Receptionist Cover Letter Example

A receptionist cover letter is read by the office manager who will have to cover the desk if the hire goes wrong, and she is reading for three things: volume, systems and composure. The letter that gets the interview says how many calls and visitors a day the applicant handled, names the phone and scheduling systems, and gives one example of a problem the desk solved rather than passed along.

The sample below goes with the receptionist resume example: Brianna Castellanos, front desk receptionist at a Columbus law firm with earlier years at a dental practice, applying for the front desk at an investment advisory firm. It opens with the vacancy and her current volume, uses the law firm for visitor handling and the phone-routing fix, uses the dental practice for scheduling and payments, and closes by naming the resume and asking for an interview.

The structure holds for any front desk. A medical office letter leads with the scheduling system and insurance work; a corporate office letter leads with visitors, confidentiality and the conference calendar. Change the lead, keep the shape.

Updated . The person, the employer and the recipient in this sample letter are fictional. It goes with the receptionist resume example for the same person.

Receptionist sample cover letter

About 320 words, one page in the style of the Simple template.

Brianna Castellanos

Front Desk Receptionist, Legal and Dental Offices

Columbus, OHbrianna.castellanos@example.com(614) 555-0163

Ms. Joanne PruittOffice ManagerOlentangy Capital AdvisorsColumbus, OH

Dear Ms. Pruitt,

I'm applying for the Front Desk Receptionist position at Olentangy Capital Advisors. For the past four years I have run the front desk at a 24-attorney law firm downtown, taking about 120 calls and 40 visitors a day, and I would like to bring that pace and polish to a firm where every visitor is a client or a prospect.

At Wexler & Boone Law Group I answer and route calls for 24 attorneys and 30 staff, greet clients and visitors, keep the visitor log and manage six conference rooms. When the attorneys were losing about 15 calls a day to voicemail, I worked with the IT vendor to rebuild the phone tree and overflow routing, and missed calls have been under five a day since. I log every court filing and courier delivery that comes through the desk, and nothing time-sensitive has missed a deadline in the three years I have kept that log. I also set up the rooms and catering for depositions, client meetings and about ten firm events a year.

Before the firm I was receptionist and scheduling coordinator at Oak Hollow Dental Associates, scheduling about 60 appointments a day across four providers in Dentrix, verifying insurance for every new patient, and collecting and posting around $20,000 a week in payments with a day sheet that balanced. A reminder sequence I introduced cut no-shows by more than half within three months. Your posting mentions calendar management, client confidentiality and some billing support; all three are work I do now, and my Microsoft Office Specialist certification in Outlook and the HIPAA training from the dental practice are both on my resume. I'm bilingual in English and Spanish, which has been useful at both desks.

My resume is attached. I would welcome an interview and would be glad to sit at your front desk for an hour to show you how I handle it. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Brianna Castellanos

Start yours from this letter

Opens this letter in the editor, in one of the templates below. Swap in your details and the employer's, then fit it to each vacancy in about two minutes.

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How this receptionist cover letter is built

  1. The opening gives the vacancy, the current desk and the daily volume

    An office manager cannot picture a receptionist without numbers, so the letter gives them in the second sentence: 24 attorneys, 120 calls, 40 visitors, four years. The last clause says why this firm, in terms of the work rather than the firm's reputation: every visitor is a client or a prospect, which is a different desk from a law firm's, and the letter knows it.

  2. The second paragraph is one desk, described as a system

    Calls, visitors, the log, the rooms, then the one problem she fixed: missed calls down from about 15 a day to under five after the phone tree was rebuilt. The filing log shows she understands that the desk is where deadlines are caught. These are the law firm bullets from the receptionist resume, told in order, with the result attached to each.

  3. The third paragraph takes the posting's own list and answers it

    The dental years supply scheduling volume, insurance and a balanced day sheet, and then the paragraph names three things the posting asked for, calendar management, confidentiality and billing support, and says each is current work. The certification, the HIPAA training and the second language are one sentence each, at the end, where they confirm rather than carry the case.

  4. The closing offers to work the desk

    Offering to sit at the desk for an hour is a receptionist's version of a portfolio, and an office manager who is unsure can take her up on it. The paragraph names the resume, asks for the interview and thanks the reader, in three short sentences.

Templates for the receptionist cover letter

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Each one matches a resume template of the same name, so the letter and the resume go out in one look.

Mistakes that cost receptionist interviews

  1. Duties without numbers

    "Answered phones and greeted visitors" describes every front desk in the country. Give calls per day, visitors per day, the number of people or providers supported and the size of the office, so the manager can tell whether her desk is bigger or smaller than your last one. The sample has a number in nearly every sentence of the middle paragraphs.

  2. Not naming the systems

    Office managers hire for their phone system and their scheduling or booking software, and they search applications for the names. Say which multi-line system, which practice management or visitor software, which calendar tool. If the posting names one you have not used, name the one you have and say you learn systems quickly, with the example of the last one you picked up.

  3. Leading with warmth and leaving out judgment

    Every receptionist letter says the applicant is friendly and organized. The ones that get read say what the applicant decided: who to escalate, what to log, how to route an overflow call. Pick one problem the desk solved under you and describe it in two sentences; the warmth will come across in how you tell it.

  4. Writing one letter for a clinic and a corporate office

    A dental or medical office wants scheduling software, insurance verification and copays in the first evidence paragraph. A law firm, an advisory firm or a corporate headquarters wants visitor handling, confidentiality and the conference calendar first. Keep both paragraphs and swap their order; the sample puts the firm first because the posting was a firm.

  5. A letter that runs past one page

    Three or four paragraphs and about 300 words is enough for a front desk role; the sample is about 320. The Classic template keeps the contact block, the date and the recipient's address at the top where an office manager expects them, with the letter below on one page.

Questions about the receptionist cover letter

How long should a receptionist cover letter be?

One page, three or four paragraphs, between 250 and 350 words. The office manager is reading for volume, systems and one example of good judgment, and she will find them faster in a short letter. Anything beyond that belongs on the resume.

Who do I address a receptionist cover letter to?

The office manager, practice manager or office administrator, who is almost always the person who hires the front desk. If the posting gives no name, call the office and ask the receptionist who the office manager is; they will know. "Dear Hiring Manager," is the fallback, with "Sincerely," to close.

How do I write a receptionist cover letter with no experience?

Use the customer-facing work you have: retail, food service, a call center, a school office, a volunteer desk. Give the volume in the same terms a receptionist would, such as customers per shift and calls per day, name any scheduling or point-of-sale software, and describe one busy moment you handled calmly. Close with your availability, since many front desks run early or late hours.

Should a medical receptionist letter be different?

The shape is the same and the evidence changes. Lead with the practice management system, the number of providers and patients a day, insurance verification, copay collection and HIPAA training. Office managers at clinics read for those five things, and a letter that gives them in order is easy to shortlist.

Should I mention being bilingual?

Yes, in one sentence, with where it was useful. A front desk that can greet and schedule in two languages is a real advantage in many offices and clinics, and the manager may not notice it on the resume. Keep it to a fact, not a paragraph.

Do I need to explain a gap between desk jobs?

One sentence, if the gap is longer than a few months and the resume makes it visible: the reason, and that you are available now. Office managers care about reliability, and a plain sentence answers the question before it is asked. Resume Master preps the resume against each posting so the dates and the letter tell the same story.

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