Barista Resume Example & Writing Guide

One of the best ways to get a job as a coffee artist is to write a professional and irresistible barista resume. 

As the coffee industry continues to grow and evolve, it’s becoming increasingly important to demonstrate your proficiency as a barista the correct way. You want to show potential employers why they should choose you over other candidates.

This article will show you how to write a compelling barista resume, highlight your best skills, and show off your past work experience. So, whether you’re a seasoned professional or someone who’s just getting started in this field, grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and let’s get brewing. 

What is the Right Format to Use for a Barista Resume?

Before we take a look at the individual ingredients of your barista resume, we need to figure out a recipe first. The format of your resume determines in what way and order the information will be displayed on your document. There are many different formats to go with, but three of them usually bring candidates the most success:

1. The reverse chronological resume format puts your latest job and achievements first. It’s the most common format that’s both ATS-compatible and favored by the majority of hiring managers, which makes it an overall good choice.

2. The functional resume format is great for entry-level applicants who lack work experience. This format makes the skills section the main one, offsetting modest professional history that way.

3. The combination (hybrid) resume format can work well for the industry veterans. It’s a combination of the previous two formats, which puts your skills front and center while backing them up with considerable professional accomplishments.

Resume Layout

Being a barista, you know that good coffee also needs to look amazing. A resume layout represents a visual aspect of your document, which is also rather important, so here’s how to make sure you’ve gotten the most out of it:

• In most cases, your resume should be one-page long.

• Set your margins to 1 inch on all sides to make your document look clean and professional.

• Instead of going for overly stylized and poorly legible fonts, pick a resume-friendly one (like Arial or Helvetica) and use 10–12 pt size for text and 14–16 pt size for headings.

• To ensure you’ve included all the valuable information briefly and concisely, you should use bulleted lists instead of blocks of text.

What Sections Should a Barista Resume Contain?

There are two types of sections that every barista resume must have.

First off, there are the following five mandatory sections:

1. Contact information

2. Resume objective/summary

3. Work experience

4. Education

5. Skills

Then, there are optional sections, such as:

• Courses and licenses

• Languages

• Hobbies and interests

Creating a captivating barista resume is all about mixing must-have information with bits that are optional but important to hiring managers. However, if you don’t want to think about all that while writing your resume, feel free to try out our resume builder.

It comes with customizable templates where you can adjust everything in seconds. Plus, all the sections are already there, and you simply fill in the blanks with your information. In other words, you can have a professional resume in minutes!

Barista Resume Contact Information

The contact information section should be as simple as it gets. All you need to do is list your name, job title, phone number, and email address and call it a day. Optionally, you can add your location if you’re applying for a position abroad, as well as a business-related social media profile, such as LinkedIn.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Make sure to proofread everything since you don’t want a mistyped word to kill your chances of being contacted. Moreover, to keep everything clean and professional, you shouldn’t use a silly-looking email address or any irrelevant social media accounts. What you should do is use a precise job title—barista.

Barista Resume Objective or Summary

Your resume objective or summary is like a first sip of coffee. It needs to impress hiring managers enough for them to “drink up” the whole thing. That’s why this part needs to be short, impactful, and information-packed, and it also needs to be at the top of the document.

Think of this introductory paragraph as your barista resume description and a way for you to show your strongest features depending on how much experience you have. If you’re new to the industry, write a barista resume objective to highlight your skills and passion for the craft. 

On the flip side, as an experienced professional, a summary will help you emphasize your most prominent achievements.

Barista Resume Objective

The purpose of a resume objective is to highlight your most relevant skills and display potential right off the bat in 2–4 sentences. Here’s how to do that:

However, if you don’t give any information of substance, you’ll end up with a bland and uninspiring resume objective, like this one:

There’s nothing wrong with being passionate about brewing coffee, but what can you offer as an employee right now?

Barista Resume Summary

If you have years of experience, use those 2–4 sentences to talk about your biggest accomplishments. Give potential employers a taste of what you’re capable of with a catchy resume summary.

Here’s an example:

On the other hand, if you don’t give any concrete information, result, or achievement, you’ll end up with a summary that likely won’t grab anyone’s attention:

Barista Resume Work Experience

A work experience section is the best way to highlight your professional prowess, making it one of the most important parts of your barista resume.

No Barista Experience

If you’re making a barista resume with no experience, you can use other types of work as a substitute. Since the job of a barista revolves around serving customers, you can leverage other jobs that revolve around customer service.

Here’s an example of an entry-level barista using their experience as a McDonald’s cashier to craft a compelling work experience section:

Experienced Barista

As an experienced barista, you want to show what makes you better than the competition. Many people can brew quality coffee, but not everyone can prove that they helped their employers make more sales or increase their customer base.

Here’s an example:

Barista Resume Education Section

You don’t need a degree to be a barista, though one could definitely add credibility to your skills. When writing the education section of your barista resume, you should include the following information:

• Your degree

• The institute issuing it and its location

• Years of attendance

• Relevant achievements

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

You could also add a degree even if you haven’t obtained it yet. Either write “current” instead of a graduation date or put “expected” next to it.

Barista Resume Skills

Before you start listing skills on your barista resume, you should find out which ones interest hiring managers and potential employers the most. You can do that by researching the job ad and the organization that you’re applying to.

Once you have a working collection, you should separate the desirable soft skills and hard skills you possess and include them in the skills section of your resume. However, that’s only half of the job.

To demonstrate your abilities, you want to showcase them next to relevant accomplishments throughout your resume, too. You can use your resume summary or objective and bulleted lists in your work experience section to link your key skills to the results achieved and make them pop.

Barista Skills List

Barista Resume Optional Sections

Optional sections allow you to add more important information to your resume and further tailor it to the specific position that you’re applying for.

Courses & Licenses

If you attended any relevant coursework or obtained licenses that could add credibility to your skills, you should consider adding them to your resume after all the mandatory sections you have already included in it. This optional section is all the more important if you lack professional experience.

You can create a simple list with the names of courses and licenses and the institutions that issued them, along with issuing and expiry dates.

Languages

Baristas constantly communicate with customers, which makes proficiency in foreign languages an important skill. While it likely won’t make or break your chances with potential employers (unless the job ad asks for a specific language), this section will always look good on your resume. Simply create a list and add languages based on your skill level.

Hobbies & Interests

You must be wondering why you should add this section since it has nothing to do with the job. When you’re applying for a particular position, you’re looking to become a part of a bigger team. Employers want to see what you’re like as a person, and what better way to show that than with a brief list of the things you’re most passionate about?

Should You Submit a Cover Letter With Your Barista Resume?

You should definitely submit a cover letter that matches your resume to maximize your chances of success. The best way to do it is to write a personalized document that contains 3–5 brief paragraphs which further expand on your skills and abilities, as well as your desire to join their organization in particular.

Closing Thoughts

To sum it up, a solid barista resume is all about highlighting your skills and experiences that are most relevant to the position that you’re applying for. Whether you’re just starting out or have years of experience, you want to put your best foot forward and show potential employers your unique strengths that make you the optimal choice.

With this article, we’ve given you all the necessary information to help you craft a stellar document. Feel free to keep reading until you’re as good at writing resumes as you are at brewing coffee!