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take note:

  • Great for summer
  • Great first job
  • No previous experience required

Industry:
Food & Restaurant

Expected wage:
Between $7-$9/hour

Extra perks:

  • Free/discounted meals
  • Easy job change/advancement: At many restaurants, the cooks sometimes answer the phone and the bartender washes the dishes. In other words, you’ll likely have the freedom to move around if you find you would rather be a server, cook, etc.

Celebrity sighting:
In the recent big screen comedy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” Jonah Hill plays an over-eager restaurant host at a Hawaiian resort. You might remember the Chris Farley-esque comedic upstart from “Superbad,” “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year Old Virgin.” Anyways, as a borderline stalker of a British pop singer in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” Hill demonstrates that there’s more than one way to get humiliated on the job. Sometimes it’s by spilling marinara on your white slacks, and other times it’s by awkwardly passing your band’s demo to a famous rocker who wears more make-up than his girlfriend. Take a hint, and leave celebrity stalking to the paparazzi (and Ryan Seacrest).

Similar positions:
Host, Cashier and Front Desk Attendants

Examples:

home > hire learning > job buddies > waitress job description

Host & Hostess

Hostess Job Buddy

Job in about 50 words:
In restaurants, being on the frontline of customer service requires patience, a bright smile and the ability to hide the tiniest bit of anger or frustration you may want to direct at customers. As a host/hostess, you’ll greet customers and work with servers to make sure hungry patrons are seated promptly and to their satisfaction. (Not everyone can get the big corner booth.) It’s a fast-paced and challenging gig, so you better be cool-headed and an ace at crowd control. Megaphone not included.

Job skills/requirements:
The good news is that your training will teach you everything you need to know to succeed on the job. But here are a few skills you should have from the get-go, as well as some requirements:

  • Outgoing, energetic and friendly personality:  You are the first face customers see as they enter the restaurant and the last one to say "goodbye" as they leave. Remember, there’s a fine line between being warm and friendly – and cheesy and annoying. If children run away from you crying, tone it down a bit.
  • Patience: You will be very busy during meal rushes and need to maintain a level head as everything gets crazy. You also might experience some lulls during off-peak hours. Unless your employer says it’s OK, you don’t want to bring one of those books with Fabio on the cover to read when business is dead. Also, remember to stay patient with customers who complain about their meal, the wait time, or the fact that "someone was seated before me and I got here before them."
  • Organization: There is actually an art to managing a mass of hungry, waiting people whose parties come in all different sizes (and attitudes). You’ll need to offer honest wait time estimates to customers and seat everyone in a fair manner. And don’t forget about confirming with the servers about who is open, due, ready and willing.
  • Multi-tasking: You will need to take reservations via phone, wait-list walk-in customers, manage the seating area and answer the phone. Depending on your employer, hosts and hostesses often have to keep the restroom areas clean, act as food runners, help clean tables and set up kiddies with highchairs, crayons and coloring books (Flipped over placemats work just as good). In other words, you won’t get much time of your own to doodle on the seating list.
  • Stamina: You’ll need to be a sole survivor, as hours on your feet can take a toll on your feet, legs ... and brain.

Expected hours:
Depending on the meals that your restaurant serves, you can work the breakfast shift (typically you will work from 5 – 11 a.m.), lunch shift (typically 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.), and/or the dinner shift (4  – 11 p.m.). Some joints also offer the graveyard shift, when you get to serve cops, truckers and late-night revelers looking to fill their stomachs. In other words, you’ll definitely have stories to tell your friends.

Dress the part:
In a lot of food establishments, the host/hostess is required to wear an all black outfit (pants, skirts, tops, shoes, hosiery) in order to remain classy and uniform. However, in some cases, an employer will give you a company shirt that you’re required to wear with pants or a skirt. If you’re going to be making runs into and out of the kitchen, be sure to have some safe and comfy shoes. You don’t want to be “ice skating” on a pair of high heels across a puddle of chili and maple syrup. The landing probably won’t be graceful.

Job myth:
Hostesses/hosts are really only supposed to stand around and look pretty (or handsome).
It’s true that quality restaurants want someone fresh and clean serving on the frontlines of customer service; after all, would you want to eat at a place where the person showing you to your seat looks like they just won “Survivor?” Hosts and hostesses are the ultimate restaurant multi-taskers who, admittedly, also have to keep their shirts ironed and spotless, too.

Career path:

  • Waiter/Waitress ($25,000/year)
  • General Manager ($40,000 to 50,000/year)
  • Restaurant Owner (Make it successful and you could be making $200,000-plus a year!)