A hospitality CV is not a generic CV

The hospitality industry is one of the UK's largest employers, covering hotels, restaurants, bars, pubs, cafés, event venues and more. Yet the vast majority of applicants send a generic CV that fails to speak the language of the sector.

What a hospitality recruiter — a head chef, a restaurant manager, a hotel HR director — needs to see is different from what works in an office context. They are not looking for elaborate competency frameworks or academic achievements. They are scanning for fast, concrete signals: Have you worked in a similar environment? Do you know the pace and expectations of service? Are you available when we actually need you?

In a sector where vacancies are filled quickly and turnover is high, your CV needs to answer these questions within seconds. It doesn't need to be perfect — it needs to be immediately useful.

What hospitality recruiters look for first

When a recruiter opens your CV, they are not reading it word for word. They are scanning for:

Job titles — waiter, commis chef, sous chef, kitchen porter, front desk receptionist, bartender, events coordinator, food and beverage manager. The titles must be immediately recognisable.
Type of establishment — Michelin-starred restaurant, gastro-pub, high-street chain, four-star hotel, independent boutique hotel, catering company, staff canteen. Each tells the recruiter about the pace, the service standard and the complexity involved.
Availability — evenings, weekends, bank holidays, split shifts, seasonal contracts. In hospitality, your availability is as relevant as your experience. If you don't mention it, the recruiter has to ask.
Certifications — Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate, personal licence, first aid at work, DBS check (for roles with vulnerable guests), SIA licence (for venues with security requirements).
Languages — particularly relevant for hotels and upscale restaurants serving international clientele. Indicate your level clearly and honestly. Our guide on how to show language skills on a CV explains how to do this well.

These five signals should be visible within the first ten seconds of reading your CV. If the recruiter has to hunt for them, they move on.

Structure: how to build a strong hospitality CV

1. Job title — specific and operational

The title should match the exact role you are applying for.

Avoid:

❌ "Hospitality professional"
❌ "Experienced customer service individual"
❌ "Motivated team player seeking kitchen role"

Prefer:

✅ "Waiter — available weekends and evenings, immediate start"
✅ "Commis Chef — seasonal contract summer 2026"
✅ "Front Desk Receptionist — four-star hotel, full-time"
✅ "Sous Chef — looking for head chef progression"

A clear title helps keyword matching in applicant tracking systems used by large hotel chains and restaurant groups.

2. Profile summary — two or three lines, no more

In hospitality, a short profile summary adds real value. It answers the recruiter's first question — who are you and what do you want — before they read a single bullet point.

Example for an experienced waiter:

"Waiter with five years' experience across gastropub, fine dining and private event settings. Confident handling large covers, upselling and managing customer complaints calmly. Available evenings and weekends, immediate start."

Example for a candidate with no previous hospitality experience:

"Recent Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate holder, two-week kitchen experience gained in a school canteen. Keen to move into a professional kitchen environment. Fully flexible on hours and available from July."

3. Work experience — describe the context, not just the task

The experience section carries the most weight. For each role, include:

The type of venue and its scale (number of covers, number of bedrooms, hotel rating)
Your exact position and contract type
The specific tasks you carried out
Any tools, systems or equipment you used
A result or a sign of the service standard, where relevant

Example — kitchen porter:

The Anchor Inn, Sheffield — 80-cover gastropub Kitchen Porter — permanent part-time (September 2024 – present)

Maintained cleanliness of all kitchen areas throughout service, including pots, utensils and surfaces

Assisted commis and senior chefs with basic food prep during peak periods

Managed waste disposal and stock rotation in accordance with food safety procedures

Example — hotel receptionist:

Radisson Blu Manchester — 330 bedrooms, four-star Receptionist — fixed-term contract, 8 months (2025)

Check-in and check-out using Opera PMS for up to 60 arrivals per shift

Handled guest complaints and special requests, escalating to duty manager when required

Processed payments, managed cash float and produced end-of-shift reports

Communicated in English and French with international guests

4. Skills — concrete and role-relevant

Remove vague phrases like "great with customers" or "hardworking team player." Use specific, operational language.

