Waiting Staff Jobs
Being a waitress, waiter, or even a sommelier can be the perfect job role for an outgoing candidate with good people skills. Food service is a fast-paced industry which will often require you to 'think on your feet' and keep calm under pressure in order to solve problems and get the job done. As a customer-facing role, a waitress / waiter job will put you in regular contact with members of the public - and as such, good standards of personal hygiene, appearance and attitude are required of anyone employed in this industry. Recruitment agencies in this area work with a range of catering employers; including cafes, bars, restaurants and hotels to provide staff for full-time, part-time and seasonal positions.
Generally speaking, being a waiter or waitress does not command a huge basic salary - and most entry-level roles will be towards the minimum wage end of the pay spectrum (although this will often be supplemented by customers through the process of tipping). This is not to say that progression is impossible within the restaurant sector though, and as ever, pay is dependent on factors such as experience and skill-level. The plus-side of this is that an entry-level waiting job will not generally require a candidate to have any specific qualifications (although training in areas such as food hygiene and hospitality will certainly be regarded as a bonus). Successful applicants in this area will often find that their employer provides on-the-job training as part of a continuous improvement programme.
Specialist job roles such as that of a sommelier also fall under the broad heading of waiter / waitress - and given that they require extensive knowledge and training, do tend to command higher pay levels. A sommelier (or wine steward) will generally be employed towards the top-end of the fine dining industry, and is responsible for all of a customer's wine needs including the pairing of beverages with certain foods.
