Summary

There's more to being a waiting staff than simply delivering orders. To truly serve up success, you need to have a wide range of skills – but the good news is that you can learn each of these on the job.Whilst our kitchen assistants and head chefs are behind the scenes preparing the orders our waiting staff are providing excellent customer service, delivering those orders and most importantly taking everything in their stride.We couldn’t deliver the service that we do without our waiters and waitresses, so you could say they bring a lot to the table. But what do they gain? We’re going to bring you the top five transferable skills you learn in a waiting staff job:The ultimate team playerTeamwork is dream work, there’s no I in team, many hands make light work – we’ve all heard expressions like these about the power of teamwork but have you ever stopped and wondered how working in a team can boost your career?The teamwork skills you’ll pick up in this role are truly unique. The O’Neills waiting staff come together with their fellow waiters and waitresses as well as kitchen assistants, head chefs and general managers. So, not only do you improve your peer-to-peer teamwork skills but you learn to work alongside people in different roles, making you the ultimate team player. TOP-NOTCH LISTENING In the restaurant industry, while the chefs are back mastering their chopping skills the waiting staff are in the front polishing their listening skills. Customer service can be unpredictable at times – our waiting staff at Harvester are sure to have a reel of stories when they had to think on their feet and more times than not it’s the active listening skills that have saved the day for them.This may sound simple enough but it is an essential skill to refine because most people are inefficient listeners. While the average person only remembers 50% of the information that they hear, in a waiting staff job this is simply not an option – think of all the guests who would miss out on their desserts!Crisis heroThere’s no denying that working as a waiter or waitress teaches you how to always deliver. In this restaurant job, you’ll learn that one wrong order can lead to pandemonium in the kitchen – preparing you for the unexpected and giving you the skills to manage each and every situation that’s thrown at you. Waiting staff learn early on how to manage all possible situations, whether it’s tracking down a missing drink or talking customer through a more serious crisis.Unbreakable resilienceResilience is all about how you bounce back from a situation. First waiters and waitresses master how to get a handle on a problem and next they learn how to recover from them. Many little things can go wrong in a shift for a waiting staff member. Have you spilt a drink in a customer’s lap? We’re happy to break it to you that you’re not the first and you won’t be the last.Luckily, these experiences will teach you the ropes and lay the building blocks for an unbreakable level of resilience – this is a stand-out skill to have no matter which job you move onto next.Crystal-clear communicationCommunication is key. How many times have we heard this? We all know how important it is to have good communication at work and that’s why most jobs list it as an essential skill. In fact, when managers and employees were asked to rank key leadership skills, communication secured a spot in the top five.Every waiter and waitress knows all too well that each customer needs a different communication style. So, if you stay in the restaurant industry or decide to change up your career you’ll have a transferable skill that will help you communicate with people from all walks of life.Come and work for Mitchells and ButlersDo you want to become a part of a 44,000 strong work family? If you’re passionate about food and want to build your career in a friendly workplace then a waiting staff job at M&B might just be the right fit for you. And with these five transferable skills, you have the right ingredients for a successful career, whichever way your steer it.  Make sure to sign up to job alerts so your the first to know  about our next waiting staff or bar staff opportunity.