How to become a waitress if you are broke and jobless, and why!

Hey guys,
In this tutorial, I will explain why now is a great time to become a waiter, how to become a waitress, and how to grow fast in this business so you can start making a lot of money and live a great life.

Never before in the history of our industry, the labor shortage has been so severe.
Restaurants and hotels from all over the world are calling me to help them find staff. Top paying jobs that have never been available before stay on the job sites for months, and no one wants to take them.
International markets are opening their doors for foreigners, and it has never been easier to land a cruise ship job.
So here are the steps you need to take to become a waiter or find a better-paying job.

Start by creating a perfect CV

• Learn how to present yourself and your service in the best possible way. Creating a modern and professional-looking CV is step one.

Click here to access beautiful, free CV templates and to learn how to fill them out!

Get referral letters

• referral letters are important because they show that you have done a great job in your previous positions and that the people you have worked with are happy with your performance. If you have no prior experience, get a referral letter from your teachers, courses you have accomplished, or even sports or music events you have participated in.

Find courses you can take to gain knowledge and learn skills related to the job

• Having a certificate will tremendously improve your chances of getting a good job! If you can’t afford to invest in yourself, find free courses online and learn from there.

The Waiter’s Academy offers complete F&B training for the price of 10$ a month with the option to get a full refund of your money if you complete all five courses within 30 days!

Write a compelling Motivational letter

• it is so important to be able to express yourself in a personal manner but to keep the tone professional. HR experts want to see that you are an intelligent communicator and know your strengths and what you bring to the table.

Click here to access tutorials on how to write a motivational letter.

Start searching for a job

• There are two ways to search for a job. One is to go around the neighborhood or the town and stop by every restaurant you think is a good idea to get a job. You have all your paperwork printed and put in folders. You go to the front door, and you ask for a manager. Don’t leave your papers with someone at the door. Ask for a manager. When the manager comes, you talk to them in a friendly, positive manner and present your CV and letters. If you get rejected, don’t show disappointment; thank them for the time and advise them to call you anytime they need a new waiter.
• The second way is to search for a job on the internet. Google for the best job sites and start looking for a job there. Send at least 20 applications a day. I guarantee you will have at least three calls for a job interview in one week. 

Preparing for a job interview

• a crucial part of the process that many underestimate grossly! If you want to get the job, you have to be better prepared and present yourself in a better way than anyone else. I have written a tutorial on how to prepare for a job interview that guarantees you 99.9% success. I have interviewed hundreds of managers, successful waiters, and HR experts to create this tutorial. It has proven to be successful through the years from many students of The Waiter’s Academy, and I know it will be helpful to you as well:

Click here to access the free tutorial on how to prepare for a job interview as a waiter/waitress

Get ready for your first day at work

• once you have succeeded with the interview and got the job, you may not lay back and chill. Your first day at work will be vital for your rapid development and relationships in the restaurant. Start preparing for the new job so that once you hit the floor, everyone to be impressed with your skills, knowledge, and performance! You want to be the best new waiter/waitress they have ever seen. One of the best tutorials I have ever written is on this subject, and it has helped thousands of waiters to have a smooth transition into their new job.

Click here to access the free tutorial on how to prepare for a new waiter’s job.

Polishing your skills, gaining knowledge and experience

• this stretch of your path to success is the most important period many waiters completely ignore. Once they have the job, they relax and go with the flow. You don’t want to do that if you want to be a successful person, living the good life. Every job offers so much to learn and experience, and you should try to take all you can from it as fast as possible. The objective is to become the best waiter/waitress in the restaurant in the next 6 to 12 months. That will happen by learning new skills, and I will list the main skills a waiter should acquire:

