Questions to Ask in a Receptionist Interview
For anyone interviewing for a receptionist or front desk job and deciding what to ask when the interviewer hands the conversation over. The questions follow the order the job shows itself in: the desk and how busy it is, who covers it and what extra work is attached, who you would answer to, difficult visitors and safety, then hours, pay and what happens next. A short closing group is for employers who are interviewing a receptionist, and every question has a note on what a good or a worrying answer sounds like.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The desk
How many calls and visitors does the front desk handle on a typical day?
Why ask it
Ask for rough numbers and for the busiest hour, since forty calls spread over a day and forty before ten o'clock are different jobs. An interviewer who can answer right away has spent time near the desk. If nobody knows, ask whether you could have five minutes with whoever covers it now.
What does a normal day at the front desk look like, from opening up to the last call?
Why ask it
You are listening for the order of things: who unlocks, when the phones go live, when the mail and deliveries land, who locks up. A day told in that much detail comes from someone who has watched it. A vague answer is no mark against an HR interviewer who has never sat there, but it is a reason to put the same question to the office manager.
What phone system and software would I be using?
Why ask it
Write the names down, whether it is a multi-line console, a headset app, a sign-in tablet or a booking system, so you can look them up before a second interview. If one is new to you, say so and ask how long the last person took to get comfortable with it. An employer that expects you fluent on the first morning should say so now.
What is the hardest part of working this front desk?
Why ask it
The useful answers are small and specific: the ten minutes when the phones and the door go at once, the person upstairs who never picks up, the parking lot that is full by nine. Whatever is named, ask how the last receptionist dealt with it. 'Nothing really' tends to mean the interviewer has not asked the person who sits there.
Why is the receptionist job open, and how long did the last person stay?
Why ask it
Listen for where the last receptionist went. Into another department upstairs is the encouraging version, and you can ask what that move took. A stay of a few months, or several people in the seat in a couple of years, is worth a plain question about what the employer has changed since.
When the phone rings while a visitor is standing in front of me, which comes first here?
Why ask it
Workplaces differ on this, and most have a view even if nobody has written it down. A clear rule, such as the person in front of you first and the caller offered a hold, means you will not be second-guessed later. If the answer is 'both', ask what the last receptionist did.
Should calls be screened before I put them through, and what do I tell a caller when nobody picks up?
Why ask it
Some offices want a name and a reason before any call is transferred, and some want callers put straight through. Voicemail, a message sent by email and a promise of a call back are three different amounts of work for you, so find out which is the habit. Ask, lightly, whether there is anyone whose calls always come back to the desk.
Who are the visitors: clients, patients, job candidates, delivery drivers, the public?
Why ask it
The mix sets the tone of the job. Booked clients want their name remembered and a seat offered, walk-ins from the street need sorting, and a driver needs a signature and thirty seconds. Find out which group takes the most time, which is not always the largest one.
Do callers or visitors often need help in a language other than English?
Why ask it
If you speak a second language, this is the moment to say so, and to ask whether the desk would lean on it every day or once a month. If you do not, ask what happens now: a colleague who is called down, a phone interpreter, or pointing and patience. At a clinic or a law office, where a misunderstanding matters, ask who is supposed to interpret, so it does not land on the desk by default.
How do I find out who is expected each day and who is in the building?
Why ask it
A shared calendar, a visitor list sent the evening before or a board beside the desk all work. Guessing does not, and it is the receptionist who looks unprepared when a guest arrives unannounced. Listen for whether staff here really tell the desk when they step out.
Cover and duties
Who covers the desk when I take a break or go to lunch?
Why ask it
A named person or a set rotation means breaks happen. 'We work it out' often means eating at the desk with the phone beside your plate. How long the break is and whether it is paid depend on the employer and on local rules, so ask for both.
Is there one receptionist or a team, and would I ever be alone at the front?
Why ask it
A second person changes everything from bathroom breaks to busy mornings. If you would be the only one, ask who the backup is on paper and how often they really come down. A desk split into shifts raises a different question: how the handover between the two of you works.
