Receptionist (General)
What the work is
Greets clients and visitors, and responds to personal, telephone, email and written enquiries and requests.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Greets and welcomes visitors, customers or clients, and directs them to the appropriate person or department
- Arranges and records details of appointments, including the management of changes, cancellations and rescheduling where necessary
- Receives, sorts and distributes incoming mail and packages
- Maintains and organises the reception desk and waiting areas
- Answers enquires and provides information on the goods, services and activities of the organisation
- Relays messages or information between staff and departments
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in the reception of a design and architecture studio with forty staff and many visitors. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A visitor says the reception was the first place that made them feel at ease
- You keep three things going at once and nobody notices the effort
- A delivery, a client and a phone call are all handled before the boss walks in
Hard days
- A visitor arrives angry and wants to see someone who is not there
- The fire alarm sounds and you have to account for everyone
- Phones, doors, couriers and questions all at once
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 553131, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.