The Possibility of Career in Hospitality for a Waiter / Waitress

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Have you ever imagined that being a hotel waiter or waitress can be a lucrative career in Hospitality Industry? In simple words, yes, 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.

Advancing in a particular career is about holding roles that are more valuable and important, and you can achieve that too as a waiter. 80% of the hotel managers in the world have been working as waiters at the beginning of their careers. In this guide, we will be taking a quick look at how you can move up the ladder in your career as a waiter.

Waiters; An underrated career in Hospitality

Many persons 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 a specialized skill or idea to offer.

A lot of waiters are taking their job lightly. They believe that waiting for guests in a restaurant is very easy. People like that will be stuck in mediocracy for the rest of their lives and they will never grow and never see their income rise. It will take more than simple and straightforward tasks to move ahead and make a career. As we go on in this guide, you will see how you can advance as a waiter and earn a very respectable life.

The soft skills

Waiters are tasked in the restaurant, with the simple function of tending to guests. 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 involves you 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

Communication is another critical skill that a waiter needs to be effective. Waiters are the interface between the restaurant and the customer. Whenever the customer needs something, has a query, or requires to report something, they call on the waiter. A waiter with a bad communication skills cannot satisfy the customer – who in one way or the other always believes they are right. Communication is vital to the job of a 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, as there is some instance you are not able to write down what the customer needs, as your hand is full. You need to be able to remember, with such precision and accuracy to ensure that the customer gets what he wants. While the waiter has little or no control over what he remembers or not, he or she can work on improving the retentive memory with practice.

These skills and many more are critical to advance in a career as a waiter. Hence, if you are looking for a way to advance in your career as a waiter, you need to master these skills. Carry out in-depth research to know what is desired of a waiter in the career path you choose. There are several career paths you can take as a waiter, and in the following section, we make details of them.

Career Path for hotel waiters

Progress in career is possible for waiters, and the different 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

There are always cocktail parties, now and then, and you can tap into an opportunity. However, cocktail waitresses are different from normal waitresses. These are more formal waiters and have codes of conduct that must be taken seriously. For instance, they are always in uniform. This is a path you can follow. Today you can start from the 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

Starting as a waiter in a hotel will probably be at the 2-3 stars hotel level and as a breakfast waiter in 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 the Hotel Manager’s job. Of course, on the way, you will have to acquire tons of skills and knowledge and undertake numerous trainings and education in Hospitality but the opportunity is there for those of you with determination, discipline, and will! Even if you make only a waiter in a fine dining restaurant at a five stars hotel, you will still have earned yourself a beautiful life.

Steward

These are waiters that work for personal individuals, establishments, and organizations. This work seems more private and mostly used by VIPs. Hence, the waiter needs to be one of the classes. 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

There is so much misconception about the importance of waiters in society, and this is because of the belief that there is no need for technical skills. However, soft skills are critical and are what will distinguish you as a person. The best way to advance in a career in hospitality as a waiter is to develop as a person. Then you can begin your search for the right company in the industry on Jobsora.