You’re there to make those special moments sparkle with expertly-mixed drinks at events like weddings, parties, and business celebrations. You know all about the stock you have on hand, how to recommend flavors to guests, and whip up a custom drink to-order, no problem.
But you might still have some questions about your resume, like where everything should go and what you should emphasize.
Let’s get started with these three resume templates! We’ve spent years helping people in the bartending industry, and our time-tested advice can help you out, too.
Related resume examples
What Matters Most: Your Skills & Work History
Your skills set the stage for your qualifying experiences, just like a flavorful entrée determines the ideal mixed drink! Recruiters want to see that you’ve got plenty of tools at your disposal that enable you to make each event a success.
There’s no time to be generic here: List skills that pertain directly to social events, bartending, and customer satisfaction. Even if your past work experience wasn’t closely related to event bartending, you probably learned communication and service-related skills that work.
Make sure you’re specific when you list your skills! Split hairs a bit: What makes you so good at creating a positive customer experience?
9 most popular Event Bartender skills
- Point of Sale
- Customer Service
- Detail-oriented
- Critical Thinking
- MS Excel
- Food/Drink Pairings
- Catering
- Party Planning
- Station Setup
Sample Event Bartender work experience bullet points
Those skills are looking delightful, but recruiters will want to see examples of how you’ve utilized them in the past. Again: Even if your previous jobs weren’t related to the drink or food industry, you can use overlapping points to boost your credibility.
Think of the time you exceeded sales expectations—that could mirror your ability to quickly fill drink orders for guests. Remember the time you set up store displays? That’s pretty similar to setting up a polished drink station for a catered event.
Just remember to use metrics and quantifiable data to measure your impact. Backing your claims with data makes you sound more credible and strengthens your qualifications!
Here are some samples:
- Helped organize community events for local fitness groups to increase brand awareness by 4%
- Learned the pain points of prospective customers and communicated solutions to expand customer base by 13%
- Completed cash and card transactions and assisted customers with returns and exchanges, maintaining accuracy rates of 99%
- Assessed event atmosphere to promote warmth and create an optimal, inviting experience for attendants, increasing positive feedback by 22%
- Crafted cocktails, poured wine and beer, and served liquor, suggesting choices based on entrees and earning a 5-star personal rating
Top 5 Tips for Your Event Bartender resume
- Stick with one page
- Make sure your resume is only one page or less. Recruiters have to work quickly to sift through candidates, and you don’t want to end up in the “too long to read” pile! You’ll demonstrate the same efficiency you’d offer in an event setting by streamlining your resume, too.
- Include any certifications
- Many areas require you to have a bartending license in order to work as an event server, so make sure you list one if you have it! You can also boost credibility with any bartending/catering training certifications you’ve earned.
- Keep it clean
- You want your resume to look as clean and tidy as your event table, so pick whichever of our templates fits your unique set of skills and qualifying information the best. You want your layout to be extremely readable and feature your best content at center stage!
- Use references
- A professional reference or letter of recommendation can complement your resume beautifully—especially if you’re looking to tie in some diverse skills from other work backgrounds. We recommend attaching them separately instead of listing them as contacts on your resume.
- Maintain focus
- Remember that recruiters don’t have much time to give, so make it easy for them to stay focused on the valuable information you’re offering on your resume. Avoid any distracting colors or wacky fonts to optimize your resume’s readability.
Yes, definitely do! Not only is it traditionally expected on your resume, but it’ll give recruiters an idea of your age so that they know you’re legally able to work in event bartending without you having to spell it out.
Cover letters are great, too. Whether you’re brimming with material that you’d love to keep after paring down your resume or eager to provide qualifying background information, a cover letter might be your perfect solution!
Free-floating numbers of random things like headcounts that don’t bolster your final impact aren’t the best. Try to stick with numbers that pack a punch at the end of your experience points, like guest satisfaction rates.
