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Front Desk Receptionist job description

A complete, ready-to-post description for our front desk. Add your business name, hours and pay range below, tick the duties that apply, and copy it into Indeed or your careers page.

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Pre-selected for front desk receptionist. Tick anything else that applies.

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253 words
Front Desk Receptionist

ABOUT THE ROLE
[Company name] is hiring a front desk receptionist to run the front of house. You'll be the first point of contact for everyone who calls or walks in — answering the phone, checking people in, booking appointments, and keeping the reception area in a state we're happy for customers to see. The front desk sets the tone for the whole visit, and this role owns it.

WHAT YOU'LL DO
• Answer and route incoming calls
• Book, reschedule and confirm appointments
• Greet visitors and sign them in
• Take accurate messages and pass them on
• Monitor the shared inbox and reply to routine email
• Order and stock office supplies
• Sort incoming mail and handle couriers
• Manage meeting room bookings
• Keep the reception area clean and presentable
• Maintain the team calendar and travel bookings

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
• High school diploma or equivalent
• Experience at a front desk, reception or similar customer-facing role
• Professional presentation and a warm, unhurried manner in person
• Able to handle the phone and a queue at the desk at the same time
• Comfortable with scheduling software and point-of-sale systems

NICE TO HAVE
• Experience with visitor management or check-in systems
• A second language spoken by our customers

DETAILS
• Employment type: Full-time

TO APPLY
Send your résumé and a short note about why this role suits you to [Company name]. We read every application and reply to all of them.

Nothing you type is uploaded — this runs entirely in your browser.

What the role involves

We're hiring a front desk receptionist to run the front of house. You'll be the first point of contact for everyone who calls or walks in — answering the phone, checking people in, booking appointments, and keeping the reception area in a state we're happy for customers to see. The front desk sets the tone for the whole visit, and this role owns it.

Core duties

  • Answer and route incoming calls
  • Book, reschedule and confirm appointments
  • Greet visitors and sign them in
  • Take accurate messages and pass them on
  • Monitor the shared inbox and reply to routine email
  • Order and stock office supplies
  • Sort incoming mail and handle couriers
  • Manage meeting room bookings
  • Keep the reception area clean and presentable
  • Maintain the team calendar and travel bookings

Requirements

  • High school diploma or equivalent
  • Experience at a front desk, reception or similar customer-facing role
  • Professional presentation and a warm, unhurried manner in person
  • Able to handle the phone and a queue at the desk at the same time
  • Comfortable with scheduling software and point-of-sale systems

Nice to have

  • Experience with visitor management or check-in systems
  • A second language spoken by our customers

Skills to screen for

Front-of-house presencePhone mannerMultitaskingSchedulingCash handlingProblem solving

Be honest about the phone

The hardest part of a front desk is that it has two queues — the person standing at the counter and the person on the line — and both think they're first. Whoever takes this role will be choosing between them several times an hour.

Worth writing into the description rather than leaving as a surprise. Candidates who are good at it will recognize the description and apply; the ones who would have quit in month two will screen themselves out, which is the cheapest screening you will ever do.

What the hire actually covers

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook puts the median receptionist wage at $38,010 a year ($18.27/hour) as of 2025, before employer payroll taxes, benefits and paid time off. Source.

For that you get 40 of the 168 hours in a week. The remaining 128 — evenings, weekends, lunch cover, sick days, holidays — are hours our front desk still takes calls, and nobody is on the desk for them.

Hire the person. Just budget for the gap too, and work out what it's costing with the missed-call cost calculator.

Front Desk Receptionist FAQ

  • What's the difference between a receptionist and a front desk receptionist?+

    Mostly emphasis. A front desk role is explicitly front-of-house: you're visible, you handle walk-ins and check-ins, and presentation matters. A general receptionist may sit further back and carry more admin. In a small business the two are usually the same person.

  • What skills matter most at a front desk?+

    Handling two queues at once without making either feel ignored. Everything else — scheduling software, payments, check-in systems — can be taught in a week. Staying warm with a line at the counter and a phone ringing cannot.

  • Should the front desk also answer the phone?+

    It almost always does, and it's the most common source of complaints about both. The person in front of you watches you take somebody else's call; the caller hears the desk being busy. Worth deciding in advance which one wins, and saying so in the job description.

The other 128 hours

Hire the receptionist. Cover the rest of the week.

RingOwl answers the calls your front desk can't — after hours, at lunch, and on the second line when the first one's busy. It books appointments into your calendar, takes messages, and emails you a summary of every call.

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