Receptionist Resume Examples, Job Description & Guide

Our receptionist resume examples, templates and writing guide will help you create a resume that gets results.

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By Ho 4 minute read

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How to write a receptionist resume

If you’re interested in becoming a receptionist, that means you need to write a perfect resume for the position. Receptionist resumes can help you apply for work as an office assistant, front desk receptionist, health care or medical receptionist, or similar office positions. These positions are often considered entry-level positions that require administrative tasks to succeed. However, your ability to showcase these skills will play into whether you get the job.

We’ll give you what you need to write a receptionist resume that will work well for you:

  • Examples of receptionist resumes that can be used to create a strong resume
  • Tips for writing each section of the resume and formatting it
  • Resources you need to create a cover letter that goes with your resume, as well as links to other major resume tips

Pick the right format for your receptionist resume

It’s important to understand the three resume formats before writing as depending on your experience with being a receptionist or in customer service, one type of resume may be a better fit:

  • Chronological resume: The most widely used format, it’s typically organized into a single column. The reverse-chronological resume places emphasis on work experience and it’s ideal for candidates with around ten years of experience or more.
  • Functional resume: This resume format focuses on skills rather than work experience. It’s better for job seekers with less than two years of experience or fresh graduates with no prior experience at all.
  • Combination resume: Also known as the hybrid resume, this format puts equal focus on your skills and work experience. It’s perfect for candidates who have between 3 to 10 years of experience.
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How to write a receptionist resume

Receptionists require a good balance of several interpersonal or soft skills, along with a lot of hard skills like using software such as Microsoft office suite (office, excel, power point, outlook), handling communication and office equipment such as multi-line phone system, printer, scanner, etc. Here’s some key traits required to be a successful receptionist that should appear through your resume:

  • Multitasking abilities: such as the ability to manage multiple concurrent deadlines.
  • Organizational skills: like prioritization, documentation and workflow management.
  • Listening skills: such as responding to customer or management needs.
Mention some of these as your strengths and make sure that you can back it up with concrete and measurable results from your previous jobs throughout the following sections of your resume:

1

Resume summary

At the top of your resume, you should include a resume objective or resume summary. This is a short paragraph, typically two to three sentences. A summary (which is preferred by most job seekers with experience) is an overview of your best skills, work achievements and qualifications that is specifically tailored to the company. While an objective is used to tell a recruiter what your career goals are and your reasoning for applying to the role, its focus is on your career path.

An example of an objective statement for a receptionist would be:

Energetic, results-oriented Receptionist eager to bring strong administrative skills to a growing company in need of top-level support. Excellent organization, communication, and relationship-building skills. Looking for a role at a company that is community focused.

A summary statement would look like:

Professional and industrious receptionist bringing exceptional event coordination and information handling skills. Dependable aptitude for office-appropriate writing and standard office equipment. Offering honed competencies in data-entry, file organization and modern technologies.

2

Skills

Next is your skills section. This is where you showcase all the skills necessary for you to do the job on a daily basis. Here are a few resume skills examples you might include:

  • Multi Line phone systems
  • Multitasking
  • MS Office (Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel)
  • Office Supplies
  • Phone calls
  • WPM
  • Greeting callers in the reception area
  • Data entry
  • Managing spreadsheets
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Communication skills
  • High-volume data work
  • Organizational skills
  • Scheduling appointments
  • Answering phones
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Making travel arrangements
  • Time management
  • Operating copiers
Most of the time, you’ll need to include both hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills help you do the job and help an office manager, while soft skills allow you to communicate with other people more effectively.

3

Work experience

If you have any previous experience in this field, you’ll want to include it in your experience section. Including past experience on a professional resume allows you to show that you actually made a difference at a previous job. Additionally, you can include experience related to this field that may have transferable skills.

4

Education

List your education credentials in this section of your law resume. The educational requirements may differ depending on the receptionist job you’re applying for but keep in mind that:

  • You don’t have to include your high school diploma if you have a bachelor’s degree.
  • If you have a master’s or doctoral degree, you should include your bachelor’s degree.
  • If you graduated with a high GPA, include it as well.

5

Additional sections

You can create additional sections for your receptionist resume that are relevant, such as:

  • Volunteer work
  • Community service
  • Publications
  • Languages
  • Professional associations, affiliations and memberships
  • Training
  • Certifications

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Do’s and Don’ts for a receptionist resume

Do:
  • Include contact information at the top of your. A resume builder can help you with the resume format for this.
  • Send your resume to a specific point of contact. You should address your resume and cover letter directly to this person.
  • Include comprehensive career information in your LinkedIn, then put a LinkedIn profile link on your resume. If a hiring manager wants to learn more about you outside of your resume, they can visit your LinkedIn.
Don't:
  • Provide extensive information on previous jobs that don’t relate to receptionist work. You should only include past jobs that have potentially transferable skills.
  • Send off your resume before you proofread it. Remember, typos are one of the biggest resume and cover letter killers.
  • Write your receptionist resume without looking at the job description. By looking at the job description, you’ll incorporate resume keywords that can help you get the job.

