• Sensory perception 
• Spirit knowledge 
• Order management 
• Bar equipment handling 
• Garnish artistry
• Slicing techniques 
• Custom cocktail creation 
• Preparation of individual drink components
• Responsible alcohol service 
• Cash handling 
• Food and drink pairings
• Flair bartending 
• Cocktail presentation
• Drink layering 
• Molecular mixology
• Alcohol consumption monitoring
• Food safety protocols

Customer service skills 

• Menu presentation 
• Ingredient knowledge 
• Customer issue resolution
• Upselling/cross-selling 
• Personalized service 
• Waiting tables 
• Hosting 
• Bussing tables 

Back-of-the-house skills 

• Inventory management 
• Supply restocking 
• Shift management 
• Sanitizing procedures
• Employee training 
• Waste management 
• Cocktail ingredient prep
• Labeling and dating 
• Supplier and vendor management 
• Bar equipment care 

Soft skills 

• Multitasking
• Adaptability 
• Reliability 
• Strong memory 
• Attentiveness 
• Active listening 
• Teamwork
• Responsiveness 
• Dependability 
• Self-management
• Problem-solving 
• Friendliness 
• Helpfulness  
• Positivity 

Pro tip: Always refer back to the original bartender job description and be sure to include mentions of the abilities, listed in the Duties / Responsibilities section. 

Recommended Bartender Resume Templates

The fastest way to make a bartender resume is by starting with a template. It gives you the general structure for presenting all the key information. What’s left is – filling in each resume section with your professional details. 

You can download a free modern or creative resume template in Word format to edit on your device. Or use our online resume builder for free to generate a copy in your browser. 

Here are our recommended resume templates for bartenders: 

• Personal branding resume template 
• Contrast success resume template 
• Sunny afternoon free resume template 
• Café Au Lait resume template 
• Turquoise on dark resume template 

Discover 180+ more free resume templates in our collection. 

How To Make a Killer Bartender Resume 

Start with writing a short, snappy resume summary. Then add your most marketable skills in a featured section. List your work experience in reverse chronological order and add all the educational credentials and professional certifications you hold — and you’re almost done with your bartender resume.

To make it truly shine, apply the following final touches: 

Customize Your Resume According To The Bar’s Needs

Every bartending job is different.  Your key to getting in the door is proving that you can meet the needs of the specific position that interests you. For example, one job may need someone with fine dining experience, and weekend availability. Another bar may be in search of a daytime bartender who also has plenty of experience dealing with food and beverage suppliers, placing orders, and maintaining inventory. Use the job description, then modify your resume accordingly.

Use Relevant Action Words To Highlight Your Experience

Whether your resume is first viewed by a hiring manager or applicant tracking software, some keywords will really help your resume get a second look. 

These power words and phrases show that you either have bartending experience or that you have skills that can make you a great bartender trainee. See if any of the following apply to you:

• Upsell
• Inventory
• Greet
• Converse
• Handle
• Memorize
• Mix
• Prepare
• Advertise
• Order
• Allocate
• Schedule
• Coordinate
• Create

If you specialize in any specific drinks, styles, or products, mention these as well. This might include ales, ciders, single malt scotches, ryes, and martinis.

Share Your Certifications

Depending on the regulations where you live, you may need to have a special certification that allows you to serve alcohol and accompanying food. This may be an alcohol server certification, food service worker certification, or something else. You may even have a certification from a bartending school or hospitality program. In any case, if a certification is mandatory, put yours at or near the top of your resume. Emphasize it in bold print as well. That certification may be the thing that gets your resume noticed.

Emphasize The Right Skills In Your Non-Related Work Experience

While many people do pursue bartending as a full-time career, others use the work as income as they attend school or to supplement other jobs. It’s pretty common for bartending applications to have little or no experience. If this is your situation, you’ll want to mine your past job experience for elements that contribute to your potential as a bartender in training. 

These skills include:

• Making and adhering to schedules
• Customer service
• Negotiating and conflict management
• Flexibility
• Problem-solving
• Creativity

Show Your Food Service Skills If You Have Them

In the food service industry, turnover is rampant. Some of the most valued employees are the ones who are flexible in terms of schedule and skills. If you’re a versatile bartender who can jump behind the line to do some food prep, bus tables, or help with some managerial duties, that’s a real winning combination. Add both your FOH and BOH skills to your resume.

Conclusions

Don’t forget that apart from using keywords that match the job description and establishment, you should choose a resume style that goes with that too. Are you applying for a job at a trendy nightclub? Then a creative resume format is perfect. If you want a job at a country club, perhaps something a bit more buttoned down will suit you better. In any case, we have over a hundred of free downloadable resume templates for you to pick and choose!

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