Anyone who has worked front of house knows the type: the candidate who looks great on paper and struggles on the floor. Carrying plates, using the till and learning the menu can be taught in days. Reading a table, staying calm when the kitchen is behind and keeping a colleague afloat on a busy night are much harder to teach, and they are what guests remember.
So the question for restaurant and bar owners isn’t only “can this person do the job?” It’s “will they bring the atmosphere we want to every shift?”
The skills that make a great server or bartender
- Customer focus: noticing what guests need, often before they ask.
- Composure under pressure: staying friendly and accurate when it’s busy.
- Teamwork: covering for colleagues and keeping the floor, bar and kitchen in step.
- Communication: explaining dishes, handling complaints, recommending without pushing.
- Adaptability: coping with late bookings, changed plans and new menus.
Teamwork appears in almost every hospitality job ad. Yet in our research, it is the strongest soft skill for only 3% of people. Most candidates won’t be at their best in the area you may care about most, so it’s worth checking rather than assuming.
Why the CV and a quick chat miss them
CVs list previous venues and job titles, not how someone behaves with a difficult guest. Short, informal interviews reward people who interview well, which isn’t the same as working well on a busy floor. And experience can mislead in both directions: a long CV doesn’t guarantee the people skills you need, and someone looking for their first job may have them in abundance.
How to assess people skills
- Ask structured questions about real situations. For example: “Tell me about a time a guest complained about something that wasn’t your fault. What did you do?” Ask every candidate the same questions and score the answers against what good looks like.
- Run a paid trial shift, and ask the team how it went as well as the manager.
- Use a scenario-based assessment before the interview, so you know where each candidate is strong and what to probe.
What a bad hire costs
A hire who doesn’t work out costs more than their wages: the time spent training them, the shifts others cover, and the guests who get a worse experience. Great servers sell more and bring guests back; a poor fit can do the opposite. Our bad hire calculator estimates the cost for your business.
How Owiwi helps
Owiwi is a gamified soft-skills assessment. Candidates play through realistic workplace scenarios, and you get a report on how they approach customers, pressure and teamwork, so you can compare people on the skills a CV doesn’t show. Because it feels like a game rather than a test, it works for experienced staff and first-time job seekers alike.
Hiring for your restaurant or bar? Try Owiwi for free: 5 assessments, 21 days, no credit card required. Questions? Email us at hello@owiwi.co.uk.
