Career Overlap Transition record Edition 1 · ESCO v1.2.1
Table 1Transition record

waiter/waitresstosommelier

A waiter/waitress already meets 51% of what the sommelier role asks for. The move turns on 8 required skills not yet in the profile.

From waiter/waitress
51%
Overlap1
To sommelier
9 Skills carried over
8 Required, not held
47.2 Difficulty2
Career overlap Partial match

51%

Learning distance Real move, short list to learn

47.2/ 100

1 Share of the sommelier role’s weighted skill requirement already met by the waiter/waitress profile. Required skills count in full, supplementary skills at 0.35. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. 2 Combines what is missing with how specialised it is, so a gap of general skills scores easier than the same number of narrow ones.

Why

Why this move works

A sommelier role treats 8 of its required skills as things a waiter/waitress already does. These are the ones it depends on most.

  • assist customers
  • comply with food safety and hygiene
  • decant wines
  • maintain customer service
  • prepare alcoholic beverages
  • recommend wines

What stands in the way is 8 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 9 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A sommelier role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a waiter/waitress background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • already held decant wines assisting and caring
  • already held recommend wines communication, collaboration and creativity
  • already held prepare alcoholic beverages assisting and caring
  • already held serve wines assisting and caring
  • already held sparkling wines engineering, manufacturing and construction
  • already held apply foreign languages in hospitality communication, collaboration and creativity

All 9 carried skills, including the 8 the sommelier role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you would need to learn

The 8 missing skills fall into 5 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered below in the order worth working in: the areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the supplementary ones.

Skill to acquire Tier
01 communication, collaboration and creativity 4 required
  • required, not held compile wine lists required
  • required, not held order supplies required
  • required, not held train employees required
  • required, not held upsell products required
02 assisting and caring 1 required
  • required, not held select glassware for serving required
03 engineering, manufacturing and construction 1 required
  • required, not held wine characteristics required
04 information skills 1 required
  • required, not held check wine quality required
05 management skills 1 required
  • required, not held organise wine cellar required
Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a sommelier role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 9 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • already held assist customers skill
  • already held comply with food safety and hygiene skill
  • already held decant wines skill
  • already held maintain customer service skill
  • already held prepare alcoholic beverages skill
  • already held recommend wines skill
  • already held serve wines skill
  • already held sparkling wines knowledge
  • already held apply foreign languages in hospitality skill
0 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to acquire Tier
34 held skills the sommelier role does not ask for
Skill Type
  • not needed by the target role advise guests on menus for special events skill
  • not needed by the target role alcoholic beverage products knowledge
  • not needed by the target role arrange tables skill
  • not needed by the target role assist VIP guests skill
  • not needed by the target role assist clients with special needs skill
  • not needed by the target role attend to detail regarding food and beverages skill
  • not needed by the target role check dining room cleanliness skill
  • not needed by the target role clean surfaces skill
  • not needed by the target role detect drug abuse skill
  • not needed by the target role dietary regimes knowledge
  • not needed by the target role educate customers on coffee varieties skill
  • not needed by the target role educate customers on tea varieties skill
  • not needed by the target role food and beverages on the menu knowledge
  • not needed by the target role identify customer's needs skill
  • not needed by the target role laws regulating serving alcoholic drinks knowledge
  • not needed by the target role local area tourism industry knowledge
  • not needed by the target role maintain incident reporting records skill
  • not needed by the target role maintain personal hygiene standards skill
  • not needed by the target role maintain relationship with customers skill
  • not needed by the target role measure customer feedback skill
  • not needed by the target role prepare flambeed dishes skill
  • not needed by the target role prepare hot drinks skill
  • not needed by the target role prepare service trolleys skill
  • not needed by the target role prepare the restaurant for service skill
  • not needed by the target role present menus skill
  • not needed by the target role process payments skill
  • not needed by the target role process reservations skill
  • not needed by the target role serve beverages skill
  • not needed by the target role serve food in table service skill
  • not needed by the target role supervise food quality skill
  • not needed by the target role take food and beverage orders from customers skill
  • not needed by the target role use food cutting tools skill
  • not needed by the target role welcome restaurant guests skill
  • not needed by the target role work in a hospitality team skill
1 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to acquire Tier
  • required, not held wine characteristics required
Index

Other moves recorded from waiter/waitress

Full index of moves from waiter/waitress

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.