Receptionist

You would greet visitors to the organisation you work for. As the first point of contact you would help people with their enquiries.

You could work in all kinds of locations, including businesses, schools, hospitals, sports centres and hotels.

Depending on where you work, you would:

• Greet visitors and direct them to the right person or place
• Look after the visitors book and give out security passes
• Answer enquiries in person, on the phone and by email
• Provide or send out information
• Manage a booking system
• Provide refreshments
• Keep the reception area tidy

As a medical or dental receptionist you would arrange people’s appointments and take payments for treatments.

You should be friendly and able to deal with lots of different people. Sometimes people might be difficult because they are impatient or upset so you’d need to be polite but firm.

It would be important to follow safety and security procedures and put them into effect, such as checking who is going in and out of the building.

In some companies, especially if the reception area is not busy, you could have other tasks. For example, you might:

• Book transport and travel
• Organise meeting rooms
• Do basic clerical work
• Handle cash
• Do simple bookkeeping

Some large organisations and office buildings contain several companies. In this type of location you may act as a receptionist as well as work as a security officer.