Receptionist Resume Advice From HR Pros

When the job posting for a receptionist requires a resume, how you craft yours can increase or lower your prospects. We got some accomplished HR professionals to help us determine exactly what hiring managers look out for. We have summarized their tips in this article. If you follow our suggestions, you will be able to develop the kind of receptionist resume that impresses hiring managers and gets them to recommend you.

Receptionist Job Description

Before delving into these suggestions, there are some things you ought to know about receptionist jobs in general. Once you've learned everything about the receptionist role, you will be better positioned to craft your cover letter and resume. The knowledge will come in handy when negotiating employment terms with HR.

According to Career Trend, below are some alternative job titles for receptionists:

• front desk executive
• administrative assistant
• front desk officer
• information clerk
• front desk attendant
• office assistant secretary

Receptionists generally play the role of intermediaries, receiving clients and guests instead place of someone else. They also manage the information around the office, receive and return calls and emails, and also oversee activities and plans on the office calendar. In short, receptionists are expected to:

1. Receive and temporarily accommodate office guests and business clients;
2. Man the office phone and email, receiving and returning calls and messages;
3. Organize plans and events for operative company staff;
4. Collect needed information about operative staff, clients, and workplace; and
5. Handle most of the duties, e.g., getting coffee for the boss, that normal operative company staff will not do.

Some of these responsibilities are clear-cut and appear easy to deal with, but receptionists are still required to have some education, training, and experience. The exact requirements vary from place to place, but having anything above a High School diploma is a plus for you. Moreover, the job requires a lot of back-and-forths, so hiring managers highly regard soft skills such as communication.

In the case of salary expectations, Indeed.com reports that receptionists make about $15.5 per hour and an average of $47,085 annually. Receptionists also have access to side benefits such as 401(k), insurance packages (for employee disabilities and health), paid training and professional development assistance, as well as parental leave.

Now that you know these benefits, you can craft your receptionist resume to reflect them. Next, we will present the suggestions from HR experts about writing an impressive resume that returns the desired outcome.

Name and Contact Information Section

The Name and Contact Information section for a receptionist resume is not particularly different from the same section on the resume of a teacher, for example. The information captured by the section is generally descriptive, straight to the point, and gives little room for innovation. You should list your name, titles of your educational and professional certifications, and physical and virtual locations, in that order.

Here are a few suggestions for constructing an effective Name and Contact Information section in a winning receptionist resume:

1. Write down your full name first. Write it exactly the way it appears on your preferred ID card.
2. Next, write down abbreviated titles of every related educational and professional certification you have. This is important when the available receptionist position is in a particular field such as the Medical Sciences. Impressive receptionist certifications in that field include NCMOA (Nationally Certified Medical Office Assistant), CMAA (Certified Medical Administrative Assistant), and PCT (Patient Care Technician).
3. Write down your city and state.
4. Write down your most accessible phone number and email address.

You may also include a link to your social media profile, but only if said profile would increase your chances of landing the job.

Resume Summary Section

The Resume Summary section comes after the Name and Contact Information section. This section essentially sums up the resume, including information that the hiring manager expects to see. This information covers your skills, certifications, work profile, and any other important stuff that you included in the resume.

An effective resume summary does not contain a lot of information. However, including the following can help you impress the hiring manager and get them to go on reading your resume:

1. What you do, proof that you are good at it, and how long you have done it and where. This sentence can read like this: A highly educated, trained, and PMI-certified receptionist with 14 years of active experience, working in hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.
2. A bit more detail on your abilities. For a receptionist position, make sure to focus on the keywords on the job posting. If there aren’t any, you can use some of the general requirements we noted earlier in the job requirements of a receptionist. So, you can emphasize relevant soft and hard skills such as effective communication and above-average listening, and proficiency in productivity software (Microsoft Office).

In writing this section, use active verbs to animate the summary. The easier it is for hiring managers to read through without stopping to re-read a sentence, the better your chances.

Professional Experience Section

After the Resume Summary section, the next section (Professional Experience) contains information about your career and work history. This section is particularly important in a receptionist resume since experience is a fundamental requirement in many cases.

Regarding your receptionist career, hiring managers are not interested in every past job. Instead, they want to know what your duties were and how you handled them. Any striking achievement in these positions also serves as a plus for you.

Note that the best Professional Experience sections in receptionist resumes are written around the keywords of the job. This way, even if the hiring manager does not read it, the applicant tracking system (ATS) will select your resume for further processing.

Here are additional tips about writing a solid Professional Experience section in your receptionist resume:

1. Cite the role title of the past employment, the name and location of the company, and the period (in months and years) when you worked there.
2. Include your best and most innovative achievements while in that position. 2 or 3 such achievements are fine.
3. Make sure that your achievements and role titles align with the requirements of the job you are now applying for.

Certifications Section

The Certifications section follows the Professional Experience section and is supposed to include relevant information about your career as a receptionist. Hiring managers generally use this section to gauge how serious you are as a receptionist, and how much time and effort you have spent in the role. The section is usually short and in a bulleted list.

The secret to a convincing Certifications section is relevance. First, you must not include every professional certification you have, only the ones related to the job at hand. Second, try to find whichever certification the job posting recognizes, and match it with what you have. And if you don’t have any such certifications, you can write down certifications for using Microsoft Office, for example, or training in secretarial duties.

Education Section

The Education section in a receptionist resume is just as straightforward as the Name and Contact Information section. This section contains facts about your educational profile, including where and when you schooled, and the ensuing academic degree.

Like some of the other sections, the information you present in this section has to be in line with the job requirements to be regarded as relevant. If the job posting states that HR will only consider applicants with at least a High School diploma, make sure to include a High School diploma (and anything above) in this section.

Fix your educational qualifications in a bulleted list. Also, you can include any certification that is not exactly professional but might be useful for the job. Examples are conferences and conventions for front desk executives.

Additional Information

The Additional Information section in modern resumes comes last. It only includes information that is not directly related to the job keywords or requirements but can consolidate your claims in the resume. This can be an hobby with tangential connection to the role, or membership of a relevant association.

As a bonus, be consistent in your formatting and layout. Use the same style of fonts for every section. Put each section name in bold or slightly larger font. This way, hiring managers will be able to follow your receptionist resume without any difficulty.

HR practitioner

Kristina Phelps

Kristina Phelps is an HR specialist who loves sharing her experience. Her two biggest passions are helping people find a perfect workplace and writing about all things HR. Kristina grew up in Boston, MA. She likes big dogs and long walks. She also helps animal shelters find new owners for cats and dogs.