Receptionist Resume: Examples, Job Description & Skills

As a receptionist, you know the value of a great first impression. Your resume works the same—it’s your first and only chance to show employers why you fit the role. If you can use your skills and professional attitude in your resume, you’ll have a better chance of landing that interview.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to write an outstanding receptionist resume that ticks every box and showcases your strengths. Let’s get started!

Receptionist Job Description for a Resume

Receptionists are the first point of contact for visitors and callers, providing a welcoming and professional experience. They manage appointments, direct inquiries, and perform administrative tasks to ensure the smooth running of the office. Key skills include communication and customer service. 

When you write your receptionist job description for a resume, it’s best to list your duties and achievements in bullet point format. That breaks up the job description into more specific tasks, making your resume easier to read and helping you highlight the most critical information. 

Here’s a list of receptionist duties for a resume in bullet points that you can adapt: 

• Greet visitors and clients in a friendly and professional manner, directing them to the appropriate person or department.
• Answer incoming calls, provide information, or redirect calls to the relevant staff member.
• Schedule and manage appointments, ensuring all meetings are confirmed, and resources are available.
• Handle correspondence, including emails and postal mail, ensuring it goes to the correct recipient.
• Maintain the reception area, keeping it clean and organized to create a welcoming environment for visitors.
• Assist with administrative tasks, such as data entry, filing, and preparing documents as needed.
• Monitor office supplies, ordering and restocking items to ensure the office runs efficiently.
• Manage visitor logs and ensure proper security procedures are in place when visitors enter the premises.

Take a look at these receptionist resume examples to see impactful job descriptions in action:

1. Use the Right Format for Your Receptionist Resume

Before you start writing, make sure your resume looks the same. A professional, clean-cut appearance is as essential on your resume as in your job. 

Your best bet is choosing an accepted, universal resume format that recruiters know like the back of their hand. If they can navigate your resume easily, they’ll have no trouble spotting your best achievements and skills! 

There are multiple formats, but the best pick for receptionist resumes is the reverse-chronological resume format. This standard resume layout focuses on work experience, giving your most recent duties and achievements the best chance of standing out. 

The alternatives include the functional resume and the combination format, which place more emphasis on your skills. They’re viable options if you’re changing careers, have no experience, or need to downplay any gaps in employment. However, they can confuse recruiters and probably won’t be as efficient at showcasing your strengths. 

This guide uses the reverse-chronological format—it’ll suit everyone, from new grads to seasoned pros. 

The first step is to outline your resume based on these sections: 

• Header with your name and contact details
• Resume summary or objective paragraph
• Work experience, detailing your accomplishments in each job
• Education, listing the details of your highest completed level of education
• Key skills, with up to 10 of your most relevant abilities
• Additional sections, such as certifications, courses, volunteering, and so on

Each section should have a clear heading to help the reader find key information at a glance. 

Other tips for boosting your resume’s readability include:

• Choose a simple font for your resume, like Arial or Verdana, and set it to 10–12 points (14–16 for headings). Decorative fonts are distracting and can look unprofessional. 
• On your resume, add. Using 1.15 line spacing and one-inch margins on your resume will prevent the page from feeling white space. This way, the page won’t feel too overcrowded with text. 
• Submit your resume as a PDF unless the job advertisement specifies a different format. PDFs look the same on every device, so you can be sure your formatting and layout won’t get messed up. 
• Keep it short. A resume for receptionist roles should be one page long, so stick to the most essential, relevant information. 

All in all, aim for a sleek, minimalistic look with your resume. Images, decorations, and tables can distract the reader and add no value to your resume. Plus, they can make your resume incompatible with ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems). That is software that most companies use to manage hiring processes, including scanning incoming resumes. 

Pro Tip: If you intend to submit your resume in person, print it on paper that’s slightly higher quality than the standard office kind. It’ll look extra-professional and won’t get lost among other paperwork as easily. 

If you’re searching for a ready-made receptionist resume template or just want to see examples of well-formatted resumes, we’ve got you covered—take a look at these:

Entry-Level Receptionist Resume Example

Medical Receptionist Resume Sample

2. Place Your Contact Details in the Header

A resume header is the section at the top of your resume that includes your basic contact information. Word-processing software often allows inserting a header and footer in a document, but it’s best to avoid using this feature. 

Instead, place all sections of your resume within the document’s main body. That will ensure your contact details are visible in every format and help your resume pass ATS checks.

Here’s the contact information to include on your resume:

• Your full name and job title
• Your phone number
• Your email address
• (optional) Your LinkedIn profile URL

Skip other personal details, like your address or date of birth. The LinkedIn URL is worth including, but only if your profile is well-optimized and up-to-date. It should show off your professional side and provide more details on your experience and skills. 

The following section after the header is the resume summary, which—as the name implies—sums up your experience and accomplishments. Even though it’s a kind of introduction, it’s easiest to write it last. When you finish writing the main sections of your resume, creating a summary will be as simple as picking out the best parts. 

So, leave space for one paragraph below your header, and let’s move on to writing your work experience resume section!

3. Write Impactful Receptionist Job Descriptions for Your Resume Experience Section

When listing your work experience, start with your current or most recent job. Follow it with your previous role, the one before, etc. Try only to include relevant experience on your resume—meaning roles directly related to receptionist positions. Other jobs are only worth including if you’re applying for your first receptionist role and have no related experience. 

