Host & Hostess Resume Examples and Templates for 2023

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Jacob Meade

Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW, ACRW)

Jacob Meade is a resume writer and editor with nearly a decade of experience. His writing method centers on understanding and then expressing each person’s unique work history and strengths toward their career goal. Jacob has enjoyed working with jobseekers of all ages and career levels, finding that a clear and focused resume can help people from any walk of life. He is an Academy Certified Resume Writer (ACRW) with the Resume Writing Academy, and a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) with the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches.

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Downloadable Resume Examples

Entry-level
Host-and-Hostess_Entry-level.pdf

Example #1 Entry-level

Mid-career
Host-and-Hostess_Mid-career.pdf

Example #2 Mid-career

Senior-level
Host-and-Hostess_Senior-level.pdf

Example #3 Senior-level

Host and Hostess Resume Examples

Years of Experience
  • Entry-level Entry-level
  • Mid-career Mid-career
  • Senior-level Senior-level

Melanie Wilson
(123) 456-7890
[email protected]
555 Second Street, Springfield, MO 12345

Profile

Hostess with 2 years of experience in privately-owned dining establishments. Skilled in providing courteous service, collaborating on a team, and making and modifying guest reservations. Thrive in dynamic and fast-paced work environments.

Key Skills

  • Active Listening Methods
  • Conflict & Complaint Resolution
  • Creative Problem-Solving
  • Customer Relations & Service
  • Task Prioritization
  • Team Collaboration

Professional Experience

Restaurant Hostess, Fresca’s Fine Italian Dining, Springfield, MO | January 2020 to Present

  • Courteously answer phone calls, welcome and seat guests, and present menus
  • Prepare seat arrangements and organize reservations to ensure guest satisfaction
  • Monitor dining room for proper cleanliness and supply levels
  • Follow up with diners to ensure their satisfaction and address any additional requests
  • Manage a 2-seating per night reservations system, with 100 diners per seating

Restaurant Hostess, Jimmy’s Pizza, Springfield, MO | June 2019 to January 2020

  • Greeted and escorted customers to their table as soon as seating was available
  • Completed various dining room tasks while providing excellent customer service
  • Answered and directed phone calls as needed

Education

Graduate, Northwest High School, Springfield, MO | 2019

Betty Harrison
(752) 814-7263
[email protected]
2 Down Road, Rochester, NY 14610

Profile

Hostess with 8 years of experience in popular bars and restaurants. Skilled at managing customer relationship databases, arranging for large parties, and answering calls and emails. Combine strong organizational skills with a friendly customer service style. Calm, professional, and centered on solutions in high-pressure work environments. Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Business.

Professional Experience

Restaurant Host, The Seafood Restaurant, Rochester, NY | March 2016 to January 2023

  • Maintained warm and professional manner while interacting with guests by phone and in person
  • Reconciled cash in tills
  • Sat 130+ diners per night in 3 separate seatings

Highlight:

  • Helped drive a 15% increase in customer satisfaction

Hotel Host, The Hilton Hotel, Providence, RI | September 2014 to February 2016

  • Charged with creating table arrangements and booking reservations
  • Handled restaurant POS software
  • Greeted and escorted all guests to their designated tables

Education

Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Hospitality Business, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Select Coursework:

  • Hospitality Business Ownership
  • Hospitality Food Service Operations
  • Service Management Principles

Key Skills

  • Cash Till Reconciliation
  • CRM Databases
  • Customer Relations & Satisfaction
  • Task Prioritization
  • Time Management

Professional Development

Certified Guest Service Professional, American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute 

Katherine Ryan
(735) 917-2745
[email protected]
81 Left Street, Providence, RI 02909

Profile

Organized and friendly Hostess with 12 years of experience. Natural problem-solver with a positive attitude toward handling guest questions and concerns. Experience maintaining CRM databases and booking large party reservations. Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management.

