All organizations want to make a good first impression, and this is the job of the receptionist, who often is the first representative of the organization that a caller encounters. One primary duty of receptionists, particularly those in large cities, is a security function seeing who belongs in a given place and who does not. They also may be expected to monitor the attendance of employees and report this to management. Another major responsibility of the receptionist is to answer the telephone and route the calls to the proper individual or department.
Receptionists receive visitors and answer telephone calls.
Receptionists greet customers and other visitors, determine their needs, and refer callers to the person who can help them. They also answer questions from the public. Their day-to-day duties can vary, depending on where they work. Those in hospitals and doctors' offices, for example, may obtain personal and financial information and then direct patients to the proper waiting rooms. At beauty or hair salons, they arrange appointments and may direct customers to the hairstylist. In factories or large business firms and government offices, they provide identification cards and arrange for escorts to take callers to the proper office. Those working for bus and train companies respond to inquiries about departures, arrivals, stops, and related matters.
Many receptionists keep records of callers, the times at which they called, and the persons to whom they were referred. They may inform employees of their visitors' arrivals or an expected visitor's cancellation. When they are not busy with callers, they may perform secretarial duties opening and sorting mail, collecting and distributing parcels, making fax transmittals and deliveries, updating appointment calendars, preparing travel vouchers, and doing simple bookkeeping, typing, and filing.
Increasingly, receptionists use automated office equipment, such as personal computers, fax machines, and multiline telephone systems. While this equipment increases their productivity, it does not alter the basic content of their job person to person contact and interaction.
Receptionists held about 904,000 jobs in 1992, accounting for over two-thirds of all information clerk jobs. Over two-thirds of receptionists worked in services industries, and about half of these were located in the health services industry doctors' and dentists' offices, hospitals, nursing homes, urgent care centers, surgicenters, and clinics. Manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, government, and real estate industries also employed large numbers of receptionists. About 3 of every 10 receptionists work part time.
Job opportunities for receptionists should be plentiful. In addition to faster than average employment growth, turnover is high. Each year, several hundred thousand receptionists transfer to other occupations, seeking better pay or career advancement, or leave the labor force to tend to household responsibilities, Return to school, or retire. In addition, because establishments need receptionists' services even during economic downturns, they usually are not subject to layoffs during recessions.
Many receptionists also perform secretarial duties. Good typing and computer skills, coupled with strong interpersonal and communications skills, enhance one's job prospects.
Employment of receptionists is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2005. This is largely because so many receptionists work for firms in the services industry including physician's offices, law firms, temporary help agencies, and consulting firms a sector of the economy that is expected to continue to show strong growth. On the other hand, the increasing use of voice mail may temper, somewhat, the demand for receptionists. Where several receptionists may have been required to answer the company's telephones in the past, voice mail may now make it possible for one person to do the job.
Return to Beginning of Page 
Return to Clerical Studies Page
Reprinted with Permission of U. S. Department of Labor