More resume examples and tips

Get all the resume writing advice you need with ResumeHelp’s resources.

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Write a cover letter for your receptionist resume

Give the potential employer additional information about yourself with a professional cover letter. You can complement your federal resume with our resources:

  • How to Write a Cover Letter: Place your best foot forward with our expert writing guide.
  • Cover Letter Builder: Write a cover letter in minutes with our user-friendly builder.
  • Cover Letter Templates: Find the right cover letter template to pair with your resume template and submit a professional job application.
  • Cover Letter Format: Make sure your cover letter looks as good as it reads with our formatting tips and examples.
  • Cover Letter Examples: Our extensive library has hundreds of cover letter examples you can use as a base to write your own.

The big takeaways:

  1. Do your research: Make sure you’re adequately prepared by researching things like the company’s mission statement, history, culture and the skills they value.
  2. Know how to best use your organization and planning abilities: Do some self-analysis and group your best skills together to find the industry that’s right for you, ResumeHelp has a great selection of resume examples to help you get started.
  3. Conceptualize the ideal “you”: Drawing attention to your most important accomplishments and skills is essential to getting your resume to the top of the stack. This means you have to take stock of your most significant skills and experiences, and go from “the top down” to make sure that your best collaborations are front and center.
  4. Show off your customer service skills: One of the best things you can show in your receptionist resume is your ability to deliver great customer service and satisfaction, even if you’ve never been a receptionist before you can see examples for other customer work like jobs in the retail sector.
  5. Attention to detail: Many of the tasks you’ll be involved with revolve around providing accurate information about the company to fulfill a need or resolve an issue so paying close attention to the request and providing the best response requires memorization and compassion.
  6. Consider how you handle stress: Misunderstandings, repeat alterations and conflicts are some of the main issues you’ll have to deal with when speaking with clients or facilitating calls for your team members. Remember that being calm and friendly is a great diffuser for most situations. Take care of your emotional needs by getting support from management as well as providing a solution for a client if the situation gets elevated.
  7. Take Initiative: Being in this highly important role means that you’re familiar with the ins and outs of the business. So to gain more standing you can find opportunities to improve processes, voice your ideas in a professional manner and be willing to help others. Even if you’re new to the job you can still show initiative by being curious about the work around you and seek out opportunities for further learning.

FAQ: Receptionist resume example

Have questions? We’re here to help.

No. It’s expected that you have basic Microsoft Office skills if you’re applying to be a receptionist. Instead, learn more about how to use Microsoft Office applications, like Microsoft Excel, and showcase those advanced skills (e.g., getting a certification in Excel or listing a previous experience where you used Excel). Advanced skills will get you more attention from a hiring manager than basic ones, especially if you can back them up in practice. Other good skills to indicate instead would be your mastery of Google Suites programs such as docs, slides and sheets, or being able to use Adobe programs as well.

It’s always good to get specific about your skills. Attention to detail is a key skill employers look for in a receptionist so having specific details and metrics in your work history and throughout your resume would be a great indicator of success. For example, if you’re applying for a medical receptionist job, you can indicate previous medical receptionist experience and knowledge. This can help you showcase that you know how to do a specific job, not just that you’re good at administrative skills.

Your best resume format depends on your experience and how you’re using that experience. If you have many years of experience, the chronological resume format will typically be the right option. If you have fewer years of experience, the functional or combination format might work best. Your best option will always be to look at receptionist resume samples and use these resume examples to build your own resume.

Receptionists are the first people new clients interact with so it’s important for them to be courteous, knowledgeable and great listeners. Meaning that some of the most valuable skills and traits for a successful receptionist would be communication skills, interpersonal skills, multitasking skills and customer management skills. You can highlight these skills across your resume in a specified skills section, in your professional summary or with detailed bullet points in your work history.

A good professional summary for a receptionist should convey not just your enthusiasm for the role but should highlight a few of the key points mentioned in the job description so that the employer knows right away that you’d be a great fit for the role, just like in the following example:

Friendly and organized receptionist that possesses a keen attention to detail and strong decision-making skills to manage multiple, concurrent tasks. Self-motivated work ethic with the ability to perform effectively in independent or team environments.

Receptionists greet and help guests and visitors, they receive, answer and route calls, receive mail and deliveries, schedule appointments, process payments and handle communication needs such as print, scan, copy and email. They need to have a range of skills with the most important being highly detail-oriented and great communicators. Other important qualities include having excellent phone skills, knowing how to be friendly while remaining professional, possessing emotional intelligence and being technologically proficient.

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WRITTEN BY Ho

Ho is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and editor with two decades of experience in content strategy, creation, and development. He holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University and his background includes experience aiding military veterans as they transition to civilian careers.

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