How does time off work when the desk always has to be staffed?
Why ask it
The cover is usually a temp, a colleague borrowed from the back office or a sign on the door, and each shows how much planning goes into the desk. Ask how much notice a vacation request needs and whether certain weeks are closed to it. Then ask what happened the last time the receptionist called in sick, because that morning is the real test.
What other work comes with the role besides phones and greeting visitors?
Why ask it
Postings for front desk jobs often end with 'other duties as assigned', and this is where you find out what they are: invoices, data entry, room bookings, the supply order. Ask roughly how many hours a week they take. A list with hours attached is a good sign, and 'a bit of everything' is a reason to keep asking.
When the desk is busy and the admin work is due, which one wins?
Why ask it
The honest answer is usually the desk, which leaves filing or invoicing to fit into the quiet spells. Ask whether those spells exist, and whether the person setting the deadlines knows you cannot leave your seat. If both are expected at full speed, you are hearing about two jobs.
What would you like me to be doing when the desk is quiet?
Why ask it
Asked this way, it shows you expect to be useful, and it gets a straight account of the quiet spells: whether there are any and what fills them. If you are studying, follow up by asking whether a textbook or an online course at the desk is acceptable once the work is done. Some employers are happy with that and some want you visibly ready, and it is better to know than to be spoken to in your second week.
Would I handle mail, packages and deliveries, and how much comes in?
Why ask it
In some buildings this is ten minutes a day. In others it is pallets, signatures and chasing people to collect their parcels. Ask where things are stored and whether anything heavy would need lifting, and say so now if lifting is a problem for you.
Am I responsible for ordering supplies or keeping the kitchen and meeting rooms stocked?
Why ask it
These jobs are small one at a time and add up over a week. Find out whether there is a budget, a supplier account and a list, or whether it runs on people telling you the coffee is gone. Clearing meeting rooms after use tends to become the desk's job unless someone says otherwise, so ask who does it.
Does the role include scheduling, such as booking appointments or meeting rooms?
Why ask it
Booking for a clinic, a salon or a busy partner is closer to a second job than an extra duty, with its own software and its own complaints. Ask how many bookings a day and who untangles a double booking. If it is only meeting rooms, ask whether people here respect the system or walk in anyway.
Would I take payments, handle cash or answer billing questions?
Why ask it
Money at the desk means a drawer to balance, receipts to give and someone checking the totals. Ask what training comes before you touch it and what happens when the count is off. Billing questions are a separate matter: find out where a caller with a disputed invoice is sent, so you are not the one explaining it.
Manager and training
Who would I report to, and who else can give me work?
Why ask it
The first half has a quick answer, and the title tells you whose priorities the desk serves: an office manager's, HR's, the owner's. Press on the second half, because a receptionist anyone can hand tasks to needs one person who settles the order. Without that person you would be refereeing it yourself.
What did the best receptionist you have had here do that others did not?
Why ask it
The answer is this employer's own definition of good, and it is often something small: knowing regular callers by voice, warning a manager before a difficult visitor reached their door, never letting the phone ring four times. If one of those is already a habit of yours, say so with an example from a past job. An interviewer who cannot think of anyone may not have watched the desk closely.
How would I be trained in the first week, and who would sit with me?
Why ask it
The answer to hope for is a named person beside you for a few days and something written to look things up in: the extension list, the regular callers, what to do when. 'The last person left notes' is thinner than it sounds. Ask whether the outgoing receptionist will overlap with you at all, and if nothing is written down, offering to write the desk guide yourself is a fair thing to say in an interview.
How will you judge whether I am doing the job well?
Why ask it
A good month at the front desk can look, from upstairs, like a month in which nothing happened, so ask what the manager would point to. Calls picked up quickly, nobody left waiting unannounced and fewer complaints reaching the manager are things you can work toward. If it comes down to 'people like you', ask how you would hear about a problem.
