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Receptionist CV example

A receptionist CV should show that you welcome visitors, handle calls and enquiries, keep bookings in order and stay calm when the desk gets busy. Below is a full example for an experienced receptionist and a version for someone with no front-desk job yet, with the bullet points, skills and tailoring steps behind them.

By Paul and the c-v.ai team, drawing on years of hiring across industries and of writing CVs professionally. Published 10 November 2026.

What employers look for in a receptionist CV

The UK National Careers Service, the US O*NET database and Canada’s occupation classification describe the front desk in very similar terms. Your CV (résumé) should give evidence of:

• Welcoming visitors. Greeting people, finding out why they are there and directing them to the right person or department.
• Calls and enquiries. Answering questions in person, by phone and online, and in many jobs running a switchboard and taking messages.
• Bookings. Managing reservations, meeting rooms and appointments, and keeping calendars up to date.
• Security and sign-in. Signing visitors in and issuing security passes. Canada’s classification lists front-desk security as a duty.
• Post, payments and admin. Handling post and deliveries, taking payments and doing clerical work such as filing and data entry.
• Calm and patience. Staying calm under stress and dealing with complaints both appear in the job profiles.

Receptionist CV example

Amara’s summary shows two kinds of front desk, which widens the jobs she can apply for. Her bullets cover visitors, calls, bookings and post, each with a rough daily volume that a manager can picture. The front desk guide shows she thinks about the desk when she isn’t there. The GP surgery job is short but proves she can handle stressful calls.

How to write each section

Personal statement

Say what kind of reception you have run (office, medical, hotel, gym), how busy it was and which tasks you handle. End with the type of role you want. Three sentences is plenty.

Experience bullets

Skills

List the front-desk tasks you can run alone and the systems you use for them: a booking system, a patient records system, Outlook calendars, a visitor sign-in app. Languages are a real advantage at reception, so include them.

Education

Your highest school qualification and the year are enough. Add an admin, customer service or IT course if you have one.

Receptionist CV with no experience

Lerato’s restaurant hosting job covers greeting, bookings and staying calm when it is busy. If you are new to reception work, lead with:

1. Any job where you were the first person people met. Hosting, a shop till, an events desk or a gym front desk all count.
2. Bookings and phone work. Taking reservations or appointments is the core of many reception jobs.
3. Computer skills. Even a short course in Word and Excel is worth listing.
4. Languages. Visitors and callers notice when you can help them in their own language.

Our guide to a CV with no experience has more on this.

Tailoring this CV to a job ad

Amara applies for a hotel receptionist job. The ad asks for “experience with booking systems”, “handling cash and card payments” and “availability for evening and weekend shifts”.

1. She moves the room bookings bullet to the top and names the booking system she uses.
2. She doesn’t claim payment experience. She has never taken payments at either desk, so she leaves it for the interview and says she is keen to learn.
3. She adds “Available for evening and weekend shifts” to her summary, because the ad repeats it.

The full method is in our guide to tailoring a CV to a job description. c-v.ai works the same way. Paste the ad or add a screenshot, and the app ranks what the role asks for and shows where your CV doesn’t cover it yet. The job ad is never treated as evidence about you, so the app shouldn’t propose payment experience you don’t have, and you check every change anyway.

What changes in other countries

• United States. O*NET titles include receptionist, front desk receptionist and medical receptionist. The document is a résumé (see CV vs résumé), and Pomona College’s career office advises one to two pages with no photo, age, birth date or marital status.
• Canada. Example titles include receptionist, medical receptionist and dental receptionist, and completing secondary school is usually required. Memorial University’s career service advises leaving out a photo, your age or date of birth and your relationship status.
• Australia. The national classification separates receptionist (general), hotel or motel receptionist and medical receptionist, so use the one that matches the ad.
• India. The government’s National Career Service portal, run by the Ministry of Labour & Employment, lists jobs and lets you register free of charge.
• South Africa. The University of Cape Town careers service says CVs are typically two pages and advises no photo unless the employer asks.
• Germany. EURES says a photo is still part of a typical German application, and the CV is usually a signed and dated table of up to two pages.
• Poland. EURES advises one, at most two, A4 pages, with a consent clause for processing your personal data underneath the CV.

Before you apply online, read our ATS-friendly CV guide. c-v.ai checks every PDF on your iPhone for selectable text, contact details as text, standard headings and reading order. Systems differ, so no check can promise how one will read your CV. For office roles with more admin, see the administrative assistant CV example.

Questions

What should a receptionist CV include?

A short summary, then front-desk or customer-facing jobs with bullets on greeting visitors, handling calls, managing bookings and dealing with post or payments. Finish with software skills, languages and education.

How do I become a receptionist with no experience?

Lead with any job where you greeted people or took bookings, such as hosting in a restaurant, working a shop till or volunteering on a desk. The UK National Careers Service notes that some employers prefer IT skills for booking and payment systems, so name the software you know.

What hours do receptionists work?

It depends on the setting. The UK National Careers Service says you could work evenings, weekends and bank holidays on shifts, especially in hotels and healthcare. If you can cover those, say so.

Sources

• National Careers Service: Receptionist
• O*NET OnLine: Receptionists and Information Clerks (43-4171.00)
• Government of Canada, NOC 2021: 14101 Receptionists
• Australian Bureau of Statistics, ANZSCO 2022: 5421 Receptionists
• Pomona College Career Development Office: U.S. Résumé Tips for International Students
• Memorial University of Newfoundland Career Services: Career FAQs for International Students
• National Career Service (Ministry of Labour & Employment, India)
• University of Cape Town Careers Service: Creating a Great CV (2023)
• EURES: Living and working conditions in Germany
• EURES: Living and working conditions in Poland

Related guides

• Administrative assistant CV example
• Customer service CV example
• Waiter CV example
• How to tailor your CV to a job description
• How to write a CV with no work experience