Receptionist CV example

What a receptionist is hired for

Whoever reads your CV is picturing you at their desk on their worst morning. The phone has four lines flashing, a courier wants a signature, a visitor is early for a meeting in a room that is still booked, and someone at the counter is getting louder. They want to know that you will keep all of that moving and that the visitor walks away thinking well of the place.

That breaks down into four things you need to prove. You make a good first impression, in person and on the phone. You keep bookings accurate, whether they are appointments, rooms or tables. You control who comes in and what they are told, which covers both building security and personal data. And you stay steady with difficult people. A receptionist CV that says "excellent communication skills" proves none of these. One that says how many calls you take and what you do when a caller shouts proves all of them.

Four settings, four different desks

The National Careers Service lists reception work in offices, NHS and private healthcare, and hotels, and salons and gyms employ plenty of receptionists too. The job title is the same. What the hiring manager checks for is not.

Medical and dental

A practice manager wants proof that you can use a clinical system, follow a triage or signposting script without giving medical advice, and keep patient information confidential. Name the system, such as SystmOne, EMIS or a dental booking package. Mention repeat prescriptions, test result calls and registrations if you handle them. Experience of a Monday morning phone rush is worth a line of its own.

Hotel front desk

Hotels read for check-ins, the property management system, payments and upselling. Give the number of rooms, the shifts you cover (nights are worth saying), and anything you did to resolve a complaint or win a good review. Language skills matter more here than in most settings, so list them with a plain level such as "conversational Spanish".

Corporate and professional services

Law firms, accountants and head offices want polish and discretion. They look for switchboard work, meeting room and catering bookings, visitor passes, and greeting clients who may be paying a lot for an hour of someone's time. If you have covered for a PA or managed a boardroom diary, put that high up.

Salons, spas and gyms

Here the desk is also the till. Owners want booking software, deposits and no-show policies, retail sales and rebooking clients before they leave. If you raised product sales or filled cancellations from a waiting list, give the numbers.

Moving from one kind of desk to another

Switching settings is common, and your CV has to translate. Olivia, in the example above, is leaving a GP surgery for a professional services firm. A corporate reader does not need to know what a repeat prescription is. They need to see the parts of her job that match theirs: a busy switchboard, visitors signed in and badged, confidential information handled carefully, and people who arrive upset. So each bullet leads with the skill and uses the surgery as the setting, not the other way round.

The same works in reverse. A hotel receptionist applying to a surgery should bring forward night shifts, handling distressed guests and payment security. Someone from a corporate desk applying to a hotel should lead with visitors, bookings and complaints, and add any evening or weekend availability.

Give your volumes, honestly

Numbers tell a reader how busy your desk is in a way adjectives cannot. Useful ones for a receptionist are calls per day or per peak hour, visitors or patients per session, rooms, beds or chairs on the booking system, and the size of the building or team you cover. If you do not have exact figures, estimate from a typical shift and round down, then say "around" or "up to". You may be asked about them at interview, so choose figures you can explain.

Avoid percentages you cannot back up. "Improved patient satisfaction by 20%" invites the question of who measured it. "Coached two new starters on difficult calls" is smaller and more believable.

Show how you handle a difficult caller

Receptionist interviews very often ask about an angry visitor or caller, and a good CV answers it in advance. Write one bullet that shows the method, not just the outcome: what you listened for, what you could and could not offer, and when you passed it on. If you have had conflict resolution training, list it.

Systems worth naming

Most reception jobs rely on at least one booking system and a phone system, and naming them saves the employer training time. List the booking or clinical system, the phone set-up (multi-line, switchboard, call queues), visitor management or sign-in screens, and the office software you use. The National Careers Service says employers look for people who can use computer systems and standard office software, so put Outlook and Word on the CV even though they feel obvious.

Layout and length

One page is right for most receptionists, and two pages at most if you have a long work history. Put a short profile at the top that names the setting you want, then experience with the newest job first. Keep training and certificates in their own small section: customer service qualifications, first aid, fire marshal, conflict resolution and data protection training all count. The National Careers Service mentions the Level 2 Customer Service Practitioner apprenticeship as a common route in, so list it if you did one. Leave out your date of birth, a photo and your full address.

Check it twice for spelling. A receptionist is often the person who sends letters and emails on the firm's behalf, so a typo in the CV lands harder than in most jobs.

Receptionist pay and where the job leads

The National Careers Service gives average pay for receptionists of £21,000 for a starter and £25,000 when experienced, usually for 37 to 40 hours a week, sometimes on shifts. From reception, people move to senior receptionist, front of house supervisor, personal assistant, or medical secretary in healthcare. If you are aiming for one of these, say so in your profile, and show the parts of your current job that point that way.