Office receptionists perform various administrative support tasks. This includes answering phones, receiving visitors, preparing meeting and training rooms, sorting and distributing mail, and making travel plans. They welcome visitors and deliver exceptional customer service assistance by addressing their questions and needs. They keep the reception area and all common areas clean and tidy at all times. Also, they operate standard office equipment regularly, such as fax machines, copy machines, and computers. Additionally, they maintain an inventory of office supplies and restock as needed.
For this role, you need a minimum of a high school diploma or its equivalent. You must have at least two years of relevant experience in an office environment. You must be proficient in Microsoft Office. Also, you must possess multitasking, prioritization, interpersonal, organization, time management, and communication skills. Employers may provide on-the-job training. Your salary will be between $23,000 and $42,000, with an average of $31,127 yearly.
What is an Office Receptionist?
What Does an Office Receptionist Do
There are certain skills that many office receptionists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, computer skills and integrity.
How To Become an Office Receptionist
If you're interested in becoming an office receptionist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 35.9% of office receptionists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.3% of office receptionists have master's degrees. Even though some office receptionists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Office Receptionist Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, an office receptionist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as medical assistant, progress to a title such as technician and then eventually end up with the title office manager.
Average Salary for an Office Receptionist
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Office Receptionist
The role of an office receptionist includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general office receptionist responsibilities:
- Mail, picking up and sortingquickbooks transactions: accounts payable, receivables, timesheets, payrollmonth end, statements to customers, verifying payables
- The successful candidate for this position will provide essential reception services for the financial aid office. Responsibilities include greeting office visitors, determining nature of concern, assessing the complexity of the situation, providing appropriate assistance where possible or referring visitor to area of specialization. Answering telephones, scheduling appointments, opening
- Operate telephone switchboard to answer, screen, or forward calls, providing information, taking messages, or scheduling appointments. Greet persons entering establishment, determine nature
There are several types of office receptionist, including:
Receptionist
Role:
This is one of those jobs that comes with a lot of opportunities. In fact, there are receptionist positions across almost every industry so you definitely won't have a hard time finding a job in this field.
Typically, a receptionist needs a high school diploma. More specific training will be given once you have the job. Then, when you've got the swing of things, you'll be answering phones and helping guests like a pro.
- Average Salary: $30,571
- Degree: High School Diploma
Front Desk Receptionist
Role:
Since a lot of different industries require a front-desk receptionist, you can assume that there will never be a shortage of opportunity just waiting for you. It'll take you no time to find a job that you enjoy.
Typically, front desk receptionists are required to earn a high school diploma. Which means you won't have to spend a lot of your hard-earned cash on an education. As a bonus, no student loans so you can start saving for retirement early in the game.
- Average Salary: $31,050
- Degree: High School Diploma
Office Administrator
Role:
The biggest, and probably toughest, part of your job is making sure your team is consistantly performing. You have to find a nice balance for employees so they don't get burned out on work, while also making sure they're not playing Solitaire on their computer.
Office administrators typically work somewhere between 35-40 hours a week. Generally, they won't work more than that. This means you might get to go home a little early some days. Our fingers are crossed that you get off a little early on Friday, so you can kickstart your weekend on a high note.
