What is a Receptionist?
Can you hear me now? That's because a receptionist spends quite a bit of time on the phone, but that's not all their responsible for. Receptionists also spend time helping visitors and educating the public about the organization they work for.
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.
What Does a Receptionist Do
Receptionists perform administrative tasks, such as answering phones, receiving visitors, and providing general information about their organization to the public and customers.
How To Become a Receptionist
Although hiring requirements vary by industry and employer, receptionists typically need a high school diploma and good communication skills.
Receptionist Job Description
Receptionist Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of office assistant you might progress to a role such as executive assistant eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title office manager.
Average Salary for a Receptionist
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Receptionist
The role of a 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 receptionist responsibilities:
- Performing routine clerical tasks; routine data entry or word processing assignments; distributing incoming mail; operating basic office equipment required qualifications6+ months of experience meeting deadlines in a business or office environmentdesired qualificationscustomer service focus with the ability to actively listen, elicit information, comprehend customer issues/needs,
- The successful candidate’s responsibilities will include, but not be limited to: screen
- Provides complete telephone answering service during business hours (8:00 am pm) by answering
There are several types of receptionist, including:
Clerk
Role:
Clerks have a lot of administrative roles in their day-to-day job responsibilities. From answering the phone to typing up documents, and even filing and speaking with clients, clerks have a lot on their shoulders.
For the most part, you only need to graduate from high school before becoming a clerk but some clerk positions may require you to complete a certification course beforehand. The majority of your knowledge of the job will come from the on-the-job training you'll be taken through.
You may not have a lot of stress in your day or you could feel a lot of stress, it really depends on what industry you choose to start your career in. Speaking of, you have a lot of options. On the plus side, you'll never work more than 40 hours a week so you can leave work at the office and enjoy your time off.
- Average Salary: $31,163
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Front Desk Receptionist
Role:
A front desk receptionist has to be very knowledgable about the company they work for so, if a visitor has a question, the receptionist will be able to answer. They also spend a lot of their day answering phones.
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
Medical Receptionist
Role:
Paging Dr. Fauci. As a medical receptionist, it's your job to make sure patients and visitors get to where they need to be. You also need to be able to provide information to people who call or walk in with questions.
While being knowledgeable is important in this position, memorizing might be even more important. If a patient comes in with an emergency, you need to be able to stay calm while figuring out exactly where they need to go. And some hospitals are pretty big, so that can be a difficult task.
The job requires you to have a high school diploma before you can get started. And it's useful to be a good communicator as well. You wouldn't want to accidentally send a patient with a broken arm to the pregnancy center. Unless, of course, that patient was also pregnant - but that's another story.
- Average Salary: $31,960
- Degree: Associate Degree
States With The Most Receptionist Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active receptionist jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where receptionists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Receptionist Jobs By State
Top Skills For a 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, 17.0% of receptionists listed patients on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and computer skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Receptionist Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Receptionist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Receptionist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Receptionist diversity
Receptionist Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among receptionists, 91.6% of them are women, while 8.4% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among receptionists is White, which makes up 54.4% of all receptionists.
- The most common foreign language among receptionists is Spanish at 74.3%.
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Best States For a Receptionist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a receptionist. The best states for people in this position are Massachusetts, Washington, New York, and Connecticut. Receptionists make the most in Massachusetts with an average salary of $34,278. Whereas in Washington and New York, they would average $33,951 and $33,807, respectively. While receptionists would only make an average of $33,702 in Connecticut, 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. Washington
$33,951
Avg. Salary
2. Connecticut
$33,702
Avg. Salary
3. New York
$33,807
Avg. Salary
How Do Receptionists Rate Their Jobs?
Top Receptionist Employers
Most Common Employers For Receptionist
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allstate | $34,841 | $16.75 | 592 |
| 2 | Farmers Insurance | $34,500 | $16.59 | 450 |
| 3 | Medical Record Associates | $32,409 | $15.58 | 330 |
| 4 | State Farm Insurance Agency | $32,297 | $15.53 | 643 |
| 5 | State Farm | $32,116 | $15.44 | 459 |
| 6 | Western Dental | $31,054 | $14.93 | 402 |
| 7 | H&R Block | $31,048 | $14.93 | 5,121 |
| 8 | ManpowerGroup | $30,521 | $14.67 | 659 |
| 9 | Adecco | $30,151 | $14.50 | 538 |
| 10 | Great Clips | $30,105 | $14.47 | 1,618 |
Receptionist Videos
Becoming a Receptionist FAQs
How Long Does It Take To Become A Receptionist?
It takes 2 years of professional experience to become a receptionist. That is the time it takes to learn specific receptionist skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education.
How Do I Become A Receptionist With No Experience?
To become a receptionist with no experience involves having a good resume and cover letter, some prior work or volunteer experience, and meeting the right people. When creating a resume for a receptionist position, be sure to illustrate similar skills in past volunteer, extracurricular, or work experience.
Is An Office Assistant The Same As A Receptionist?
No, an office assistant is not the same role as a receptionist. While these roles can be similar in some companies and even be held by the same person, the roles are not the same.
The office receptionist is the representative of the company that visitors encounter first. Their duties are primarily in customer service, ensuring that everyone who walks through the door or who makes a phone call has a positive first impression of the company.
Is Being A Receptionist A Stressful Job?
Yes, being a receptionist is a stressful job. This largely depends on the company you work for. However, a typical receptionist is usually on the go for most of the day.
As a receptionist, you have to think on your feet, deal with multiple tasks at once, greet people, make bookings, emails, and take and make calls. Having to manage all these tasks at once does cause stress.
Is Receptionist A Good Career?
Yes, being a receptionist is a good career. Being a receptionist can be a very rewarding job. While it doesn't pay a lot, it can open the door to a lot of exciting opportunities. It has a good work-life balance, and you get to meet a lot of interesting people.
What Are The Duties Of A Receptionist?
The main duties of a receptionist are to receive visitors, answer phone calls, manage mail, do clerical work, organize meetings, and provide secretarial support.
Receive Visitors
greet visitors appropriately
determine visitor needs in a professional manner
maintain visitor register
offer refreshments to visitors where appropriate
direct visitors to the correct person
ensure back up when absent from reception desk
What Are The Qualifications For A Receptionist?
There are no specific qualifications for being a receptionist. At a minimum, a high school or GED will suffice.
However, unless you know someone, it may be hard for you to land a job as a receptionist, as you will need to have some work experience. However, If you have a bachelor's degree, you may be hired with minimal work experience. It doesn't matter if the past jobs involved receptionist duties.
What Is The Email Etiquette Cc Hierarchy?
The email etiquette CC hierarchy organizes the formal protocol for who to include in an email, including who to copy and who to reply to. At the end of the day, email etiquette concerning CC hierarchy simply asks the question "who to place first in the CC field of an email". Some professionals prefer to list recipients in descending order of importance in the company, placing the highest position first.