One of the challenges associated with creating a hospitality resume is making sure it zeros in on the position you’re applying for while highlighting the many skills you bring to the table, especially when some may step outside of the realm of the job.
If you’re applying for a job in the restaurant sector but have training in a broader array of industries within hospitality, you may be scratching your head trying to figure out how to fit it all in. Don’t fret. There is a way to create a great document that can showcase it all.
Use Your Job Target as a Guide
A great way to not only lure a hiring manager into reading your resume, but also guide them through the document to know which skills and qualifications to look for, is by creating an eye-catching job target. The job target is similar to the subject line of an e-mail or the title of an article in it provides insight into what the reader can expect.
In this case, writing a target that zeros in on your skills acquired while working in restaurants but also mentions other experience in the hospitality field tells the manager that you bring both types of experience to the table. An example of this type of target might be: “Head Waiter with 10 Years Extensive Team Management, Sales and Customer Service Experience; Trained in Expanded Hospitality Services.”
This target not only explains that you are highly skilled in managing a team, handling sales, and dealing with customers, but you have a background in other areas of hospitality that will encourage the manager to look through your resume to see how else you can be an asset to the company.
Dig Deeper with Your Career Summary
Now that your job target has served as the tip of the iceberg, hopefully convincing the hiring manager to read more about you, you can go into further details about your background in your career summary.
The career summary provides you with the opportunity to highlight moments that stand out in your hospitality career. You can bullet-point your highlighted moments as a head waiter by sharing some great achievements, individual or team awards won, record number of customers served, etc.
This can also be a place to expand on your hospitality skills as long as they show that you will be a better head waiter thanks to those skills. For instance, you if spent two years as a hotel management trainee who took responsibility for the cooking staff, you can highlight this as well.
It’s great to have expanded experience in the hospitality field. The key is to make sure you focus on the job you’re applying for and only sliding the other details in when they suit the position. Otherwise, your resume will look more like a cluttered document than an accomplishment-packed masterpiece.
Jessica Holbrook Hernandez, CEO of Great Resumes Fast is an expert resume writer, career and personal branding strategist, author, and presenter. Click here » to review FREE resume and cover letter samples.Image from auremar/Shutterstock
The leaves are changing, the kids are back in school, and that familiar chill is in the air. You think it's the perfect time to look for a job, and it is! But are your job search fears preventing you from making that leap?
It's not uncommon to feel lost when embarking on your job search journey. After all, school teaches us everything except how to get a job. What should you put on your resume? What questions should you ask in an interview? How can you stand out in the hiring process when there's so much competition?
Are you feeling spooked yet?
Believe it or not, there's no need to be afraid of the job search process! You can land your dream job with the right tools and strategy. You can find a job that won't give you nightmares. Here are three spooky secrets every job seeker should know as they look for a job this fall.
1. An Effective Job Search Starts With An Interview Bucket List
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Despite your fears, you've decided to take the plunge and look for a new job. You might be asking yourself, "Where do I start?" The answer is simple: start by creating an interview bucket list.
An interview bucket list is a list of 10-20 companies you'd love to work for. Are you passionate about a company's products or services? Do you feel connected to its mission? Can you relate to its values and beliefs as an organization? If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, that company probably belongs on your interview bucket list.
Once you create an interview bucket list, you'll be able to conduct a targeted job search, one with direction and a foundation upon which everything else will be built. An interview bucket list helps you focus your job search and networking strategies on the right opportunities, making it easier to get your foot in the door at one of your dream companies.
2. Your Job Application Needs To Disrupt Hiring Managers
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In order to stand out in the hiring process, you need to disrupt recruiters and hiring managers. You accomplish this by doing two things: optimizing your resume and writing a disruptive cover letter.
A well-optimized resume includes keywords from the job description. This ensures your resume gets past the ATS and into the hands of the hiring manager. Once it's in front of the hiring manager, it needs to grab and keep their attention. Quantifying your work experience—adding numbers to your bullet points—will make you stand out from other applicants. Hiring managers will want to know more about you and your accomplishments, and that's how you land a phone interview.