- Average Salary: $37,423
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
States With The Most Office Receptionist Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active office receptionist jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where office receptionists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Office Receptionist Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 3,240 | $37,921 |
| 2 | Florida | 2,832 | $34,520 |
| 3 | Texas | 2,078 | $31,794 |
| 4 | New York | 1,951 | $39,095 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 1,378 | $34,019 |
| 6 | New Jersey | 1,307 | $38,166 |
| 7 | Illinois | 1,219 | $36,340 |
| 8 | Ohio | 1,081 | $38,099 |
| 9 | Michigan | 1,016 | $37,475 |
| 10 | Georgia | 976 | $29,956 |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 969 | $41,520 |
| 12 | North Carolina | 875 | $32,794 |
| 13 | Virginia | 836 | $34,904 |
| 14 | Washington | 830 | $45,764 |
| 15 | Arizona | 795 | $34,107 |
| 16 | Minnesota | 792 | $42,215 |
| 17 | Indiana | 734 | $32,498 |
| 18 | Tennessee | 719 | $30,893 |
| 19 | Missouri | 696 | $33,714 |
| 20 | Maryland | 633 | $36,712 |
| 21 | Colorado | 588 | $34,327 |
| 22 | Wisconsin | 585 | $41,164 |
| 23 | Iowa | 517 | $33,108 |
| 24 | Oregon | 466 | $42,336 |
| 25 | Connecticut | 428 | $40,432 |
| 26 | South Carolina | 395 | $31,887 |
| 27 | Kentucky | 368 | $29,824 |
| 28 | Alabama | 347 | $27,511 |
| 29 | Utah | 346 | $33,805 |
| 30 | Kansas | 271 | $29,854 |
| 31 | Oklahoma | 265 | $30,490 |
| 32 | Louisiana | 259 | $27,564 |
| 33 | Nevada | 258 | $32,753 |
| 34 | Nebraska | 213 | $31,943 |
| 35 | New Mexico | 211 | $31,357 |
| 36 | Arkansas | 182 | $28,641 |
| 37 | Mississippi | 169 | $32,314 |
| 38 | Idaho | 165 | $37,310 |
| 39 | New Hampshire | 156 | $36,157 |
| 40 | Montana | 154 | $35,625 |
| 41 | Maine | 153 | $37,786 |
| 42 | West Virginia | 135 | $30,259 |
| 43 | Alaska | 130 | $50,664 |
| 44 | Rhode Island | 121 | $35,183 |
| 45 | Delaware | 112 | $35,414 |
| 46 | South Dakota | 110 | $36,025 |
| 47 | Hawaii | 85 | $39,744 |
| 48 | North Dakota | 81 | $38,572 |
| 49 | Vermont | 60 | $38,780 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 54 | $33,142 |
Top Colleges for Office Receptionists
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC • Private
3. Ball State University
Muncie, IN • Private
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
5. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
6. Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH • Private
7. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
8. Cedar Crest College
Allentown, PA • Private
9. Villanova University
Villanova, PA • Private
10. Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA • Private
Top Skills For an Office Receptionist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 20.1% of office receptionists listed patients on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and computer skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Office Receptionist Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Office Receptionist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Office Receptionist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Office Receptionist Demographics
Office Receptionist Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among office receptionists, 90.5% of them are women, while 9.5% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among office receptionists is White, which makes up 55.1% of all office receptionists.
- The most common foreign language among office receptionists is Spanish at 67.8%.
Online Courses For Office Receptionist That You May Like
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Best States For an Office Receptionist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an office receptionist. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota. Office receptionists make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $50,664. Whereas in Washington and Oregon, they would average $45,764 and $42,336, respectively. While office receptionists would only make an average of $42,215 in Minnesota, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
$50,664
Avg. Salary
2. Washington
$45,764
Avg. Salary
3. Minnesota
$42,215
Avg. Salary
How Do Office Receptionist Rate Their Jobs?
Top Office Receptionist Employers
Most Common Employers For Office Receptionist
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Massachusetts Boston | $45,115 | $21.69 | 7 |
| 2 | Allstate | $37,215 | $17.89 | 10 |
| 3 | Farmers Insurance | $36,863 | $17.72 | 8 |
| 4 | State Farm Insurance Agency | $36,493 | $17.54 | 11 |
| 5 | State Farm | $34,558 | $16.61 | 10 |
| 6 | IST Management | $33,948 | $16.32 | 7 |
| 7 | Brooks Rehabilitation | $33,480 | $16.10 | 8 |
| 8 | Express Employment Professionals International HQ | $33,325 | $16.02 | 7 |
| 9 | H&R Block | $33,305 | $16.01 | 37 |
| 10 | Dental Dreams | $33,205 | $15.96 | 5 |