Receptionists (General)
Greet clients and visitors, and respond to personal, telephone, email and written enquiries and requests.
A Tuesday at Fernside Studio's front desk
You are the receptionist at a design studio, greeting visitors, handling calls, taking deliveries and keeping the front area calm. It is 9am. A client presentation starts at ten, a courier is waiting for a signature and you can hear two phones ringing at once.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I need to see Natasha, the director. I know she's in. It is about an invoice that has not been paid and I am not leaving until I see her. I have been very patient.
Tell him the director is not available and ask him to go
That is polite, but he stays in the foyer and gets louder. It is hard to ask someone to leave without offering any next step.
Walk him through to her office, since he said he would not leave
Natasha is in a meeting with a client, and you have interrupted it and put her in an awkward position. You also let a stranger past reception.
Stay calm, ask him to take a seat and tell Natasha who is here
Natasha comes out, hears him and arranges to look into it. He leaves less angry. A receptionist is a bridge, not a barrier.
I have a parcel for Tim that needs a signature. He's not here. Can you sign for it? I have another ten drops and I really need to go.
Sign for it and put it on Tim's desk, so the courier can get on his way
The parcel arrives, but it is something Tim wanted to receive himself, and it has been left on a desk. Accepting is fine, though a note to Tim helps.
Check the label, sign for it and message Tim that it has arrived
Tim is told within a minute and collects it after lunch. The courier is on his way. A quick note to the person completes the job.
Refuse to sign because the parcel is not for you
The courier leaves with the parcel and a card. Tim misses his delivery and has to rearrange. Signing was part of your job.
The ten o'clock presentation is moving to eleven but the client doesn't know yet. Could you let them know when they arrive? I'll be on a call. Be tactful, they are fussy.
Greet the client, tell them about the change with an apology, and offer a drink and somewhere to wait
The client takes it well. The only slip is that you did not check if they were still free at eleven. A short question could have fixed that.
Ring the client now to tell them before they set out
They had not left yet, and they are pleased not to arrive early. A heads-up is the best kind of tact.
Wait to see whether they notice that the presentation has not started
The client arrives, waits and then asks why nobody has said anything. First impressions are partly about whether you were told.
How it went
By lunch the foyer is quiet, the parcel is on Tim's desk and the client is on her way to the right room. Reception is the face of an organisation, and being warm without being a pushover is a real skill. Would you enjoy being the first person people meet?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The alarm and the visitor book
A fictional case set in the reception of a design and architecture studio with forty staff and many visitors.
The situation
Giulia was the receptionist at Fernside Studio when the fire alarm sounded during a client presentation. People filed out quickly. She grabbed the visitor book from the desk and took it to the assembly point. As the wardens counted staff, she began calling out the visitors' names from the book. Two of them were missing, and nobody was sure whether they had left or were still inside.
What they did
She told the warden at once and pointed to the lines in the book. One visitor had signed in but had gone to a meeting room on the far floor. The warden sent a colleague to check, and Giulia stayed with the group, ticking names. The second visitor had left twenty minutes earlier and had forgotten to sign out. She wrote that on the page.
How it turned out
Both visitors were accounted for within five minutes, and it turned out to be a false alarm. The warden said that an accurate book made the whole count possible. The studio added a rule that visitors sign out and return their badge at the desk.
What would you do?
- Why does a visitor book matter outside of normal days?
- How would you feel standing outside with people looking at you for answers?
- What small habits make a reception desk reliable in an emergency?