9 Receptionist CV Examples [& Templates]

Formatting Your Receptionist CV

The key to creating an exceptional receptionist CV is choosing the perfect format. While the format might seem like an arbitrary decision, it’s what will ensure your CV is readable, logical, and complete. A CV with no format at all is likely to be disorganised, and a CV with the wrong format won’t highlight the right information. The structural foundation of your CV should allow all the other aspects to fall neatly into place.

You can format your resume by taking a few simple steps:

Reverse-chronological, functional, and combination/hybrid formats

Before you can start writing your CV, you need to decide which particular format you’ll use. The three most popular resume formats in 2025 are reverse-chronological, functional, and combination/hybrid. Each of these styles has its benefits and disadvantages, and plenty of job candidates have found success using all of them.

For your receptionist CV, it’s usually best to go with the reverse-chronological format. Recruiters and hiring managers are primarily interested in your work experience, so it makes sense to make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for.

Contact information and header

At the top of your CV, you need to lay out your name and contact information. This brief header will act as a business card, letting people know immediately who you are and how they can contact you. Stating this information clearly at the top of the page, as seen in our numerous resume samples, will make it easier for recruiters to spot and file your CV.

in 2025, the header for a receptionist CV should include:

To make it as easy as possible for recruiters to contact you, it’s important to make your header stand out. You can do this by increasing the font size for your name, using a splash of colour, and/or emboldening labels like “phone” and “email.”

Passing ATS and ensuring your receptionist CV is readable

We live in an increasingly technological world, something you’ll have to keep in mind when creating your receptionist CV. These days, many companies screen applicants using an applicant tracking system (ATS). This technology quickly checks CVs for certain keywords before determining which candidates deserve attention from recruiters. For your CV to make the cut, you’ll need to consider how ATS works and what it looks for.

You can maximise your CV’s chances of being favoured by ATS by adopting a few key strategies. First of all, use an ATS-friendly file type like .pdf or .docx. Also, include some central keywords throughout the document, especially phrases that correspond to the soft and hard skills you’ve gained as a receptionist. Finally, make sure you avoid putting these keywords in the header where ATS might not find them.

It’s also important to make your CV as readable as possible. Maximise readability by taking a few basic steps:

Our convenient and easy resume builder takes all this into account, ensuring that your CV will be easy for recruiters to read.

Writing Your Receptionist CV

If writing your receptionist CV seems a daunting task, you’re not alone. Many people worry they’ll make costly mistakes and ruin their chances of securing the job. At this stage, it’s important to take a deep breath and recognise that you have what it takes to write a fantastic resume. All you need to do is take it step by step and use our CV builder. This methodical approach will take the stress out of the process while helping you create a resume that makes you stand out as a candidate.

Here’s what you’ll need to consider:

Do you need an objective or summary on your receptionist CV?

Some candidates place a brief description at the top of their CVs to draw immediate attention to their strongest qualities. These descriptions can take the form of an objective or a summary. A resume objective spells out the candidate’s career goals while a CV summary succinctly states a candidate’s qualifications. As you apply for receptionist positions, you’ll have to decide whether either of these options is right for your CV.

If you decide to include a summary or objective, you must make them clear and concise. Here are two examples that would do a prospective candidate more harm than good:

These examples are dull and vague. They provide recruiters with no insight into the candidate’s specific abilities, and they occupy valuable space while achieving nothing.

These examples, on the other hand, effectively convey talent, experience, and strength of purpose:

These successful examples include traits, skills, and goals. They’re also specific and concise, providing recruiters with as much information as possible in a small amount of space.

Receptionist work experience

First and foremost, recruiters will be interested in your employment history. Try to include 2-4 roles relevant to the position you’re currently applying for; however, if you lack receptionist experience, you can include roles that may seem irrelevant. As you write about your work experience, consider how you may have used receptionist skills in previous roles, and draft your bullet points with those duties and achievements in mind. If you’ve held many relevant roles throughout your career, then use your judgement to determine which jobs will most enhance your chances.

