What does an administrative receptionist do?
An administrative receptionist is responsible for performing administrative tasks, handling visitors' inquiries and concerns, verifying appointments, and leading them to the appropriate personnel and department, as well as handling and routing calls. Administrative receptionists also keep records of the staff meeting and executive conference, including company and promotional events. They receive packages and mail, sort documents, manage office supply inventories, create incident reports, and report suspicious guests within the premises. An administrative receptionist must have excellent communication and customer service skills, especially on resolving and escalating complaints.
Administrative receptionist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real administrative receptionist resumes:
- Manage travel reimbursements, and reconcile process and forward to payroll for assign individuals.
- Act as primary liaison between patients, physical therapists and physicians while accomplishing miscellaneous duties necessary for maintaining operations.
- Sort first class mail, FedEx, campus mail and all incoming mail daily.
- Draft correspondence and other written material, develop PowerPoint slides and graphic presentations for demographic analysts.
- Issue shipping instructions and provide routing information to ensure that payroll delivery times and locations are coordinate.
- Greet visitors, and respond to telephone and in-person requests for information for sole-practitioner office serving several hundr patients.
- Prepare high-level meeting presentation material and handouts, which include creating/modifying PowerPoint presentations, utilizing, and advance PowerPoint skills.
- Implement a solution for staffing restructure that reduce overall salary expense while maintaining productivity for a rehabilitation inpatient nursing unit.
- Bill major carriers including Medicaid.
- Provide inventory management by keeping uploading current contracts to internal SharePoint site and filing all archive materials in proper storage areas.
Administrative receptionist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 18% of Administrative Receptionists are proficient in Customer Service, Patients, and Data Entry. They’re also known for soft skills such as Writing skills, Interpersonal skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Administrative Receptionists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 18%
Enhanced communication between members and customer service department and executive team, fostering a sense of teamwork and collaboration.
- Patients, 12%
Print super bill*Check-in patient*Referrals*Schedule Testing*Answering Phones*Check-out patients*Billing*Verify Insurance
- Data Entry, 11%
Organized all candidate forms and provided data entry support for all associated documentation.
- Phone Calls, 8%
Managed executive correspondence, telephone calls and routine inquiries.
- Front Desk, 6%
Trained new staff on front desk operations including insurance verification and ordering prescriptions.
- Word Processing, 4%
Co-developed comprehensive, word processing manual for administrative support staff.
"customer service," "patients," and "data entry" are among the most common skills that administrative receptionists use at work. You can find even more administrative receptionist responsibilities below, including:
Writing skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for an administrative receptionist to have is writing skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "secretaries and administrative assistants write memos and emails when communicating with managers, employees, and customers." Administrative receptionists often use writing skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "perform data entry, filing, answer incoming calls, and participate in writing the office policies and procedures manual. "
Interpersonal skills. Many administrative receptionist duties rely on interpersonal skills. "secretaries and administrative assistants interact with clients, customers, or staff," so an administrative receptionist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways administrative receptionist responsibilities rely on interpersonal skills: "enhanced interpersonal skills through individual contact with patients, administration, and doctors. "
Organizational skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of administrative receptionists is organizational skills. This skill is critical to many everyday administrative receptionist duties, as "secretaries and administrative assistants keep files, folders, and schedules in order so that an office runs efficiently." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "handle multiple phone calls utilizing superior phone etiquette and using outstanding communication and organizational skills. "
The three companies that hire the most administrative receptionists are:
- AutoNation7 administrative receptionists jobs
- Builders FirstSource6 administrative receptionists jobs
- ABM Industries3 administrative receptionists jobs
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Compare different administrative receptionists
Administrative receptionist vs. Receptionist/administrator support
A receptionist/billing clerk is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties as needed to maintain a smooth flow of operations for the business. Receptionist/billing clerks process the customers' payment transactions, manage account payables, releasing invoices, and immediately resolve account discrepancies. A receptionist/billing clerk must have excellent communication and analytical skills, responding to customers' inquiries and concerns, escalating high-level complaints to the billing management. They should also maintain records of financial documentation for reference and reconciliation as needed.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an administrative receptionist are more likely to require skills like "patients," "appointment scheduling," "administrative tasks," and "meeting rooms." On the other hand, a job as a receptionist/administrator support requires skills like "scheduling appointments," "purchase orders," "event planning," and "route calls." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Receptionist/administrator supports really shine in the technology industry with an average salary of $34,049. Comparatively, administrative receptionists tend to make the most money in the technology industry with an average salary of $32,669.receptionist/administrator supports tend to reach similar levels of education than administrative receptionists. In fact, receptionist/administrator supports are 1.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Administrative receptionist vs. Receptionist/billing clerk
A receptionist secretary is responsible for providing the best customer service, as well as attending to the needs of existing and potential clients. Duties of a receptionist secretary include managing customer's inquiries and forwarding important calls to the appropriate department, performing administrative and clerical tasks, escalating high-level of client's concerns to the management, keeping the reception area clean, monitoring office supplies and request stocks as needed, and maintaining an organized record of meetings and events. A receptionist secretary must have strong communication and multi-tasking skills to handle workloads of daily operations.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, administrative receptionist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "phone calls," "hr," "payroll," and "administrative tasks." Meanwhile, a receptionist/billing clerk has duties that require skills in areas such as "medicaid," "insurance verification," "insurance forms," and "emr." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Receptionist/billing clerks earn a higher average salary than administrative receptionists. But receptionist/billing clerks earn the highest pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $35,383. Additionally, administrative receptionists earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $32,669 annually.receptionist/billing clerks earn similar levels of education than administrative receptionists in general. They're 1.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Administrative receptionist vs. Receptionist secretary
A front desk administration professional is responsible for performing administrative duties related to the front desk reception of an organization. This professional must assist in conferences and meetings as well as maintain inventory and costs for building and office supplies. The administration must coordinate front desk operations and maintain customer relationships by interacting with them in a professional and courteous manner. This professional must also handle phone calls and important documents by scanning and placing them in their designated files.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, administrative receptionists are more likely to have skills like "hr," "meeting rooms," "expense reports," and "provides administrative support." But a receptionist secretary is more likely to have skills like "administrative functions," "routine correspondence," "computer programs," and "secretarial support."
Receptionist secretaries make a very good living in the government industry with an average annual salary of $30,128. On the other hand, administrative receptionists are paid the highest salary in the technology industry, with average annual pay of $32,669.Most receptionist secretaries achieve a similar degree level compared to administrative receptionists. For example, they're 1.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Administrative receptionist vs. Front desk administration
Types of administrative receptionist
Updated January 8, 2025
