McDonald’s is a dream employer for many who want to take advantage of the astounding promotion opportunities. Securing a job with the world’s fourth largest private employer is competitive, so how do you write a winning McDonald’s resume?
A good place to start is by browsing through Resume.io’s collection of more than 350 occupation-specific resume examples and writing guides.
When you’re ready to get started with your resume, the guide you’re looking at now will offer some food for thought. In conjunction with our adaptable McDonald’s resume sample, this advice will help you convey your understanding of what it takes to be a great McDonald's employee, while showcasing your passion for customer service.
We'll discuss:
- What McDonald’s employees do in the context of career paths and important considerations for writing a resume
- How to structure your McDonald’s resume and choose the best format
- Constructing a persuasive message in each resume section: header, summary, employment history, education and skills
- Ensuring your resume document looks appealing and inviting to read
What do McDonald's employees do?
With a mission of “serving billions,” more than 2 million McDonald’s employees work in about 34,000 restaurants around the world. About half McDonald’s franchise owners and 75% of managers starting by flipping burgers.
McDonald's offers its employees diverse opportunities to work in a fast-paced and service-oriented environment. Individual responsibility lies at the heart of the brand that was rated 11th in the world by Interbrand in 2022.
McDonald’s career paths: What do they look like?
McDonald’s prides itself on offering growth opportunities to everyone on the career ladder. It is critical that everyone in the machine understands their impact on those around them, so it is unsurprising just how many people are promoted from within. No matter where you join this career ladder, if you want to develop, McDonald’s will help you to find a way:
- McDonald’s Crew Member
- McDonald’s Crew Chief
- McDonald’s Shift Manager
- Department Manager
- General Manager
- McDonald’s Regional Manager
Considerations for creating a McDonald’s resume
While it might seem simple to walk into a local McDonald’s and have an interview for an entry-level role, the volume of applications and turnover of first-year employees is so high that even people with no experience are assessed for core competencies.
If you have the potential, then McDonald’s can take you places, but first your resume has to tick some pretty specific behavioral boxes. It is also essential to show that you are a good fit for the the culture and will thrive in a flexible and target-led team environment.
If you are not mad about the product, get yourself to a restaurant and look beyond the burger and fries. If you are going into marketing, which messages stand out to you? If you have an operational focus, how is your role going to affect everything else going on around you? If you want to become a manager, which managers seem in control of their team and what are they mostly involved with? Immerse yourself in the McDonald's experience and make sure that you can answer: “What is your favorite item on the menu?”
Technology is driving the future of McDonalds, so being aware of the 3Ds (Digital, Delivery and Drive Thru). This is an important part of understanding where your job will be in five years. The interviewer will expect you to have a long-term career horizon, so talking about one or more of these aspects will help your cause.
Once the homework is complete and you can picture yourself pinning on your badge on your first day, it is time to consider how you might tailor your resume to a McDonald’s role. A tailored resume:
- Helps you to get past the ATS software gatekeeper
- Makes it easy for a restaurant manager to link your past experience with your future potential
How to write a McDonald’s resume
Let’s start with the structure of your McDonald’s resume, consisting of the same components that virtually all resumes have in common. You will include all the typical sections, with a golden arches twist:
- Header — prominently displaying your identifying information
- Summary — distilling your personality and key achievements
- Employment history — highlighting relevant experience
- Education — detailing your academic successes
- Skills — bringing your core competencies to the fore
Choosing the best resume format for McDonald's
In most cases, the chronological resume format will work best for a McDonald’s resume. It can easily be recognized by looking at the employment history section, highlighting your past jobs from most recent to oldest.
You can check out our guide on resume formats to see some alternatives, including the skills-based functional format and hybrid format.
Are you interested in other job opportunities in the hospitality & catering industry? Here are some related cv examples to inspire you and provide more material:
- Pastry Chef resume sample
- Baker resume example
- Food service worker resume sample
- Barista resume sample
- Hotel management resume sample
- Cook resume sample
- Line cook resume example
- Restaurant manager resume sample
- Hostess resume sample
- Caterer resume sample
- Waitress resume sample
- Food and beverage director resume sample
- Food service manager resume sample
- Concierge resume sample
- Bartender resume sample
- Server resume sample
- Sommelier resume sample
Resume header
Your resume header is meant to be seen first by even the busiest hiring managers, identifying up front who you are and how to get in touch with you. It’s an eye-pleasing way to display your name, occupation, address, phone number and email.
A well-designed resume header makes everything else on the page look visually welcoming and reader-friendly. To give your job application a professional and cohesive look, we recommend using the same header on both your McDonald’s cover letter and resume.
McDonalds resume summary example: The right ingredients
Whether you are working in technology at the Chicago West Loop head office or in a small McDonald's restaurant in Lisbon, your resume summary should be focused on your fit for the role in question. The free-flowing nature of those three to five sentences allows you to inject a little personality into your primarily formal and fact-led resume.
The summary — sometimes called the profile or personal statement — offers a chance to connect with a hiring manager on a very real level. How can you help them to achieve their objectives as well as do a great job for McDonalds? Be descriptive with your language, include only the most relevant accomplishments and make sure that you quantify them with numbers and context.