Receptionist work experience bullet points

Under each job title in the work experience section, you should include 3-6 bullet points that briefly outline your responsibilities and achievements. You can use some stylistic techniques to make the most of these descriptions.

Begin the bullet points with strong action verbs in the past tense. This style of language highlights your concrete role within the company or organisation. You can also omit the personal pronoun “I.” The reader already knows you’re the subject of each sentence, and full sentences with a subject and a predicate occupy too much space. If your bullet points are phrases rather than full sentences, ensure you don’t put a full stop at the end.

Avoid using these types of bullet points:

These examples are vague and poorly constructed. They take up too much space to say very little, and they don’t concentrate solely on the candidate’s actions and responsibilities.

The language in these bullet points is concise and impactful, letting recruiters know your precise contribution.

Demonstrate your worth as a receptionist

You should complement the effective use of language with meaningful statistics. Quantifiable data will show recruiters that you’re not just all talk. Any figures that demonstrate the impact you had in your previous roles will go a long way towards convincing recruiters that you have what it takes to make a difference.

While you don’t want numbers to dominate your entire CV, about 60% of your bullet points should utilise metrics.

Bear the following in mind to measure the impact of your role as a receptionist:

Top receptionist skills to include

The skills section of a CV gives you the chance to sell yourself to recruiters. It’s important to mention both hard skills and soft skills in the document. Hard skills are technical and measurable, and, for a receptionist, they include things like:

Soft skills, on the other hand, are not quite as easy to measure and encompass habits, traits, and disciplines. Examples include:

When listing your skills, use some of the same keywords you see in the job description for the role. This will attract the attention of ATS systems and human readers. Try to list 5-10 skills, depending on the amount of space you have available.

Including education and qualifications on your receptionist CV

While most receptionist jobs require only a secondary school diploma, it still makes sense to include all the educational qualifications you’ve acquired. This includes foundation degrees, bachelor’s degrees, and any additional higher education. You should also include any certifications you’ve received as a receptionist, especially those pertaining to a specific subcategory of the profession. These details could set you apart from other applicants.

Does your receptionist CV need projects, interests, or hobbies?

There’s some debate about whether projects, hobbies, and interests belong on a CV. In general, it’s better to skip these types of personal details in favour of adding more skills and work experience. There are particular cases, however, where this background information could work to your advantage. For anyone fresh out of school or new to the workforce, projects and interests can help get a foot in the door.

Some candidates simply lack the relevant work experience they’d like to put on their CV. If you find yourself in that position, projects and hobbies give you another way to show recruiters why you would make a great receptionist.

When listing projects and hobbies, ensure you choose details related to the job you’re seeking. Pick interests requiring skills that would translate well to a receptionist position. Projects worth listing include organising a food drive and creating a new club at school. These types of endeavours require the same skills and habits that recruiters will be looking for in a receptionist.

Hobbies and interests like researching your ancestry and organising parties are also smart to include. By showing recruiters that you’re using the skills you’ll need in the role, you can compensate for a lack of experience.

Tailor your receptionist CV for the role

Every receptionist job you apply for will have its own set of responsibilities and expectations. To give yourself the best chance of success, you should create a separate version of your CV for each application. This doesn’t mean you have to start the document from scratch. Simply look for skills or qualifications that are emphasised in a particular job advertisement and make corresponding adjustments to your original document.

Edit and proofread your receptionist CV

This might be the most obvious step in the entire process, but it’s one that far too many people overlook. A few typos or spelling errors might not seem like a big deal, but recruiters will take it as a sure sign of carelessness. When competition for a position is fierce, you can’t afford to put yourself at a disadvantage. Re-read the document several times before sending it, and make use of our quick and easy resume checker to spot pesky issues concerning consistency, active voice, CV length, and more.

Secure Your Receptionist Role

There’s a basic guide all job seekers should follow in creating the perfect receptionist CV. It looks something like this:

Once you’ve followed the steps above and completed your CV, give yourself a hearty pat on the back before tackling your receptionist cover letter. All this hard work should pay off in the form of greater attention from recruiters. Before you know it, you will have secured your next job!