Looking for a good job out there is certainly not an easy task. It takes hours of research, a good CV and a lot of hard work and experience, to land you in the right interview.

Once you are sitting in the room in front of a panel of experts who will critique you for the slightest of movements and reject you for a small mistake, you cannot take any risks, and as soon as you step inside the room, you must be prepared for the worst of the worst.

A receptionist’s job is not an easy one as you don’t know what you are dealing with. Any minute now someone frustrated might walk in and expect to talk to the manager or the boss.

As the receptionist, it’s your job to calm them down and handle the situation. Therefore, in the interview, you will be given many different situations, and the interviewers will examine how you will deal with each one of them.

So here we have compiled a list of some very common questions that are asked by interviewers for the post of a Receptionist in order to help you get through the interview phase without any worry.

Common Receptionist Interviews Questions & Answers 2023

1. Name one quality that you think a receptionist must-have?

The most important quality that a receptionist, as the face of the company should possess, is a friendly face, that is they need to be comfortable while interacting with people and should come out as social and friendly but not too friendly because that way customers might try to intimidate you. So you should be friendly but in a professional way.

2. How organized are you?

As receptionist your desk is right at the office’s door, and so you must be very organized. You can reply by saying, “I’m a naturally organized person. I keep my own calendars to keep me from being late to meetings, and I even make sticky notes, so I don’t forget any important tasks.”

3. Are you a multitasker? Can you handle multiple line calls?

As receptionist you must be a multitasker because there will be incidents when you have to make calls and deal with customers at the same time. If you have had experience of multi-line calling, you can tell them and if you haven’t then you can reply with something like “I’m a fast learner and a multitasker so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

4. What is your typing speed and what software have you used before that might be relevant to the job?

Tell them your speed is fast and mention the software you have used.

5. How well do you deal with difficult situations and difficult, angry customers?

Best way to go about this question would be to give them an example from your life where you have dealt with a difficult situation/person without losing your cool.

6. How would you deal with politics/friction in the workplace environment between your co-workers and you?

Tell them you stay away from politics and in case you find yourself into it, you will first talk to them about it, and if that doesn’t work, you will report it to the higher authorities.

7. What do you think is the job of a receptionist, and what role do you think they play in an organization?

Role of a receptionist is a significant one. They make calls, deal with visitors, manage the filing systems, and deal with the use, repair, and maintenance of the office equipment.

8. Why should we select you and not the other candidates?

With something like “I’m the right fit for the job because I’m friendly, social, organized and a multi tasker. I know how to operate the basic office equipment and also how to use the relevant software like MS office, VOIP, etc. My set of qualities and skills makes me the best candidate for the job.”

9. How dedicated are you and have you applied for any other jobs?

Give them an honest answer but never make any company feel like they are your second priority. Tell them “I have applied at other places, but I prefer working here over the other options because of your company’s business values and the diverse opportunities you offer to your employees to learn and grow and also because the working hours and environment suit me.”

10. How do you manage time and workload?

Tell them about a busy time in your life like “In my final year of my Bachelors, I studied six courses, had a Final year project to work on and with all that I still managed to do a freelance job. I make strict schedules when I have a lot of work, and I strictly follow them.”

Tips for Answering the Questions

Hopefully after reading this article you are now in a position to create your own answer to above questions, the answer mentioned above is not ‘one size fits all’ kind of thing, you have to create your own example answer and consider various ways of answering to the questions.

One more thing these are not the only questions asked during a receptionist job post, these are just the few questions and answers mostly asked, there are tons of other QA asked during an interview, here are the list of 100s of job interview questions and answers.