Here are ten different scenarios for accomplishments you might incorporate into your resume summary
- Improved productivity in terms of time spent
- Solutions that you found to unsolved problems
- Innovations or ideas that have led to a step-change
- Processes improved and procedures developed
- Awards that you have won (with a reason why)
- Promotion to a different role in the company
- Impact on the development of those around you
- Offer outstanding service to customers or clients
Regardless of how you showcase your personality in the resume profile, having inspiration to draw from is always helpful. Below you can find a McDonald's resume summary sample.
Dynamic, reliable, and enthusiastic team player, with seven years of experience in fast-paced restaurant settings. Conscientious attitude, uncompromising work ethic, and strong mathematical skills. Embracing the opportunity to ensure positive experiences for all McDonald’s customers.
Employment history sample: Been there and done it
Many McDonald's restaurant employees will have previously worked in the hospitality industry, and corporate employees will have had suitable functional experience. Still, it is important that the employment history section contains work experience that is specifically relevant to the demands of a role at McDonald's.
Do your values match the company values? How will your work contribute to delighting the customers? Past success is an indicator of future potential. It is advisable to use action verb-led achievements in bullet points for brevity and visual impact.
For entry level roles, your experience will be secondary to your potential. But a great way to start is by ensuring that you include details about the five McDonald's values.
- Serve: you will always put customers first
- Inclusion: the McDonald's doors are open to everyone
- Integrity: doing the right thing when no one is watching
- Community: the importance of being good neighbours
- Family: staff, franchisees and suppliers get better together
The Mcdonald's example for the resume employment history section can be found below.
Cashier at Wendy's, Nanuet
January 2018 - March 2023
- Used excellent customer service skills to ensure an accurate and pleasant checkout experience for more than 350 customers per day.
- Followed all food service and safety protocols.
- Worked as a productive and dependable team member.
- Used problem-solving skills to address any customer issues or concerns, helping to reduce refunds by 20%.
- Promptly informed customers approaching the counter of any menu changes or special offerings, optimizing efficiency and avoiding confusion.
- Perfect record for punctuality and reliability, while always willing to take extra shifts to cover staff absences or exceptionally busy times.
Server at Domino's Pizza, Brick Township
April 2016 - December 2018
- Dedicated to ensuring satisfactory experiences for all customers, and welcomed their feedback.
- Accurately recorded orders and ensured that customer requests were met, with the lowest error rate among all servers.
- Maintained a neat and clean environment at all times.
- Thoroughly documented and promptly reported any issues to a supervisor.
- Approached each work shift with enthusiasm, honesty, and integrity.
Education example: Numeracy and communication
The education required for a career at McDonald's will depend on the role. Bachelors’ degrees will be required for many corporate positions, but high school education will feature prominently for those working in the restaurants. In any case, the information in your resume education section should appear in reverse chronological order, from highest to lowest level.
Numeracy is a key requirement for a customer service role and communication (English) skills are vital.
Below you can find a Mcdonald's resume sample for the education section.
Associate of Applied Business, Rockland Community College, New City
September 2019 - Present
High School Diploma, New City High School, New City
September 2012 - May 2016
CV skills example: The specifics of success
Your CV skills section should be led by the standout skills of an excellent employee rather than the obvious skills of an average one. Read the job advertised job description carefully and select the skills that will set you apart from your fellow employees and allow you to excel.
Include a balance of soft skills and hard skills, and keep reminding yourself to put the customer at the centre of everything that you write. Multitasking, flexibility, teamwork, dispute resolution and customer service abilities should feature on every McDonalds resume, irrespective of the position.
Below is our Mcdonald's resume skills example for your inspiration.
- Customer Service
- Highly Organized
- Ability to Work in a Team
- Honesty and Integrity
- Mathematical Skills
- Communication Skills
Resume layout, design and formatting
Simplicity lies at the heart of the McDonald's experience, so we recommend avoiding any complicated resume layouts or flowery design elements. The hiring manager needs to find the right information quickly and efficiently, so one resume section should flow logically into the next.
Strive for a striking impact without overdoing the bold formatting. Keep the page looking clean, streamlined and uncluttered. To allow adequate white space for balancing the text-heavy sections, keep your margin settings to the default one-inch width, and pay attention to line spacing and line lengths.
Avoid odd or illegible font styles in your resume. Let your experience do the talking rather than your choice of symbol for your bullet points.
Keen on joining the McDonald's community? Select one of Resume’s expert-designed resume templates to avoid fretting over layout, design and formatting details. All of this will be taken care of when you select and download your chosen design. Then use our resume builder tool and get writing!
Key takeaways
- Ensure that your McDonald's resume example fits with the current brand values.
- Let your personality shine in the resume summary and make it relevant to the job description.
- Your work experience section shows how your past can inform your future potential.
- Make the layout, design and formatting simple and easy to follow, with a good amount of white space.
- Make your resume read like you are already part of the team.
- Use one of our ready-to-go resume templates to save your time and nerves.
