Veterinary Receptionist job description
A complete, ready-to-post description for our veterinary practice. Add your business name, hours and pay range below, tick the duties that apply, and copy it into Indeed or your careers page.
Your job description
249 wordsVeterinary Receptionist ABOUT THE ROLE [Company name] is hiring a veterinary receptionist to run our front desk. You'll book appointments, check clients and their animals in, take payments, keep records accurate, run reminder and recall lists, and get genuinely urgent cases in front of a vet fast. Clients arrive worried about an animal they love, and the desk is where that's either handled well or badly. 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 • Take payments and issue receipts • Maintain patient or client records • Complete new client or patient intake paperwork • Run recall and reactivation lists • Triage urgent calls to the right clinician • Order and stock office supplies • Keep the reception area clean and presentable • Prepare invoices and chase outstanding balances WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR • High school diploma or equivalent • Front-desk or customer-service experience; practice experience is a plus • Comfortable around animals, including frightened or unwell ones • Able to stay composed with distressed clients and emergency arrivals • Confident with scheduling software and taking payments NICE TO HAVE • Experience in a veterinary or animal-care setting • Knowledge of common veterinary terminology 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.
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What the role involves
We're hiring a veterinary receptionist to run our front desk. You'll book appointments, check clients and their animals in, take payments, keep records accurate, run reminder and recall lists, and get genuinely urgent cases in front of a vet fast. Clients arrive worried about an animal they love, and the desk is where that's either handled well or badly.
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
- Take payments and issue receipts
- Maintain patient or client records
- Complete new client or patient intake paperwork
- Run recall and reactivation lists
- Triage urgent calls to the right clinician
- Order and stock office supplies
- Keep the reception area clean and presentable
- Prepare invoices and chase outstanding balances
Requirements
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Front-desk or customer-service experience; practice experience is a plus
- Comfortable around animals, including frightened or unwell ones
- Able to stay composed with distressed clients and emergency arrivals
- Confident with scheduling software and taking payments
Nice to have
- Experience in a veterinary or animal-care setting
- Knowledge of common veterinary terminology
Skills to screen for
Be honest about the phone
Veterinary calls skew urgent and emotional, and they don't respect opening hours. The desk is regularly taking a distressed call about an animal while a waiting room of other people's animals needs managing.
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 veterinary practice 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.
Veterinary Receptionist FAQ
What does a veterinary receptionist do?+
Books appointments, checks clients and animals in, takes payments, keeps records current, runs vaccination reminders and recalls, and triages urgent calls to a vet. The emotional load is a real part of the job and worth naming in the posting.
Do you need veterinary experience to be a vet receptionist?+
Usually not required, often preferred. Practices train on their own systems; what they can't train quickly is composure with a distressed owner and comfort around animals that are frightened or in pain.
How should the front desk handle an emergency call?+
With an agreed rule written down before it happens: which symptoms mean 'come now', who the receptionist interrupts, and what to say while the client is on their way. Leaving that to judgement in the moment is how emergencies get mishandled.
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.
7-day trial · 30 minutes included · No credit card.
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