OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Answer inquiries and provide information to the general public, customers, visitors, and other interested parties regarding activities conducted at establishment and location of departments, offices, and employees within the organization.
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Titles for this career often contain these words
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Responsibilities and activities
Receptionists typically do the following:
- Answer the telephone and take messages or forward calls
- Schedule and confirm appointments and maintain calendars
- Greet customers, clients, and other visitors
- Check in visitors and direct or escort them to their destinations
- Inform other employees of visitors’ arrivals or cancellations
- Enter customer information into the organization's database
- Copy, file, and maintain paper or electronic documents
- Handle incoming and outgoing correspondence
Receptionists are often the first employee of an organization to have contact with a customer or client. They are responsible for making a good first impression for the organization.
Receptionists’ specific responsibilities vary by employer. For example, receptionists in hospitals and doctors’ offices may collect patients’ personal information and direct patients to the waiting room. Some handle billing and insurance payments.
In large corporations and government offices, receptionists may have a security role. For example, they may control access to the organization by issuing visitor passes and escorting visitors to their destination.
Receptionists use telephones, computers, and other office equipment, such as shredders and printers.
Salary
Median salary: $31,110 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $26,380 and $37,830.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for receptionists and information clerks
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Receptionists and Information Clerks
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of receptionists and information clerks who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Time Pressure (77%)
- Unpleasant or Angry People (63%)
- High Conflict Frequency (40%)
- Exposed to Disease or Infections (31%)
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Receptionists and Information Clerks? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Communication skills
Receptionists must speak and write clearly when providing information and corresponding with customers.
Computer skills
Receptionists should be adept at using computers.
Customer-service skills
Receptionists represent the organization, so they should be courteous, professional, and helpful to customers and the public.
Integrity
Receptionists may handle confidential data, especially in medical and legal offices. They must be trustworthy and protect clients’ privacy.
Interpersonal skills
Receptionists should be comfortable interacting with people in different types of situations.
Organizational skills
Receptionists take messages, schedule appointments, and maintain employee files. They need good organizational skills to manage their diverse responsibilities.
Injury and Illness
About 24 receptionists and information clerks become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 56% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
All multiple traumatic injuries
Bruises and contusions
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by receptionists and information clerks
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), receptionists and information clerks typically hold a high school diploma or equivalent.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as receptionists and information clerks as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for receptionists and information clerks
Receptionists typically need a high school diploma or equivalent, and employers may prefer to hire candidates who have experience with certain computer software. Proficiency in word processing and spreadsheet applications may be particularly helpful.
Education level of Receptionists and Information Clerks
Only 15% of receptionists and information clerks have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by receptionists and information clerks
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click the program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Program
Number of degrees awarded in 2018
Education
Education level of awarded degrees
Assoc./Cert.
Bachelor's
Graduate
Gender
Gender of graduates
Men
Women
Race/Origin
Race/origin of graduates
White
Minority
International
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Receptionists and Information Clerks per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most receptionists and information clerks? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as receptionists and information clerks. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where receptionists and information clerks earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for receptionists and information clerks compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for receptionists and information clerks.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which receptionists and information clerks earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Receptionists and Information Clerks (ACS)
Employment
33% of Receptionists and information clerks are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 33% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 87% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of receptionists and information clerks by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Receptionists and information clerks and gender
With 90% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 97% of careers.
Gender of Receptionists and information clerks
Men (10%)
Women (90%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for receptionists and information clerks, with the
median salary for men 6%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Receptionists and information clerks
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Receptionists and information clerks.
Race/origin of receptionists and information clerks
White (71% )
Black (15% )
Other (6% )
Asian (3% )
Multiracial (3% )
Hispanic (1% )
American Indian (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