How often would I talk with my manager, and where do I take a problem in between?
Why ask it
A receptionist can sit twenty feet from everyone and still have nobody to raise things with. A short weekly check-in is plenty. If the manager works on another floor or at another site, ask how quickly they tend to answer a message from the desk.
Which decisions could I make without asking, and which need someone else?
Why ask it
Bring examples, because each of these comes up in a first week: letting a contractor in, accepting a package for someone who is out, giving a caller a direct line, turning away a salesperson. A manager who can sort them quickly has thought about the desk. If all four need permission, the job is slower than it looks.
Where have people in this role gone next here?
Why ask it
A receptionist deals with every department, which is one reason people in the job sometimes move into office management, HR, accounting or client services. Ask whether anyone here has made such a move and how long it took. If receptionists here stay receptionists, that suits some people and is a reason for others to keep looking.
Visitors and safety
How do you want an angry caller or visitor handled, and when do I hand them on?
Why ask it
What you want to hear is a point at which it stops being your problem, and a person who takes over. An employer that expects the desk to absorb everything has told you something about the job. Ask about the last time it happened and who came out to help.
Has anyone at the desk ever felt unsafe, and what was done about it?
Why ask it
It is a fair question for a job that faces the door, and a reasonable interviewer will not mind it. A real answer mentions a specific change: a lock, a buzzer, a second person at closing. If the question is waved away, weigh that alongside what you heard about working alone.
Would I ever open or close the building alone?
Why ask it
Find out how often, at what hours and what the routine is: alarm codes, lights, the walk to the car or the bus stop. Some employers pair people for closing and some have never considered it. Whether it suits you depends on the place, so ask to see the entrance and the parking before you decide.
Is there a panic button, a door release or security staff, and how would I call for help?
Why ask it
If you are interviewing on site, ask to be shown. The detail that matters is who responds and how fast, because a button that rings an empty office does nothing for you. Not every front desk has any of these, so if the answer is none, ask what the plan is instead.
What is the sign-in procedure, and who decides who gets past the front desk?
Why ask it
Whatever the procedure is, a badge, a log, an escort or a wave through, you would be the one enforcing it, sometimes on a person who outranks you. Ask what happens when a visitor or a senior colleague refuses to sign in. A rule that managers do not back is one you would argue for alone.
What do I do when someone arrives without an appointment and insists on seeing a particular person?
Why ask it
Salespeople, upset customers and former employees all try this, and each needs a different response. A script, or at least a name to call, saves you from improvising with someone leaning on the counter. It is also worth asking whether there is anyone staff have asked not to have sent through.
What would my part be in an emergency: a fire alarm, a medical problem, a power outage?
Why ask it
The desk often holds the visitor list, the first aid kit and the phone everyone runs to. Ask whether the role includes being a fire warden or the first aid contact. If it does, ask who arranges the training and whether it happens in paid time.
What information am I not allowed to give out over the phone or at the desk?
Why ask it
Callers ask for staff schedules, home numbers, whether a certain person works there, and patient or client details, and they often sound official. The rules depend on the industry and on the law where you are, so ask for this employer's and ask to have them in writing. 'Use your judgment' is not much help in a first week.
Hours, pay and next steps
What are the exact hours, and does the desk have to be staffed for all of them?
Why ask it
The desk usually opens when the doors do, which leaves less room to shift a start or a finish than colleagues in the back may have. Ask whether arriving five minutes late means a locked door and people waiting outside. If a school pickup or an evening class has to fit around the job, raise it now.
Is the role paid hourly or by salary, and what is the range?
Why ask it
If the posting gave no figure, the end of a first interview is a fair moment to ask for one. When you get a range, ask what would put someone at the top of it: experience on their phone system, a second language, the extra duties. Write the figure down next to the hours, because an hourly rate only means something once you know how many hours there are.
How often does the day run past closing time, and how is that time treated?