For front of house and waiting:

Table service styles: silver service, plate service, counter service
Reservation and POS systems: OpenTable, ResDiary, Square, Lightspeed
Wine and beverage knowledge, upselling techniques
EPOS and cash handling
Allergy and dietary awareness

For kitchen roles:

Section experience: cold prep, hot section, pastry, larder
Types of cuisine and cooking methods
HACCP compliance and food safety practices
Equipment: fryers, combination ovens, blast chillers
Stock management, prep lists and mise en place discipline

For hotel reception:

PMS software: Opera, Mews, Protel, Fidelio
Channel manager and OTA experience (Booking.com, Expedia)
Guest complaint handling and service recovery
Night audit or cash reconciliation (if applicable)

By role: what to emphasise

Waiter or front of house

Focus on the volume of covers, the type of service and your experience handling different situations — a Saturday night fully booked service, a private dining event, a demanding regular. Mention your knowledge of food and wine if relevant: it signals genuine professional investment.

Chef or kitchen role

Recruiters want to see your specific section experience, the style of cuisine and the size of the brigade. A City & Guilds or NVQ Level 2 or 3 in Professional Cookery should be listed prominently. If you have specialist training (pastry, butchery, Japanese cuisine, fermentation), mention it — it differentiates your profile.

Hotel receptionist

Language skills and PMS experience are the two most important qualifiers. Beyond that, recruiters value your ability to stay calm under pressure — overbookings, difficult guests, technical failures. Any experience with revenue management, upselling upgrades or coordinating with multiple departments strengthens the profile further.

Seasonal work: put it on your CV

Many applicants downplay a string of seasonal contracts. This is a mistake in hospitality. Hotel and restaurant managers understand that this industry runs on seasons — ski resorts, coastal hotels, summer music festivals, Christmas markets. Seeing several consecutive seasons on a CV tells a recruiter that you understand the demands of the sector and that you actively seek it out.

Do not hide your short contracts. Instead, contextualise them: the type of venue, the peak season, the volume. A summer of back-to-back seasonal work in a resort hotel is a genuine credential in this industry. For candidates applying specifically to seasonal roles, our guide on summer job CVs covers the essentials.

Certifications worth including

Level 2 Award in Food Safety (sometimes called Food Hygiene certificate): standard requirement for any kitchen or food-handling role
Personal Licence (APLH): required if you will be authorising alcohol sales
First Aid at Work: valued in hotels, large venues and resorts
NVQ / City & Guilds Level 2 or 3 in Professional Cookery, Front Office, or Hospitality and Catering
WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust): a real differentiator for front-of-house roles in premium venues

Common mistakes in hospitality CVs

Listing soft skills without any evidence. "Hardworking, enthusiastic, passionate about food" appears on almost every CV and tells the recruiter nothing. Show your qualities through what you did, not through adjectives. See our guide on which personal qualities to put on a CV and how to back them up.

Omitting your availability. This is one of the most practical pieces of information for a hospitality recruiter. Include it in your title or your summary. "Available evenings and weekends" or "fully flexible, including bank holidays" gives the recruiter what they need immediately.

Undervaluing short roles. A one-month placement in a café, a summer season as a bar runner, a few shifts at a hotel reception: all of these count. Do not remove them. If you have limited experience overall, our guide on writing a CV with no experience explains how to make the most of what you have.

Sending the same CV to every employer. The language appropriate for a Michelin-starred restaurant is different from a fast-casual chain. Adjust your title, summary and the emphasis within your bullet points accordingly.

Leaving out the software you know. If you have used Opera, Lightspeed, Tiller, Square or any other hospitality software, name it explicitly. It tells the recruiter you can start without needing to be trained from scratch.

Build your hospitality CV with CV Creator

CV Creator lets you build a clean, professional CV suited to the hospitality sector: specific job title, dedicated skills section, language proficiency block, and a clear PDF layout. No registration required — €2 one-time payment, unlimited CVs for 24 hours. View templates.

Hospitality CV: examples for waiters and hotel staff