Front Desk Resume

To get the front desk position you want, you’ll need a resume that highlights your excellent people skills, organizational expertise, and your commitment to providing quality customer service.

Creating a front desk resume that reflects the reasons why you’re a strong candidate for a front desk position doesn’t need to be difficult. Bear these tips in mind as you write yours to impress hiring managers and get more interviews.

1. Showcase your front desk skills

Hiring managers have a limited amount of time to spend on each application. Make sure your resume catches their attention by immediately making it clear you have the skills needed to successfully do the work expected of a front desk receptionist.

One way to do this is by writing a strong resume skills section that highlights your most valuable abilities related to front desk work.

A strong front desk receptionist resume needs to showcase both your soft skills and hard skills.

If you’re not sure where to start, here are some examples of common skills required for front desk jobs:

Soft Skills

• Friendliness
• Communication
• Conflict resolution
• Problem solving
• Responsibility
• Professionalism
• Time management
• Patience

Soft skills are important for front desk roles, because you’ll be interacting with people on a daily basis — from within your company as well as visitors.

Hard Skills

• Google Workspace
• Microsoft Office
• Foreign language
• Visitor management software
• Email writing
• Slack

Computer skills are essential hard skills for a front desk resume. For example, you might have to organize invoices using Google Sheets, or make company-wide announcements with Slack.

Incorporate your skills into your experience section, or list them in a separate section of your resume to make them really obvious:

Depending on your range of experiences, you can consult high-quality resumes from similar fields, such as a receptionist resume, to expand on your qualifications.

2. Include keywords from the front desk job description in your resume

An effective front desk resume focuses on how you can meet the company’s needs, not realize your own personal goals.

To show employers that you have the qualifications they’re looking for, target your resume to each position by including specific keywords from the job description every time you send out an application.

For example, one of the front desk duties listed in the job description might be:

“Answer phones and greet clients in a personalized and friendly manner”

In this case, you should try to naturally incorporate the words “personalized” and “friendly” into your resume bullet points. Here’s an example:

“Greeted customers as they arrived at the hotel and provided friendly, personalized service tailored to their specific requests”

3. Write a compelling front desk receptionist resume objective

The first thing a hiring manager will see when they open your application is your resume objective. As such, it’s your chance to make a good first impression and grab the hiring manager’s attention.

A resume objective should mention your:

1. Work experience
2. Relevant skills
3. Notable qualifications
4. Reason for applying

Here’s an example of what a front desk resume objective containing these four elements looks like:

4. Include hard numbers when describing your front desk duties

Although your resume may already showcase your skills, experience, and education, hiring managers also want to see concrete examples of what you’re capable of. That’s why it’s important you include hard numbers when describing accomplishments on your resume.

Hard numbers include numbers or percentages —  statistics that make it easier for the hiring manager to understand your contributions to a previous employer.

Here’s an example of how to use hard numbers in your resume to effectively highlight your accomplishments as a front desk worker:

Unquantified statement

Approached all encounters with guests in a friendly, efficient and service-oriented manner

Quantified statement

Approached all encounters with guests in a friendly, efficient and service-oriented manner, contributing to a 20% increase in guest satisfaction that year

This candidate shows the hiring manager exactly what they can achieve if hired. If you leave this kind of information off your resume, you’re missing out on an opportunity to show employers why they should hire you, rather than someone else with a similar educational or professional background.