As a mixologist, you’re skilled in shaking and stirring up all types of cocktails, from creative inventions to tried-and-true classics, all while providing an impeccable drinking experience for your clientele.
However, writing an effective cover letter and making a killer resume may not be your strongest suit, and that’s okay. At BeamJobs, we’ve spoken with thousands of bartenders and mixologists over the years to figure out what (doesn’t) work when creating the perfect resume.
That’s why we created this guide that provides mixologist resume examples and all the info you need to make sure your resume is up to speed in today’s competitive market.
Why this resume works
- Bagging that job means you have come up with out-of-the-box techniques to shine brighter than the 200+ candidates eyeing it. A little birdie told us that sending in a mixologist resume and letting recruiters know you have the required skill set could do just that.
- So, your resume’s skills and work history sections should accent aspects that make you an asset (e.g., knowledge of beverage recipes, health and hygiene protocols, food and wine pairing). That alone can separate you from the crowd and boost your job chances.
Related resume examples
What Matters The Most: Your Skills & Work Experience
If you’re going to be a great mixologist, it requires being on top of your bartending game. The best way that hospitality recruiters can get a high-level overview of your cocktail making abilities is by including a bullet point list of your top skills.
While you can include a few soft skills like leadership or verbal communication, most of these can be woven in later on your mixologist resume. Plus, this isn’t the section to list out each specific cocktail technique you’ve mastered, like making oleo saccharum or throwing a cocktail.
Instead, focus on high-level skills, like those you picked up via a certification. You can dive deeper into your bartending skillset at the interview.
Here are some of the top skills to include on your bartending resume
9 most popular mixologist skills
- Food & wine pairing
- OSHA certification
- Food safety
- Flavor pairings
- TIPS certification
- (Modern) mixology
- Health & hygiene
- POS systems
- Customer service
Sample mixologist work experience bullet points
So you’ve cleared the skills section of your mixologist resume. However, that’s just the start. Using the career history section on your resume is a great way to contextualize your skills and help provide a bit of color.
You can do this by showcasing your impact, which simply means you want to make it clear what positive benefits your tasks and responsibilities led to, like customer satisfaction or increased revenue.
You can also use this section on your bartending resume to highlight any accomplishments or feats you’re proud of, like if you worked in a bar where you regularly served hundreds of patrons each night.
Let’s make it a little more tangible and look at a few examples:
- Created over 22 new drinks and added 15 new wines to the menu in my dual role as mixologist/sommelier
- Set up, prepared, and tore down all liquors, garnishes, and mixes for up to 400 drinks per function
- Memorized 150 different cocktail recipes and created 15 custom cocktail/food pairings for patrons to choose from
- Took an average of 220 orders a night and coordinated with lead mixologists to deliver to customers within 7 minutes, achieving 98% customer satisfaction
- Mantained all bar liquor stock, ensuring 0 shortages
Top 5 Tips for Your Mixologist Resume
- Make sure you vary your impact
- It’s not just about shaking cocktails! When creating your mixology resume, highlight your impact across all aspects of a traditional bartending job: cleaning, prep, customer service, collaboration. This helps to visibly bring both your hard and soft skills to life.
- Mention any certifications
- If you have an OSHA safety certificate, or another certification like CP-FS or CFM, make sure to include those in your skills section! If you have more than two or three, consider having a separate certifications section under your skills section.
- More generic soft skills go in your work experience
- You shouldn’t provide a laundry list of skills on your resume as a mixologist. Work in soft skills like being a team player or dedication in the work experience section, instead of literally spelling it out on your bullet point list.
- Customize your mixology resume for each job
- What this means is ensuring any skills the job description requires is reflected on your resume. For example, if they’re looking for a mixologist to make modern cocktails, you’ll want to reference any relevant experience you’ve had in modern mixology on your resume.
- Use active language
- Show ownership on your resume by using active verbs like “created” or “oversaw.” Plus, make sure you quantify your impact; that means don’t say, “served many customers each night.” Instead, say, “served up to 200 customers daily.”
Only if it’s 100 percent customized to the job. If you’ve been a mixologist for several years, a career summary can showcase your achievements. If you’re earlier on in your career, it’s less necessary to include an objective, so we generally recommend skipping it.
A page is generally enough, and shorter is also fine, especially if this is your first mixology job. Remember, recruiters read dozens of resumes each day; too much text minimizes your chances of getting the position!
Simplicity is key. Your bartending resume should have plenty of white space so that it’s easy on the eyes, and you should avoid fancy fonts and images or graphics. Just include your name, contact info, skills, educational and work history, and you’re all set.