Why ask it
A late meeting upstairs or a visitor who will not leave keeps the desk open. Ask how many times it happened last month, not what the policy says. Whether the time is paid, given back or simply expected depends on the employer and the local rules, so have them say which.
Are evenings, weekends or holidays ever part of the schedule?
Why ask it
Clinics, hotels, gyms and salons often need them, and an office may for the occasional event. Ask how the schedule is set, how far ahead you would see it and whether shifts can be swapped. A higher rate for those shifts is worth asking about and is not something to assume.
What is the dress code at the desk, and is anything provided?
Why ask it
The receptionist is often held to a stricter standard than the rest of the building because of who walks in. Get specifics: a uniform, a color, a name badge, anything about tattoos or piercings. Where there is a uniform, ask who pays for it and who cleans it.
Is the position permanent, temporary or temp-to-hire?
Why ask it
Front desk jobs are sometimes filled through a staffing agency first. If that is the case here, ask how long the temporary stretch lasts, what decides whether you are kept on, and who pays you in the meantime. Benefits and paid time off may only begin after the switch, so ask when they start.
What happens after today, and is there a skills test or a trial shift?
Why ask it
A typing test, a mock phone call or a few hours at the desk are all possible, and knowing which lets you practice. If a trial shift is mentioned, ask how long it is and whether it is paid before you agree to a day. Then ask when they expect to decide, and write the date down.
Is there anything about my background that makes you unsure I could run this desk?
Why ask it
It takes some nerve to ask, and it is the one question that lets you answer a doubt before you leave the building. Common hesitations about a front desk hire are no reception experience, an unfamiliar phone system or a gap in the dates. Have two sentences ready for whichever applies to you, then thank them for saying it.
For employers
What is the busiest front desk or phone line you have worked on, and what did a normal day there involve?
Why ask it
For the employer: ask for numbers and one particular day, then compare them with your own desk. A candidate from a quieter setting can still do well, and how honestly they describe the gap is part of the answer. Someone with no desk experience can answer from retail or restaurant work.
The phone is ringing, a visitor is waiting and a driver needs a signature. What do you do first?
Why ask it
No single order is correct. Listen for a candidate who acknowledges all three people before finishing with any one of them, and who stays calm while describing it. Then tell them the rule in your office and watch how they take it.
How would you handle a visitor who is angry about something you cannot fix?
Why ask it
Good answers include listening without arguing, saying what will happen next and knowing when to fetch someone. Be wary of a candidate who would promise the visitor anything to end the scene. If the answer stays general, ask for a real occasion.
A caller says they are a relative of an employee and asks for that person's schedule. What do you say?
Why ask it
This tests discretion, which is hard to see on a resume. A strong candidate offers to take a message and gives nothing away, politely. If they would hand the schedule over, find out whether they have simply never been taught, since that can be trained.
Someone calls for a colleague who is out. Talk me through the message you would take.
Why ask it
Taking messages is a large part of the job on some desks, and it is easy to test. Listen for the caller's name spelled back, the number repeated, the time of the call and what the caller was told would happen next. You can also play the caller yourself for a minute and read what the candidate wrote down.
Which phone systems, scheduling tools or office software have you used, and which did you pick up fastest?
Why ask it
The list matters less than the last part. Someone who learned one booking system in a week can probably learn yours. Have them walk you through a task in one of the tools, so you can tell regular use from a line on a resume.
What would you want to know about this front desk before accepting the job?
Why ask it
It turns the interview around and shows whether the candidate has thought about the work: cover, volume, who they would answer to. Answer fully, because a receptionist who starts with an accurate picture has fewer surprises in the first month. A candidate with nothing to ask is worth a gentle prompt before you draw a conclusion.
How to use your questions in a receptionist interview
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the interview
Watch the desk while you wait
If the interview is on site, arrive a few minutes early and sit where you can see the front desk. Count the calls, notice whether the person there is alone, and see what happens when two visitors arrive together. Your questions land better when they start from what you saw: 'It looked busy out there at nine. Is that normal?'
