Barista job description for a resume

The short answer

A barista writing a resume should describe what they actually did — work like communicate with customers regarding orders, comments, and complaints — rather than copying a generic bullet list. The U.S. Department of Labor classifies the role as Fast Food and Counter Workers (SOC 35-3023.00). Its 17 published duties are the place to start, and the 14 most relevant are listed below. Active Listening is the capability O*NET rates highest for the work.

What follows is the published duty list, not a set of bullets to copy. The difference matters: a line describing work you did not do is one interview question away from falling apart.

What a barista does

Perform duties such as taking orders and serving food and beverages. Serve customers at counter or from a steam table. May take payment. May prepare food and beverages.

O*NET occupation: Fast Food and Counter Workers (SOC 35-3023.00).

Barista duties you can put on a resume

O*NET publishes 17 core duties for this occupation. These are the 14 its incumbents most often report performing, ranked by O*NET's published relevance rating — not a complete list of the job. Which ranking is a fact from the source; which of them you personally did is not something any dataset knows. Use the list as a memory aid, never as a list to paste.

1. Communicate with customers regarding orders, comments, and complaints.
2. Brew coffee and tea, and fill containers with requested beverages.
3. Serve customers in eating places that specialize in fast service and inexpensive carry-out food.
4. Accept payment from customers, and make change as necessary.
5. Serve food, beverages, or desserts to customers in such settings as take-out counters of restaurants or lunchrooms, business or industrial establishments, hotel rooms, and cars.
6. Clean and organize eating, service, and kitchen areas.
7. Perform cleaning duties, such as sweeping, mopping, and washing dishes, to keep equipment and facilities sanitary.
8. Scrub and polish counters, steam tables, and other equipment, and clean glasses, dishes, and fountain equipment.
9. Wrap menu items such as sandwiches, hot entrees, and desserts for serving or for takeout.
10. Prepare and serve cold drinks, frozen milk drinks, or desserts, using drink-dispensing, milkshake, or frozen-custard machines.
11. Set up dining areas for meals, and clear them following meals.
12. Monitor and order supplies or food items, and restock as necessary to maintain inventory.
13. Prepare daily food items, and cook simple foods and beverages, such as sandwiches, salads, soups, pizza, or coffee, using proper safety precautions and sanitary measures.
14. Collect and return dirty dishes to the kitchen for washing.

Skills a barista can list

O*NET rates these at importance 3.0 or above for this occupation.

Active Listening

importance 3.00

Social Perceptiveness

importance 3.00

Coordination

importance 3.00

Service Orientation

importance 3.00

What not to claim

• A duty from the list above that you did not personally perform. It describes Fast Food and Counter Workers as an occupation, not your particular job — and interviewers for barista roles ask about the specifics.
• Duties from the 3 published items not shown here, unless you genuinely did them. A longer list is not a better one.
• A percentage, a headcount or a volume you did not measure. "Improved satisfaction by 35%" is the single most copied line on resume-example sites, and almost nobody who pastes it can source it.
• Active Listening at a level you have not worked at. O*NET rates it highest for this occupation, which makes it the most likely thing to be probed.
• A tool, system or certification you have not used or hold. This is the fastest claim to disprove.

Source and method

O*NET data are provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, used under the CC BY 4.0 licence.The duties and skills above are reproduced as published. The resume guidance, the prompts and any generated lines are RoleSprint's, and O*NET did not write them.

Related occupations

Same occupational family in the SOC classification, so the duties often overlap with work you have done.

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