Receptionist Resume Example

The receptionist is often the “face” of a company, and is responsible for the customers’ first impression. This is a job for a detail-oriented, organized person who creates a welcoming environment. Interpersonal skills are as important as technical skills. Here, we’ll teach you how to create a receptionist resume that highlights your best skills to get you the job and give you some receptionist resume examples to guide you.

The first thing potential employers see on your resume is the header. This is true whether you choose a vertical or horizontal template, and is particularly relevant if you use color. The header includes your personal information, like the example below:

Landon Sutherland

(123)456-7890

landon.sutherland@example.com

456 Example Street, Example, MA, 12345

For a receptionist position, you may choose to put a picture in your header. Because this is a customer-facing position, a friendly face may stand out more to employers than a bland resume.

Resume objective or summary

This is where you share your goals and objectives. Keep this section short, at two to four sentences. Discuss your most relevant skills and experiences. Consider the following example when writing your receptionist resume objective:

Friendly, energetic receptionist with experience supporting both internal staff and customers. Focused on building relationships, maintaining an organized office and environment assisting clients. Extremely organized, certified in Microsoft Office and as a Certified Office Manager.

Work experience

The next step is to highlight what relevant work experience you have. If you’ve worked as a receptionist before, discuss the role you played. If not, discuss the skills you’ve learned at other jobs that are relevant to a receptionist position. These may include: typing skills, data entry, administrative skills, software skills and proficiency in other office management programs.

Office Manager, Mountain View Clinic, Boston, Massachusetts

January 2017 - Present

Managed an office with three doctors, two nurses and two additional receptionists at a medical clinic.
Used a multi-line phone systems to accept calls, transfer to appropriate personnel and delivered messages when necessary
Scheduled appointments, handled invoicing and billing and organized office events and parties.
Greet patients and other professionals as they come to the clinic.
Audited vendor contracts to find more efficient products and cut office supply costs by 5%.

Data Entry, Weber Family Law, Boston, Massachusetts

September 2015 - January 2017

Scanned old files and legal paperwork to create a digital copy of every document.
Created organizational database to increase productivity by 10%.
Trusted with important, confidential legal documents to input information into system.

Education

After your work experience, list your education. There isn’t a lot of formal education for a receptionist, so this can be a shorter section than your work section.

Bachelor of Science in Communications 2013-2017

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts

At the same time, there are a long list of certifications and programs for office management and receptionist positions. This education section can be a bullet list and may include some of the following popular receptionist certifications. Some are specific to an industry while others are general to all jobs.

Certified Office Manager
National Association of Legal Professionals Certification
Microsoft Office Specialist

Hard Skills

Hard skills are quantifiable, objective skills you have through work, school or training experiences. These are skills you often have to prove and may be similar to your work experience, so make sure you are honest about your abilities on your resume. Some hard skills to include in your front desk receptionist resume include:

Microsoft Office knowledge (Excel, Outlook, Word)
Type 100+ WPM
Google Office

Soft Skills

Soft skills aren’t as easy to quantify, but can be as important as hard skills, particularly in a receptionist position, where much of your time is spent with customers and other staff. In many ways, the receptionist sets the tone for the office. Some important soft skills for your receptionist duties resume soft skills include the following examples:

Time management
Written and verbal communication
Attention to detail
Stress management and tolerance

Optional sections

If you need to fill space in your resume, you can also add an optional section. For a receptionist, it may be beneficial if you speak other languages. List hobbies and interests that may help you with the job. If you’ve done volunteer work, this is the place to list it. Any community involvement, traveling or other hobbies that show you are good with people are good to highlight on a resume.

Fluent in English, and Spanish and proficient in French
Volunteer work with the Boys and Girls Club of America
Traveled to X number of countries (feel free to list them)

If you have other certifications that you didn’t list in your education or work experience section, you can list them here to take up space. This can include awards won for work in your community, volunteer organizations you’ve served for, or other professional certifications you’ve received.

Before you find the content for this section, research the company you’re applying for. If the culture is focused on charity and the community, include information that shows you value helping with improving the area around you. If they are expanding to other countries, your language skills may be the thing that puts you above the rest.

Tips for Writing the Role-Specific Resume

When it comes to choosing cover letter templates or a resume template for a receptionist's resume, the reverse chronological order is usually preferred. This is the most common format for showing skills for a receptionist resume. If you don’t have a strong professional background or relevant experience, a functional resume format may work better to highlight your training and transferable skills.

Customize your receptionist resume for each job. Check the receptionist job description for a resume. Find keywords and include them in your resume to make sure it gets through any applicant tracking systems. Study the description to come up with both the hard skills and soft skills the company is looking for. Some common keywords used in receptionist job descriptions include:

Commitment to excellence
Dedicated and hardworking
Creating schedules
Selling products
Optimal customer service
Friendly

Browse the company’s website and study the work they do to determine what’s important to them. Alter your resume each time you send it in for a new job. If the company has a laid-back, welcoming website, you may choose to use more casual language in your resume. If the website is formal, keep your language short, succinct and to the point.

You can quantify your achievements by adding numbers to them. This shows specific results and how you’ve helped the company in measurable ways. One example of a generic achievement and its improved, quantifiable statement is:

Generic: Answered phones at the front desk, checked guests in an out and answered phones.
Quantifiable: Checked in 30+ guests per hour, confirmed 20+ appointments each shift and managed the front desk.

You can see how your experience is quantified to a way that the hiring manager determines if you are efficient enough for the job when you use these specific remarks. Other quantifiable examples include:

Negotiated new vendor contracts to save the company $40,000 each year.
Processed more than $3,000 in transactions each shift.
Improved patient check-in efficiency by an average of two minutes per patient.

Simplifying the creation process

Before writing your resume, list your work experience, education and skills in a way that is simple and readable. Use that material to input the information into a resume template that you can tweak and improve each time you apply for a new job.

Creating a resume doesn’t have to be overwhelming or intimidating. While the final product may look like something hard to create, we help you break it down into manageable sections that you can plug into our templates to create a simple yet eye-catching resume.