Work out what kind of front desk it is
A medical office, a law firm, a hotel, a school and a salon all call the job receptionist and mean different things by it. Read the posting for hints about booking, billing or patient records, and mark anything it is vague about. Those vague lines are where the questions under Cover and duties earn their place.
Bring five, in order
There is rarely time for more. Take one from each of the first five groups, and put first the one whose answer could change your mind about the job. For many people that is cover at breaks or being alone at closing. Beside each, note the reply that would make you hesitate, such as no cover at lunch or a list of duties with no end. It is easier to decide that at home than across the table from someone you want to please.
Call the main number before you go
You probably have a real reason to: which entrance to use, or where to park. Call at an ordinary hour and notice how many rings it takes, whether a person or a menu answers, and how the greeting goes. That is the job you are applying for, heard from the caller's side. It also gives you a question to bring, such as who picks up when the receptionist is away from the desk.
In the room
Start with the work and end with the terms
Open with the desk itself: volume, the shape of the day, the phone system. Hours, pay and dress code fit better near the end, or with whoever arranged the interview. The exception is anything that would rule the job out, such as a start time you cannot make. Ask that early and save everyone the hour.
Ask about last week, not the policy
'Is there cover for lunch?' gets a yes. 'Who covered lunch last week?' gets a name, or a pause. Nearly every question about breaks, late finishes and difficult visitors improves when you ask for the most recent time it came up.
Give the safety questions a reason
Asking about panic buttons with no lead-in can sound alarmed. One sentence fixes it: 'I would be the first person anyone meets, so can I ask how the door works and who I would call?' A reasonable employer hears that as someone taking the job seriously.
Ask to see the desk
Before you leave, ask if you can look at where you would sit. Check the chair and the screen, whether you can see the door, how far away the nearest colleague is and whether there is anywhere to put a coat and a bag. Two minutes there can tell you as much as the interview did.
Reading the answers
Numbers and names are good signs
An interviewer who says 'about sixty calls, and Dana from accounting covers at one' knows the desk. One who speaks in general terms may manage it from a distance. That is not disqualifying, but it means you should ask to talk to someone who has sat there.
Listen for who backs the desk
A receptionist enforces rules on people who would prefer not to follow them: visitors who will not sign in, staff who will not collect their packages, callers who want a number they cannot have. In the answers about difficult visitors and sign-in, listen for whether a manager steps in or the desk is left to hold the line alone.
Notice two jobs under one title
Reception plus scheduling plus billing plus supplies can be a varied, interesting job or an impossible one. The difference is whether anyone has added up the hours. If the list of duties keeps growing as you ask, ask which of them could wait on a busy day, and whether the pay reflects the wider job.
Where the rules vary, ask how it works there
Breaks, overtime, trial shifts, uniforms and what must be provided for safety are handled differently from one place and one employer to the next. Do not rely on what a previous job did. Ask this employer, and if an offer follows, check that the answers that matter to you appear in it.
If you are the one hiring
Describe the desk before you ask anything
Tell the candidate the real volume, the cover arrangement and the extra duties at the start. Their answers will be about your desk instead of a desk in general, and anyone the job does not suit can say so. The first five groups on this page are a fair checklist of what a candidate will want to hear.
Use scenarios, and use your own
Most of the questions under For employers are built on situations, because 'are you good with people?' only ever gets a yes. Swap in what happens at your front desk: the patient who arrives on the wrong day, the client who always calls at five to five. There is seldom one right answer. You are listening for order, calm and discretion.
Let the candidate see the work
Ten minutes beside the current receptionist, or a short mock call, shows both sides more than another round of questions would. If you ask for a longer trial, be clear about how long it is and how it is paid. The rules on that depend on where you are, so check them first.
Leave time for their questions
A candidate who asks about cover at lunch and who they would answer to is thinking about how to do the job, not angling for an easy one. Treat those questions as a point in their favor, and answer them as plainly as you would want a new hire to answer your visitors.