I'm out of retail!

[Oniontears]

Gods be praised, I've been searching for a new job for nearly two months now. I had an interview yesterday with a financial services company for a reception position. They said they'd call me Monday to let me know how I went. I got a call today (Friday) asking if I was free to go back to meet the other partner in the business. Luckily I was free, I went back, and they offered me the job!

I'm so excited, it's my first office job and my first full time position.

Any tips for people who have done reception, admin or just office work in general? I'm excited and terrified at the same time, I start in a week!

[sms001]

No tips or tricks here, but congratulations! Hope it works out well for you.

[Teefies2]

Congrats!

Dress professionally, be humble and willing to learn, do whatever you're asked (within reason - nothing illegal or immoral), take the time to learn the partner's likes/dislikes/quirks, and above all ..... be friendly to everyone (be it co-workers, clients, walk-ins, people on the phone)!

Good luck! Way to go!

[Oniontears]

Thanks, peeps! I had to buy some new shoes because I didn't have anything office-appropriate, haha. I'm looking forward to next week... I think, heh.

[mathnerd]

Congrats!

My suggestion from personal experience: No matter how flustered you get at a telephone switchboard that is blowing up with phone calls faster than you can answer them, don't ever answer the phone "Good Morning, thank you for calling <business>, how may I disconnect your call?"

(Thankfully the guy on the other end of that particular call had a sense of humor)

[Akasa]

I really enjoyed my time as a receptionist/admin assistant. Remember you are the face/voice of the company. The first point of contact. Try to be friendly and smile when you answer the phone. They can hear your smile in your voice.

[catcul]

Congratulations on your receptionist position. You do realize that you will have to deal with sucky clients, vendors, and potential hires. At least you can inform your bosses about rude people. If you are honest about people you deal with (both rude and polite), you will do your bosses and coworkers a favor.

[Oniontears]

Congratulations on your receptionist position. You do realize that you will have to deal with sucky clients, vendors, and potential hires. At least you can inform your bosses about rude people. If you are honest about people you deal with (both rude and polite), you will do your bosses and coworkers a favor.

As long as I don't have to spend 15-30 minutes trying to sell them something while putting up with their rudeness it's going to be a heck of an improvement.

[iradney]

Yep, definitely smile when you answer the phone. Even if it's fake, it makes you sound welcoming and friendly.

Congrats on the new job!

[EricKei]

"Good Morning, thank you for calling <business>,

One time not long after I joined AccountingFirm (3 jobs back), we had a meeting one day to discuss things like phone protocol, sales, expectations, etc...One thing they implemented was something I had already been doing automatically, which they had just noticed...Apparently, using the phrase "Thank you for calling <AccountingFirm>" as part of the standard greeting was some sort of mind-blowing epiphany for these people. Note that, ze boss had been a practicing CPA for around twenty-five years at this point...

[bunrotha]

Well done! So how's the first two days been?

I'm that aberration, a *guy* who did reception work (used to be quite rare.) I found learning the names and faces of as many people as I could paid off, especially if you could then catch them passing through reception to give them messages/parcels. Yes, I was a suckup, but they loved me for it, and it meant important people noticed me more than anonymous other receptionists. As a bonus, I got their shit cleared out of my area faster.