Reception is the front door of a business and often the first office job people get. You are the person who answers the phone, greets whoever walks in, and keeps the diary straight. It is one of the few entry level roles that leads somewhere obvious, because a receptionist who learns the systems ends up in admin, accounts or coordination.
Answer the phone and put calls through, greet visitors and sign them in, take deliveries, keep the reception area tidy. In a medical or dental practice you also book appointments, take payments and manage a waiting room.
Email, filing, data entry, invoices, ordering supplies, booking meeting rooms and travel. This half of the job is where most of the hours go, and it is what gets you promoted.
A phone system, Outlook or Google Calendar, a booking or practice management system, and Excel. Nobody expects you to know their system, they expect you to learn it in a week.
Not for a junior or trainee role. Any job where you dealt with people and had to be organised counts, including retail, hospitality and volunteering.
Comfortable with email, a calendar and basic Excel. If you can use a phone and a laptop without help, you are most of the way there.
Clear speech, patience, and the ability to take a message accurately. This is what the interview is actually testing.
You are the first thing a visitor sees, so tidy and on time. Dress code varies from corporate to smart casual, and the ad usually says.
You will see invoices, patient names and staff matters. Employers hire on whether they think you will keep quiet about them.
Mostly full time weekdays, roughly 8.30am to 5pm, because that is when the phone rings. Part time reception exists in medical practices, gyms and salons, often afternoons or Saturday mornings. Hotel reception runs shifts including nights and weekends.
Not for most of it. Everything listed on this page is open to somebody starting out: FindMeAJob only takes roles asking for up to about two years, so nothing here wants a long history. Every listing on this page states its own pay.
Apply for roles that say junior, trainee or office assistant, and put your people skills first. Retail, hospitality, coaching and volunteering all count as experience for reception because they show you can handle people and stay organised. Say plainly that you can learn a new system quickly, and give one example of a time you did.
Reception pay is usually quoted as an hourly rate for part time and casual roles and as a salary for full time ones. The rate on this page is read from the reception and admin roles listed on FindMeAJob right now, and every listing states its own pay.
Answer the phone and greet visitors, then email, filing, data entry, invoices, bookings and ordering supplies. The front desk is the visible part and the admin behind it is where most of the hours go.