What are the trending skills for waiters and bartenders?

The job market can change rapidly, and it can prove to be difficult to know which skills are currently the most sought-after by employers in the EU. Furthermore, demand varies across the EU countries. To provide some insights on this topic, the Eurostat interactive data visualisation tool on skills shows the most in-demand skills featured in online job advertisements (OJAs) for a selection of occupations within the EU. 

When considering the occupation of waiters and bartenders, according to the tool, the most sought-after general skill is “adaptability to change”. “Working in a team” was also considered important, a skill present in almost all EU countries except for Croatia, as well as “English language proficiency”, a requirement in nearly all EU countries except for Greece. While English remains predominant, the importance of additional languages gains relevance in specific countries, such as Spanish in Portugal.

Other highly desired general skills for this occupation include “demonstrating responsibility”, “quality management”, “time management” and “providing customer follow-up”. 

 Specific skills required across all countries include “assisting customers”, “taking food and beverage orders”, “presenting menus”, “preparing hot drinks”, “handling bar equipment” and “serving drinks”.

As for digital skills, “computer literacy” is identified as the primary and often the only digital skill required in most countries for this occupation.

This new tool was released in the context of the European Year of Skills.