How to write a hospitality CV that gets interviews

Your CV is often the first thing a hiring manager sees. In hospitality, they might review dozens a day — so yours needs to stand out quickly.

Start with a short personal statement. Two or three sentences about who you are, what you bring, and what you're looking for. Keep it specific to hospitality — mention your strongest skills and the type of venue you work best in.

List your experience in reverse order, most recent first. For each role, include the venue name, your title, and the dates you worked there. Then add two or three bullet points about what you actually did — not just your job title, but the impact you made.

For example, instead of "Responsible for food preparation", write "Prepared 80+ covers per service in a busy brasserie kitchen, maintaining consistent quality under pressure."

Skills matter more than qualifications in hospitality. List your food safety certificates, any training you've completed, and practical skills like barista training, cocktail knowledge, or specific POS systems you've used.

Keep it to two pages maximum. Use a clean, simple layout — no fancy graphics or unusual fonts. Hiring managers want to find information quickly, not admire your design skills.

Finally, tailor your CV for each application. If the job posting mentions specific requirements, make sure those skills are visible on your CV. A generic CV is easy to spot and easy to skip.