For each position you list, include your job title, company name and location, employment dates, and 3–5 bullet points with an eye-catching receptionist resume description.

We’ve already touched on how to write receptionist duties on resumes at the beginning of this guide, but let’s go through the process in more detail. Here’s how to make sure your bullet points stand out: 

• Describe your achievements instead of just listing essential duties. Each bullet should highlight the positive impact of your role, whether it’s handling high volumes of phone calls, managing check-ins with exceptional efficiency, or streamlining front desk operations in some way. 
• Begin each bullet point with a powerful action verb to create a more engaging and dynamic description of your work. Words like “managed” or “enhanced” demonstrate your active role in achieving success. 
• Wherever possible, quantify your achievements with numbers and percentages. Metrics show your impact in previous roles, making your achievement statements more concrete. 
• Customize your receptionist job descriptions for each application. Different employers will have distinct needs and priorities, so it’s essential to adjust your bullet points to match the specific requirements of each receptionist role. For example, one company may prioritize customer service skills, while another will focus on administrative tasks or managing office technology. Tailoring your resume allows you to highlight the experience and skills that matter most to each employer.

You can still fill this section with relevant information if you’re writing a resume for receptionist jobs without experience. Include your internships, volunteer roles, or jobs in other professions, focusing on highlighting your transferable skills. You used or developed these skills elsewhere, but they apply to a receptionist role. 

The idea is to use these seemingly unrelated experiences to demonstrate related skills. For example, any customer-facing role will hone your customer service and communication skills, essential in receptionist jobs. So, when you describe that unrelated job on your resume, emphasize achievements that show those receptionist skills. 

4. Provide Details of Your Education

When listing education on your resume, include: 

• The name and level of your highest completed level of education
• Where you obtained it—specify the name and location of the school or college
• Your dates of attendance (month and year; no need to list the exact days)

If you’re completing a degree or diploma, include it on your resume as well—just make it clear that it’s still in progress. Provide the expected graduation date in place of the attendance dates. 

As a candidate with relevant work experience, you can leave it and move on to the next section. Your job history will interest recruiters a lot more than your school activities! 

However, if you’re a recent graduate with only a short list of professional experiences, you can use your education to your advantage. Fill your education section with bullet points showcasing relevant skills like communication, time management, and customer service. 

You can use experiences like relevant coursework, projects, and extracurricular activities on your resume. Just like with work experience, try to add numbers and focus on writing achievement statements to show that you can drive success wherever you go.

5. Tailor Your Receptionist Skills Resume Section to the Job

There’s no universal list of skills to put on a resume for receptionist jobs since it depends on your skill set and the job’s specifics. Here’s a list of examples to help you build your list, though: 

Receptionist Resume Skills

• Customer service
• Communication skills
• Call management
• Scheduling and calendar management
• Microsoft Office proficiency
• Data entry
• Teamwork
• Time management
• Office equipment operation (fax, printer, etc.)
• Organizational skills
• Problem-solving skills
• Email management
• Record keeping
• Attention to detail
• Computer skills

The best way to choose relevant receptionist skills for your resume is to look closely at the job ad. What skills does the employer mention? Pick 8–10 of these and add them to your resume, aiming for a mix of soft and hard skills. 

Soft skills refer to how you interact and work with others, including abilities and traits like communication and teamwork. Hard skills for a receptionist resume are job-specific abilities, like customer service, computer skills, or calendar management. Successful candidates must manage their tasks efficiently while professionally interacting with customers and colleagues. 

Pro Tip: Incorporating skills and phrases from the job ad into your resume helps it align with the job posting. These keywords in your resume will be recognized by both automated systems and recruiters, increasing the relevance of your application.

6. Include Additional Sections on Your Receptionist Resume

Create new sections for any additional information you want to include on your resume, such as:

• Courses and certifications
• Volunteering experience
• Foreign language skills
• Professional interests

This information is not obligatory, and chances are that you won’t include every section from this list, but it’s a good idea to add at least one. You never know what will make you stand out from other applicants with similar experience—it could be your conversational Spanish or a leadership course you took! 

Considering applying for other, similar jobs? Take a look at these resume guides—they feature examples and tips from our career experts: 

• Front Desk Receptionist Resume Guide
• Front Desk Resume Guide
• Hotel Front Desk Resume Guide
• Office Assistant Resume Guide
• Administrative Assistant Resume Guide
• Secretary Resume Guide
• Virtual Assistant Resume Guide
• Executive Assistant Resume Guide
• Office Administrator Resume Guide
• Resume Examples for Every Profession

Sources

1. What resume paper should I use? Hope Hahn, Cornell Human Ecology Career Exploration Center, Cornell University, accessed December 9, 2024, https://hecec.human.cornell.edu/2016/09/07/what-resume-paper-should-i-use/
2. Receptionists and Information Clerks, Next Steps Idaho, accessed December 9, 2024, https://nextsteps.idaho.gov/browse-careers/43-4171.00

More resume examples and tips

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

• How to Write a Resume: Learn how to easily put together a professional resume that is eye-catching and impressive.
• Resume Templates: We have a great selection of resume templates you can use to create your Receptionist resume.
• Resume Examples: Find all the resume writing inspiration you need in our resume samples library.
• How to Create an Applicant Tracking System Friendly Resume: An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software that some employers use to filter resumes. Make sure you reach recruiters’ hands with our tips and tricks.
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