Summary Report for:
35-3031.00 - Waiters and Waitresses
Take orders and serve food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment.
Sample of reported job titles:
Waitress, Server, Waiter, Food Server, Banquet Server, Cocktail Server, Restaurant Server, Room Service Server, Food Runner, Waitstaff
Tasks | Tools & Technology | Knowledge | Skills | Abilities | Work Activities | Work Context | Job Zone | Education | Interests | Work Styles | Work Values | Related Occupations | Wages & Employment | Additional Information
Tasks
- Check with customers to ensure that they are enjoying their meals and take action to correct any problems.
- Collect payments from customers.
- Write patrons' food orders on order slips, memorize orders, or enter orders into computers for transmittal to kitchen staff.
- Prepare checks that itemize and total meal costs and sales taxes.
- Take orders from patrons for food or beverages.
- Check patrons' identification to ensure that they meet minimum age requirements for consumption of alcoholic beverages.
- Serve food or beverages to patrons, and prepare or serve specialty dishes at tables as required.
- Present menus to patrons and answer questions about menu items, making recommendations upon request.
- Clean tables or counters after patrons have finished dining.
- Prepare hot, cold, and mixed drinks for patrons, and chill bottles of wine.
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Tools & Technology
Tools used in this occupation:
Bar code reader equipment — Portable bar code scanners |
Cash registers |
Commercial use cutlery — Carving knives |
Electronic funds transfer point of sale equipment — Credit card processing machines |
Paging controllers — Alphanumeric paging equipment |
Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers — Personal digital assistants PDA |
Point of sale POS receipt printers — Point of sale POS printers |
Point of sale POS terminal — Point of sale POS terminals; Point of service workstations |
Touch screen monitors |
Technology used in this occupation:
Point of sale POS software — Compris Advanced Manager's Workstation; ICVERIFY software; Intuit QuickBooks Point of Sale; NCR NeighborhoodPOS |
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Knowledge
Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction. |
Food Production — Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques. |
English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar. |
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Skills
Active Listening — Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. |
Service Orientation — Actively looking for ways to help people. |
Social Perceptiveness — Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do. |
Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively. |
Coordination — Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions. |
Monitoring — Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action. |
Judgment and Decision Making — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one. |
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Abilities
Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. |
Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. |
Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. |
Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you. |
Arm-Hand Steadiness — The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position. |
Stamina — The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath. |
Trunk Strength — The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without 'giving out' or fatiguing. |
Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations). |
Manual Dexterity — The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects. |
Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer). |
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Work Activities
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests. |
Performing General Physical Activities — Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials. |
Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. |
Selling or Influencing Others — Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions. |
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person. |
Handling and Moving Objects — Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things. |
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. |
Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people. |
Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others — Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others. |
Training and Teaching Others — Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others. |
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Work Context
Contact With Others — How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it? |
Face-to-Face Discussions — How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job? |
Spend Time Walking and Running — How much does this job require walking and running? |
Spend Time Standing — How much does this job require standing? |
Work With Work Group or Team — How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job? |
Physical Proximity — To what extent does this job require the worker to perform job tasks in close physical proximity to other people? |
Telephone — How often do you have telephone conversations in this job? |
Deal With External Customers — How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job? |
Indoors, Environmentally Controlled — How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions? |
Frequency of Decision Making — How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization? |
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Job Zone
Title |
Job Zone One: Little or No Preparation Needed |
Education |
Some of these occupations may require a high school diploma or GED certificate. |
Related Experience |
Little or no previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, a person can become a waiter or waitress even if he/she has never worked before. |
Job Training |
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few days to a few months of training. Usually, an experienced worker could show you how to do the job. |
Job Zone Examples |
These occupations involve following instructions and helping others. Examples include taxi drivers, amusement and recreation attendants, counter and rental clerks, construction laborers, continuous mining machine operators, and waiters/waitresses. |
SVP Range |
(Below 4.0) |
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Education
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130315231637im_/http://www.onetonline.org/shared/image/blank.gif) Percentage of Respondents |
Education Level Required |
50 ![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130315231637im_/http://www.onetonline.org/image/pixel_blue.gif) ![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130315231637im_/http://www.onetonline.org/image/pixel_grayD.gif) |
High school diploma or equivalent |
37 ![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130315231637im_/http://www.onetonline.org/image/pixel_blue.gif) ![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130315231637im_/http://www.onetonline.org/image/pixel_grayD.gif) |
Less than high school diploma |
12 ![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130315231637im_/http://www.onetonline.org/image/pixel_blue.gif) ![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130315231637im_/http://www.onetonline.org/image/pixel_grayD.gif) |
Some college, no degree |
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Interests
Interest code: SEC
Social — Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others. |
Enterprising — Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business. |
Conventional — Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow. |
Realistic — Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others. |
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Work Styles
Dependability — Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. |
Cooperation — Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude. |
Self Control — Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations. |
Stress Tolerance — Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations. |
Attention to Detail — Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. |
Concern for Others — Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job. |
Integrity — Job requires being honest and ethical. |
Adaptability/Flexibility — Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace. |
Social Orientation — Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job. |
Independence — Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done. |
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Work Values
Relationships — Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service. |
Support — Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical. |
Achievement — Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement. |
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Related Occupations
35-2011.00 |
Cooks, Fast Food
|
35-2021.00 |
Food Preparation Workers
|
35-3021.00 |
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food
|
35-3022.00 |
Counter Attendants, Cafeteria, Food Concession, and Coffee Shop
|
35-3041.00 |
Food Servers, Nonrestaurant |
35-9011.00 |
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers
|
35-9031.00 |
Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop
Bright Outlook
|
39-3031.00 |
Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers |
41-2011.00 |
Cashiers
|
43-5081.01 |
Stock Clerks, Sales Floor
|
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Wages & Employment Trends
National
Median wages (2011) |
$8.93 hourly, $18,570 annual |
Employment (2010) |
2,260,000 employees |
Projected growth (2010-2020) |
Slower than average (3% to 9%)
|
Projected job openings (2010-2020) |
1,324,300 |
Top industries (2010) |
|
State & National
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011 wage data
and 2010-2020 employment projections
.
"Projected growth" represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2010-2020). "Projected job openings" represent openings due to growth and replacement.
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Sources of Additional Information
Disclaimer:
Sources are listed to provide additional information on related jobs, specialties, and/or industries.
Links to non-DOL Internet sites are provided for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement.
- Waiters and Waitresses
. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition.
- International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (ICHRIE)
, 2613 N. Parham Rd., 2nd Floor, Richmond, VA 23294-4442. Phone: (804) 346-4800. Fax: (804) 346-5009.
- National Restaurant Association (NRA)
, 1200 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036. Phone: (202) 331-5900.
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