How To Become A Front Desk Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a front desk officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a front desk officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.17 an hour? That's $29,467 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 38,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFront Desk OfficerUS Average

Salary

2.3

Avg. Salary $29,467

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.99%

Asian 5.79%

Black or African American 17.77%

Hispanic or Latino 23.80%

Unknown 6.12%

White 44.54%

Gender

female 55.68%

male 44.32%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.9

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.4

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a front desk officer

Explore front desk officer education requirements

Most common front desk officer degrees

Bachelor's

45.0 %

High School Diploma

19.3 %

Associate

14.6 %

Start to develop specific front desk officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Greeting Visitors	17.76%
Patrol	13.31%
Front Desk Reception	12.74%
Customer Service	9.49%
CCTV	6.68%

Complete relevant front desk officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New front desk officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a front desk officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real front desk officer resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed front desk officer usually doesn't require a college degree. However, you don't need to pass an exam to become a licensed front desk officer in most of states. 30 states require front desk officers to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	-	-	Licensed Personal Security Officer
Maryland	-	-	GUARDS
Alaska	Specific course required	-	Security Guard
Arkansas	Specific course required	State exam required	Private Security Officer (PSO)
California	Specific course required	State exam required	Security Guard Registration

Research front desk officer duties and responsibilities

Use EMR software to manage patient records and files; reinforce and uphold patient confidentiality as required by HIPAA.
Secure the premises, CPR certify.
Monitor close circuit television (CCTV) and report suspicious activity witness while monitoring.
Post at the front desk lobbying, signing employees in, creating temporary badges and monitoring the CCTV on screen.

Prepare your front desk officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your front desk officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a front desk officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable front desk officer resume templates

Build a professional front desk officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your front desk officer resume.