Before that, though, a hiring manager will read your cover letter. To disrupt them, you need to write a disruptive cover letter (obviously!). A disruptive cover letter gives you the opportunity to tell a story about why you feel connected to the company you're applying for. It's that storytelling aspect that will stand out to hiring managers and compel them to pick up the phone and give you a call.
3. Employers Hire You Based On 3 Things
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You can't get hired unless you know what employers are assessing you on in the interview process. While your skills and expertise matter, companies actually hire for three things: personality, aptitude, and experience (in that order).
Most job seekers don't realize how important it is to demonstrate their personality, aptitude, and experience in an interview. You could have the right experience for a job, but if the hiring manager doesn't think your personality is a good fit for the company culture, you probably won't get a job offer.
Make sure you demonstrate your soft skills and learn how to answer behavioral interview questions to prove you're the best candidate for the job you're applying for, not just the most qualified.
Want To Learn More Job Search Secrets?
As you look for a job this fall, it might be helpful to know some more spooky secrets so you can get over your job search fears and finally take control of your career.
We know the job search process can be scary. However, it's important to get clear on what you want to do next and focus on conducting a strategic job search, or what we refer to at Work It DAILY as job shopping. This is the only way to effectively market yourself to employers. If they can't see exactly where and how you add value, then that's going to decrease your chances of landing the job.
The competition is fierce, and there are a lot of factors that are out of your control. But the one factor you can control is your job search strategy, the tools and tactics you use to land a job.
If you want to learn the secrets to conducting a strategic job search, sign up for our Job Search Bootcamp, a two-hour, on-demand video workshop that comes with a free workbook.
In this video workshop, you'll learn:
How to use backchanneling to get directly to hiring managers.
The secret to using a connection story to stand out against the competition.
How social media can be your secret weapon to get job interviews.
The resume format that is getting job seekers more job interviews.
One of the challenges associated with creating a hospitality resume is making sure it zeros in on the position you’re applying for while highlighting the many skills you bring to the table, especially when some may step outside of the realm of the job.
If you’re applying for a job in the restaurant sector but have training in a broader array of industries within hospitality, you may be scratching your head trying to figure out how to fit it all in. Don’t fret. There is a way to create a great document that can showcase it all.
Use Your Job Target as a Guide
A great way to not only lure a hiring manager into reading your resume, but also guide them through the document to know which skills and qualifications to look for, is by creating an eye-catching job target. The job target is similar to the subject line of an e-mail or the title of an article in it provides insight into what the reader can expect.
In this case, writing a target that zeros in on your skills acquired while working in restaurants but also mentions other experience in the hospitality field tells the manager that you bring both types of experience to the table. An example of this type of target might be: “Head Waiter with 10 Years Extensive Team Management, Sales and Customer Service Experience; Trained in Expanded Hospitality Services.”
This target not only explains that you are highly skilled in managing a team, handling sales, and dealing with customers, but you have a background in other areas of hospitality that will encourage the manager to look through your resume to see how else you can be an asset to the company.
Dig Deeper with Your Career Summary
Now that your job target has served as the tip of the iceberg, hopefully convincing the hiring manager to read more about you, you can go into further details about your background in your career summary.
The career summary provides you with the opportunity to highlight moments that stand out in your hospitality career. You can bullet-point your highlighted moments as a head waiter by sharing some great achievements, individual or team awards won, record number of customers served, etc.
This can also be a place to expand on your hospitality skills as long as they show that you will be a better head waiter thanks to those skills. For instance, you if spent two years as a hotel management trainee who took responsibility for the cooking staff, you can highlight this as well.
It’s great to have expanded experience in the hospitality field. The key is to make sure you focus on the job you’re applying for and only sliding the other details in when they suit the position. Otherwise, your resume will look more like a cluttered document than an accomplishment-packed masterpiece.
Jessica Holbrook Hernandez, CEO of Great Resumes Fast is an expert resume writer, career and personal branding strategist, author, and presenter. Click here » to review FREE resume and cover letter samples.Image from auremar/Shutterstock
