Occupation Profile

Waiters and Waitresses

(SOC Code : 35-3031)

in California

Take orders and serve food and beverages to patrons at tables in dining establishment. Exclude "Counter Attendants, Cafeteria, Food Concession, and Coffee Shop" (35-3022).

Employers usually expect an employee in this occupation to be able to do the job after Short-term on-the-job training .

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Occupational Wages

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Area	Year	Period	Hourly Mean	Hourly by Percentile
				25th	Median	75th
California	2012	1st Qtr	$10.44	$8.65	$9.09	$9.76

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Occupational Projections of Employment (also called "Outlook" or "Demand")

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Area	Estimated Year-Projected Year	Employment		Employment Change		Annual Avg Openings
		Estimated	Projected	Number	Percent
California	2010 - 2020	231,200	290,800	59,600	25.8	17,510

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Job Openings from JobCentral National Labor Exchange

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Within miles of Zip Code.

Industries Employing This Occupation (click on Industry Title to View Employers List)

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Industry Title

Number of Employers in State of California

Percent of Total
Employment for Occupation in State of California

Full-Service Restaurants

30,594

83.6%

Accommodation

11,143

7.0%

Other Amusement & Recreation Industries

11,489

2.5%

Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)

3,659

1.4%

Employment Services

6,297

1.0%

About Staffing Patterns

Data for Training Programs not available.

About Training & Apprenticeships

About This Occupation (from O*NET - The Occupation Information Network)

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Top Tasks (Specific duties and responsibilities of this job.)

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.

More Tasks for Waiters and Waitresses

Top Skills used in this Job

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.

Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

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Top Abilities (Attributes of the person that influence performance in this job.)

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.

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Top Work Values (Aspects of this job that create satisfaction.)

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.

Support - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

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Top Interests (The types of activities someone in this job would like.)

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.

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Alternate Titles

Banquet Servers; Cocktail Servers; Food Runners; Restaurant Servers; Room Service Servers; and Waitstaff