Waiter's Career in the Hospitality Industry

Have you ever thought about a career in the Hospitality Industry as a waiter/waitress? Believe it or not, you can advance in a career as a waiter or a waitress, once you know the right way to do it. For the sake of this article, we will be classifying both genders under “waiter” for ease of reading.

Making a career means starting from the bottom and with every other job to take on more responsibilities, get better pay, and live a better life. 

80% of the hotel managers in the world have been working as waiters at the beginning of their careers. Here, we will take a quick look at how you can move up the ladder in your career as a waiter.

Is the waiter job an underrated career in the Hospitality Industry

Many young people only find themselves as waiters because they are unable to secure job roles in their chosen profession or course of study. And there are several waiters out there because they believe it doesn’t necessarily require any skills to be a waiter.

Many young people only find themselves as waiters because they are unable to secure job roles in their chosen profession or course of study. And there are several waiters out there because they believe it doesn’t necessarily require any skills to be a waiter.

The soft skills

Waiters are tasked in the restaurant, with the function of tending to guest's needs. However, there are several soft skills needed to be an effective waiter. You will be surprised to know that waiters consciously or subconsciously exhibit traces of emotional intelligence – an essential soft skill of human resource managers.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is being able to recognize your own emotions and that of the guests, with the ability to decipher feelings, and being able to leverage that in your actions and thinking. In simpler terms, a good waiter knows how to read the mood of the guest, and uses that information to understand how best to relate with such guest. This is very important because every customer is essential to the café or the restaurant.

Communication

The waiter has to be an excellent communicator. The waiters are the face of the restaurant, the first and the last persons who communicate with the guest. They are the only people who can influence their decision-making process. Whenever a guest needs something, has a query, or requires to report something, they call on the waiter. A waiter with bad communication skills cannot respond properly and could leave the guest displeased. Communication is vital to the job of the waiter.  

Excellent memory

There are several other skills out there for a waiter to master and apply in everyday life. A sharp memory is also essential. There are some instances when you are not able to write down the guest's order. You need to be able to remember, with such precision and accuracy to ensure that the guest gets what he wants. There is no such thing as a "bad memory"! You can work on improving retentive memory with practice.

These skills and many more are critical to advance in a career as a waiter. Master these skills and you will guarantee yourself a very lucrative career. There are several career paths you can take as a waiter, and in the following section, we make details of them.

Career Path for waiters

The different waiter jobs sometimes come with different requirements. Hence, you need to be sure of the career path that suits you and make a conscious effort to meet the requirements in that career in Hospitality. Below are some paths you can advance as a waiter

Cocktail waitress

Cocktail parties, nightclubs, bar lounges, and casinos all employ cocktail waitresses. Mostly, your job will require carrying and serving drinks! This is a career path you can consider! Today you can start from your local bar and grow all the way to become a cocktail waitress in a casino in Las Vegas. You won’t believe what kind of money that could bring you.

Restaurant Waiter

These are the most common form of waiters. And in most cases, it is the starting point of a career in hospitality as a waiter. It is more flexible, and the rules you have to follow are peculiar to the restaurant you are working with. In a small neighborhood restaurant, the requirements may be low and the income won’t be much but the more you learn, the more experience you gain, and the more skills you acquire the better jobs will be available for you. Your goal should be the fine dining restaurants or the Michelin star restaurants where the requirements of your skills and knowledge will be tremendous, but the income will match that, and you will be living a very exciting life.

Hotel Waiter

You could easily find a job and start as a waiter at the 2-3 stars hotel level and as a breakfast waiter or a buffet restaurant if you have no experience or skills. The good thing is that here your career path is with no limits, all the way to Hotel Manager. Of course, you will have to acquire tons of skills and knowledge, undertake numerous trainings and education in Hospitality Management, but with determination, discipline, and will you can achieve it! Even if you make only a waiter in a fine dining restaurant at a five-star hotel, you will still have earned yourself a beautiful life.

Steward

Stewards work for personal individuals, establishments, and organizations. This work seems more private and mostly used by VIPs. Hence, the waiter needs to possess all the soft skills and tons of experience. The skills mentioned above are very critical to this level of work, as there is most likely room for no mistake. Stewards are subject to frequent training and tutoring.

Final take

You can be the waiter who "simply" brings the plates from the kitchen to the table and still makes a living. However, soft skills are critical and are what will distinguish you as a person if you want to make a career as a waiter. The best way to advance in a career in the Hospitality Industry as a waiter is to develop as a person. Then you can begin your search for the right company in the industry on https://waitersnetwork.com/

Source: https://www.thewaitersacademy.com/2020/04/career-in-hospitality/