1. Selling and up-selling skills – becoming the top seller in your restaurant will increase your earnings and your status!
2. How to handle guests’ complaints – 
3. How to handle rude guests – 
4. How to small talk with guests – 
5. The Sequence of Service – depending on the type of restaurant you are working in, there are different levels of service, and it is mandatory to learn them all to fast-track your career to the highest levels of hospitality. Steps of Service in Casual dining, Steps of service in Fine Dining, LQA Standard for restaurants.
6. Wine service skills – the more you grow in the business, the higher the expectations of your guests will be. How to open a bottle of wine in a casual dining restaurant is a different game than opening a bottle of 5000 dollars wine in a fine dining restaurant. You have to learn how to decant wine,  open a bottle of champagne, pair wine with food, and much more.
7. Leadership – the more you grow more important your communications with your coworkers become. You will lead a team of young waiters who have to help you run your station and learn the job. Eventually, you will move on to a supervising position, and your leadership skills become crucial for your success. It is best to start learning leadership skills early because this will help you skyrocket your career and get to a high-paying management job much faster. 

Making the next move

• once you have learned all the skills and procedures and gained all the knowledge you could gain from a job, it is time to move on. Your goal must be to grow as fast as possible so you can get to well-paying jobs and start living the good life sooner. 

1. Don’t spend more than six months working as a busboy without asking for a promotion to become a backup waiter or waiter.
2. Don’t spend more than a year as a backup waiter. Get to the front waiter position in less than 12 months.
3. Two years as a front waiter should be enough to ask for a promotion to a supervisor position or assistant restaurant manager.
4. One year as an assistant or supervisor is enough to move to a manager position.
5. Two years as a manager is absolutely enough to get promoted to an assistant F&B director.
6. One year as an assistant is enough to become an F&B director (probably at another hotel)
7. Two years as an F&B director should be enough to move to a Hotel Director.

Those are the steps in front of you if you want to make a career in hospitality! You can make all those steps in the same company or change companies if the next position is unavailable and won’t be available for the perceivable time. If you don’t want a career but want to stay in the industry and make excellent money, your goal should be to become a waiter/waitress in the top restaurants in the world. I know a lot of waiters who make more money and live a better life than an F&B director.

Let’s look into the path to success by remaining a waiter

Let’s assume you have gone through the above process and now have a job. You won’t pursue a career, but you want to make a lot of money and live a good life as a waiter.
I want you to know that there are waiters’ jobs that bring you less than 200 dollars and those that bring you over 10 000 dollars!
Usually, the jobs that bring you less than 200 dollars a month require much longer hours and much more running and stress than the jobs that bring 10 000 dollars a month. So, understandably, every waiter should strive to get well-paying jobs because they deliver better quality of life.
What does it take to get those jobs:
The quick answer is to become in the top 10% of your industry and apply for the right job, but things are not so simple.

• Experience – to be hired for a top job you need to have a similar experience. The good thing is that even restaurants that offer those jobs are having trouble finding quality staff, so they lower the bar on this requirement. Still, having experience in an upscale or fine dining restaurant will help you.
• Knowledge – starting a job in a top restaurant without knowledge will be a disaster for the company and you. Learn as much as you could about service procedures, gourmet food, expensive wines, and liquor.
• Languages – top restaurants cater to wealthy people from around the world, and speaking multiple languages is a huge advantage when you apply for a job.
• Skills – we already spoke about the required skills to become a top waiter. The more skillful you are, the better chance you have to land a top job.
• Presenting your case – it is not enough to be the best waiter in the world; you have to be able to present yourself as such without being arrogant or cocky! Preparing a perfect CV and paperwork is the first step, but learning how to prepare for and behave during interviews is vital.

• On the job – remember that not everyone hired for a job remains on the job. Often, the management will let you go during your trial period because they determine that you are not fit for the job. Once you get hired, start learning the menu, the wine list, the drink menu, and everything else you need to succeed.

You should know that finding a well-paying job might not be what you have been looking for. Money enhances life, but it is not the most important thing in life and is definitely not a guarantee of happiness. The good thing is that you can always go back. The way back is easy, and the path to the top is hard, but the experience itself is worth trying.

Best of luck to all of you,

Ned