Professional Experience

Host, The Michelin Restaurant, Newport, RI | April 2012 to December 2022

  • Arranged all ~40 party reservations per night
  • Answered incoming calls and emails in a warm and professional manner
  • Filed incident reports as needed

Highlight:

  • Implemented a new CRM database that raised customer satisfaction ratings by 20% in 3 years

Hotel Host, The Hilton Hotel, Providence, RI | February 2010 to March 2012

  • Maintained excellent customer service in a dynamic and fast-paced environment
  • Organized table plans and booking reservations
  • Reconciled tills

Education

Bachelor of Science (BS) in Hospitality Management, Johnson & Wales University, Providence, RI

Select Coursework:

  • Food Service in Hospitality & Tourism
  • Managing the Hotel Guest Experience
  • Hospitality Sales & Meeting Management

Key Skills

  • Customer Relations & Service
  • Digital Customer Databases
  • Reservation Management
  • Task Prioritization
  • Team Collaboration
  • Time Management

Professional Development

Certified CVE Venue Executive

CHSP Certified in Hospitality Sales

Tips for Writing a Better Host or Hostess Resume

Use simple formatting

To ensure your resume makes a good first impression, keep your format clean and simple. Try a traditional serif font like Century or Cambria for your body text and a clean sans serif font like Calibri for your subject headings. Use color sparingly, if at all. Avoid fancier Microsoft Word format options like WordArt, Tables, and Text Boxes (which can muck up ATS anyway).

This conservative approach is well-suited to your field, but it’s also often the best way to display your various career information. As Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Show your skill at giving accurate wait times in a high-volume setting

Hiring managers need to see that you have the skills to keep the restaurant floor running smoothly. This includes ensuring customer satisfaction while facilitating guest turnover to help the restaurant maximize revenue. Your ability to provide accurate wait times helps ensure guests have a great dining experience and choose to return in the future.

Examples


  • Helped oversee 2 dinner seatings each night for our fully-booked 40-table restaurant.
  • Efficiently seated guests, helping reduce wait times and prevent overcrowding in server sections.

Omit the phrase “References available upon request”

Hiring managers already assume you can provide references, so you don’t need this phrase on your resume. Better to use that space at the end of your document for another work highlight or other relevant qualifications such as your education or foreign language ability.

Common Key Skills for Host and Hostess Resumes

Key skills and relevant action verbs can help general managers, maître d’s, and restaurant owners decide which candidate is right for an available hosting position. Including actionable vocabulary in your resume can showcase your accomplishments in a way that helps you stand out. Some companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to search for relevant keywords in resumes and quickly filter through applicants. To increase your chances of getting called in for an interview, try to incorporate these relevant words and phrases in your resume.

Note: As the list below indicates, you should only use noun phrases in this section. Reserve personal attributes and adjectives (like “highly collaborative” or “strong work ethic”) for your Profile summary. Any time you’re unsure whether a term fits this section, just plug it into the phrase “I’m skilled in [term].” If the term makes a correct sentence (“I’m skilled in team collaboration”), you can use it. But if it’s nonsense (“I’m skilled in highly collaborative”), leave it out.

Key Skills & Proficiencies
Active Listening Methods Cash Till Reconciliation
Conflict & Complaint Resolution Creative Problem-Solving
CRM Databases Customer Relations & Satisfaction
Digital Customer Databases Point of Sale (POS) Systems
Reservation Management Scheduling
Task Prioritization Team Collaboration
Time Management

Common Action Verbs for Host and Hostess Resumes

One of the most frequent resume mistakes is using too few verbs. You may fall into repeating the same generic verb (say, “Manage”) many times. This repetition can distract the hiring manager and fail to show the varied nature of your experience. The following list will help you mix up the verbs on your host or hostess resume:

Action Verbs
Assist Collaborate
Coordinate Improve
Increase Listen
Manage Monitor
Organize Oversee
Schedule Support
Train Resolve
Supervise Welcome

How to Align Your Resume With a Job Posting

For each job in your Experience section, consider adding a description of the restaurant or facility. You can place this description in brackets right next to or below the facility name. It also helps to match formatting. For instance, if you’ve italicized the facility name, italicize the description too.

Facility descriptions let you show any similarity between the places you’ve worked and the place you now want to work. For instance, maybe you’ve worked in the same type of cuisine or for a similar size facility. If you’re applying for a job in a high-volume or highly rated restaurant, use facility descriptions to emphasize any background you have in these environments. By working these details into your resume, you can make it that much more relevant to the job opening at hand.

Other Resume Examples

The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that jobs for food and beverage servers and related workers will increase by about nine percent between 2021 and 2031. For more on finding opportunities in this field, check out the links below: