Receptionist Resume Guide with Examples and Tips

Receptionists determine customers’ or visitors’ first impression of the business. Similar to front desk clerks, receptionists handle visitors, mails, and incoming calls, but they often perform other administrative tasks such as setting appointments, record keeping, and housekeeping as well.

The difference between receptionists and front desk clerks usually depends on the company. Bigger companies with a large number of calls and visitors might need both roles, while smaller businesses only need one. A concierge, on the other hand, is usually a receptionist in a hotel or apartment setting.

Are you looking to land a receptionist job? Interpersonal skills and the ability to stay organized are the top traits of a successful receptionist, which is why you need a strong receptionist resume to showcase your skills. Read on to learn how to build a job-winning receptionist resume.

💁‍♀️ 1: Adopt an ATS-friendly receptionist resume format.

Avoid using tables, charts, and images on your receptionist resume. Recruiters often use ATS (applicant tracking system) to manage resumes, which might misread content other than text.

💁‍♀️ 2: Refer to online receptionist resume examples.

Take a look at online receptionist resume samples and learn the proper format for and wording for your receptionist resume.

💁‍♀️ 3: Tailor your receptionist resume for the position.

Different receptionist jobs are likely to require different skills. It is necessary to make tweaks to your receptionist resume according to the desired job. An easy way is to use the exact keywords from the job description so that recruiters can see that you are a good fit at first glance.

Note: If the job requires a receptionist CV, you don’t need to make much customization because a CV should include all your professional experiences. A receptionist CV can be longer than 2 pages and should adopt a more formal design.

💁‍♀️ 4: Quantify results on your receptionist resume.

To make your receptionist resume stand out, you can use numbers to showcase your work performance, such as the percentage of customer satisfaction or the amount of expense saved.

💁‍♀️ 5: Include your diverse work experience.

A receptionist is a job that needs to face all kinds of people. Almost any job, including tutoring, clerking, and providing restaurant service can train your interpersonal skills and flexibility that will make you a better receptionist. You can definitely include those diverse experiences in your receptionist resume.

A receptionist resume objective, or a career objective for a receptionist CV, is usually a short paragraph with 2-3 sentences describing your core skills and career goal. You can better capture recruiters’ attention by putting a strong resume objective at the beginning of your receptionist resume.

✅ Tips for a good receptionist resume objective:

• Be specific: Writing a generic goal such as “in search of a rewarding job” doesn’t impress the recruiter. Try to describe your goal and strengths specifically.
  
• Include only relevant details: Talk about skills and goals that are closely related to the position. You can also consider directly including the company’s name in your receptionist resume objective.
  
• Highlight your strengths: Besides career goals, remember to emphasize your strengths whether they are skills, degree, volunteering experience, or personality traits.
  
• Keep it within 3 lines: A receptionist resume objective is just a quick opening to your resume. You want recruiters to get an idea of who you are in 5 seconds.

A receptionist resume summary is essentially an elevator pitch of yourself. What do you want employers to know about you if they only have 10 seconds? What are your top achievements and skills? Carefully craft your receptionist resume summary so that recruiters will be eager to learn more about you after those 10 seconds.

✅ Tips for a strong receptionist resume summary:

• Show your level of experience: A common way is to clearly state the year of experience you have in the field right in the beginning.
  
• Highlight your top achievements with numbers: As mentioned previously, using numbers to showcase your work results looks a lot more professional and credible.
  
• Speak to the position: Different receptionists might have different duties. Make sure you are experience and skills that are closely related to the responsibilities of the desired job.
  
• Keep it brief: Your receptionist resume summary shouldn’t repeat the rest of the resume or take up more than 10 seconds to read.

Employers hire you for your skills. Instead of only describing your work experience, it is a great idea to include a skills section on your receptionist resume to list all your professional skills.

There are multiple ways to list your skills on a receptionist resume.

A bullet list is the most simple format where you name the skills without further explanation. An expanded bullet list is where you add an additional sentence describing your skill level or work results. If the list on your receptionist resume looks lengthy, categorizing your skills might be clearer.

Whichever format you choose, make sure you stick to those rules:

• Keep it relevant to the job. The skills you list on your receptionist resume should mirror the position’s core responsibilities or help you better perform the tasks.
  
• Include hard and soft skills. A receptionist needs both hard and soft skills. Having both types of skills listed on your receptionist resume is recommended as long as the list isn’t too lengthy.
  
• Avoid obvious skills and buzzwords. Common sense skills such as “computer” or buzzwords such as “passionate learner” don’t mean much to recruiters on a concierge resume.
  
• Indicate skill levels clearly. Percentages and progress bars also aren’t effective in explaining your skill levels. Use common adjectives such as basic, intermediate, and advanced if you need to describe your skill levels.

Receptionists are often a job people pursue as the first step into a certain industry. So what if you have no experience in reception? Here is some advice for writing an entry-level receptionist resume:

👍 Advice 1: Choose the right resume format.

A chronological resume format is best for people with experience. If you don’t have any work experience, consider adopting a functional receptionist resume format to focus on your skills instead of past jobs.

A targeted resume where you customize your receptionist resume for the position is also an option.

👍 Advice 2: Include a career objective.

With no experience, it’s unlikely to come up with a strong resume summary. Replace it with a receptionist resume objective where you highlight your skills and career goals instead of experience and achievements.

👍 Advice 3: Highlight your education.

Even though you have limited work experience, you likely spent some time in school.

Try to add details such as relevant courses, academic performance, and extracurricular activities to the education section on your entry-level receptionist resume.

👍 Advice 4: Include your side projects or personal website.

Have you done any projects for class, volunteering, or student clubs?

Including a link to these projects on your entry-level receptionist resume can showcase your skills such as teamwork, time management, communication, and also personal traits.

👍 Advice 5: Write a sincere cover letter.

It’s a great idea to showcase your motivation and passion through a receptionist cover letter, especially if you have no experience in the field.

It is also a great way to prove your dedication; for example, sneak in specific information you found about this particular clinic and why you have your eyes set on them in a medical receptionist cover letter.