How to Write an Effective Restaurant Manager Resume

by Brian Bruce
(Oklahoma City, OK, USA)

Brian Bruce, Executive Recruiter

The following are some resume writing tips that will help you with your objective of getting the restaurant interview. Make sure you go over your resume with your recruiter prior to having him/her send yours to any restaurant hiring manager. Use spell check as well.

If you're a restaurant manager, don't list yourself as a "retaurant manager", "restaraunt or restraunt manager", or "restaurant manger" (None of these are spelled correctly).

Also, check the spelling of the name of your current and previous employers. Failure to put forth this effort decreases the level of professionalism with which you are regarded and brings into question your attention to detail.

NAME:
Email Address and/or Personal Web Address
Permanent Street: City, State Zip Code
Phone Number

EDUCATION:
Institution location: Certain restaurant concepts take education under higher consideration than others.

Generally, larger companies doing a higher level search pay closer attention to a restaurant manager’s education, but you can never be sure what type of person will be examining your resume.

Always try to include full details on your education including degrees and awards received.

CAREER OBJECTIVE:
In many ways, the resume objective is the bread and butter of the actual document.

Including an objective provides the official introduction to the rest of your text, discussing your career objectives along with the kind of restaurant jobs you’re looking for.

It sets the tone for the remaining content and is the first thing that hiring manager looks at. Because of this, you need to give your attention to the resume objective.

What is your goal in relation to the restaurant manager jobs you’re looking at? State that in your restaurant resume objective. Some restaurant resume objectives include:

*To obtain a management position in the restaurant industry with upward mobility from assistant manager to general manager.

*To obtain a position in hospitality which makes use of my guest relations skills.

*To obtain a position in the restaurant industry with excellent mobility and room to grow.

Note that all of these restaurant resume objectives are short and to the point – one sentence phrases consisting of two major parts that serves as an introduction to getting the rest of your resume read.

EXPERIENCE:
List experiences as follows: Job title, employer, location (city, state) and the dates.

The order of the job title and the employer depends on how you want to present yourself. De-emphasize dates, months may or may not be relevant.

Start each description with an action word. Use present tense verbs when referring to current activities. Use past tense verbs when referring to past activities. Do not use “I” or “My”.

Tailor this section for the type of foodservice jobs you are applying – Assistant Manager, General Manager, Multi-Unit Manager, etc.

You may choose to put either the job title or employer name first. You should decide which is more important - where you worked or what you did.

Cite your specific responsibilities and accomplishments for each position. Do NOT simply write a generic restaurant manager job description here!

Be thorough in your descriptions without exaggerating. Appropriate divisions for this category may include training/development experience, new store opening experience, P&L experience, etc.

SKILLS:

Computer: Even if it is only word processing skills, list familiarity with computer systems, applications and programs. If you don't have it, they may assume you don't know it.

Language: State degree of proficiency in reading, writing and speaking, especially if bilingual. This is a big plus to some restaurants.

HONORS & AWARDS: List academic, leadership and athletic honors.

ACTIVITIES/SPECIAL INTERESTS:
Include leadership positions, such as offices held and responsibilities. You do not need to include everything you have done, be selective in your listing.

REFERENCES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST: You should only use this if you need to fill space.
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Brian Bruce, author of multiple articles published on many websites and several industry trade publications, has been cited in multiple news stories as an authority in Executive Restaurant Recruiting.

He's an Executive Restaurant Recruiter with Premier Solutions in Oklahoma City, OK and a Blogger. He can be reached at 877-948-4001, by email at HeadHunterBrian@gmail.com, or on his blog at HeadHunterBrian.com.