Receptionist Cover Letter Examples & Writing Tips

Whether you’re just starting out as a receptionist or changing receptionist jobs with years of experience behind you, there are two kinds of jobs you can end up with. There’s the kind that more or less pays the bills and then there’s the kind that has you smiling for no apparent reason throughout the day.

The very first step to this happy place of yours is a cover letter that gets your receptionist CV into the right pile and an interview timeslot with your name on it. This article will guide you through the process of writing one that’s at least as good, even if you’re writing a receptionist cover letter with no experience. Read on to find out how, step by step.

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 Looking for a different cover letter? See:

• Barista Cover Letter Sample
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• Cleaner Cover Letter Sample
• Customer Service Cover Letter Sample
• Internship Cover Letter Sample
• Marketing Cover Letter Sample
• Research Assistant Cover Letter Sample
• Sales Assistant Cover Letter Sample
• Sales Cover Letter Sample

Your job is not on the list? See our full list of cover letter examples. 

Receptionist Cover Letter Example 

Here’s what to include in a cover letter for receptionists:

1. Start your receptionist cover letter with a properly laid-out header

Like your desk and the company name on or behind it, the header of your receptionist cover letter is the first thing people will see when they receive your application. Like a company name and logo, your header has to fulfil certain basic requirements look appropriately professional as it does so.

There’s no room for creativity here, just follow this setting out:

• Align to the right your: name, address, email, and phone number, leave a line and add the date of writing, also aligned to the right.
• Align to the left: the hiring manager’s / recruiter’s full name, their job title, company name, and the company’s postal address.

Receptionist cover letter example: header

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2. Address the reader of your cover letter for a receptionist the right way

The salutation you choose to begin your cover letter has to be like your smile when a visitor walks up to your desk. It can be a mere formality, that’s fine, but it has to be professional and courteous all the same. If there’s a winning formula here, it’s ‘Dear’ + the person’s first name.

If you don’t feel comfortable starting off on a first-name basis (if you’re writing to someone significantly more senior, for example), then ‘Dear’ + the person’s title + their surname is a safe alternative. In such cases, always use ‘Ms’ for women unless they’ve made it clear they prefer something else.

Unless the person you’re writing to has an academic (or military or religious) title, then you’ll need to be sure of their gender before you address them. If you’re still not sure of someone’s gender having tried to find out, and still don’t want to use just their first name, then use ‘Dear’ + their full name instead.

What happens if you don’t know the recruiter’s name at all? Type out the immortal ‘To Whom It May Concern’ and leave it at that? Absolutely not. Avoid this phrase and others like it (e.g. ‘Dear Sir/Madame’) like the plague. Instead, do everything you can to find out who’s going to be receiving your application.

In the extremely rare circumstance that you can’t find out to whom you should address your cover letter, address it to the appropriate role or position. For example, you could use ‘Dear Office Manager’ or ‘Dear Front Desk Manager’. You’ll still need to do some research to do this well.

Cover letter for a receptionist example: salutation

3. Open your receptionist cover letter with an attention-grabbing first paragraph

In most interactions you are your employer’s first impression as far as visitors and cold-callers are concerned. The way you greet, instruct or direct a visitor plays a huge part in how they come to perceive your employer. The opening paragraph of your receptionist cover letter is similar in many ways.

Apart from generally wowing and grabbing your reader’s attention, your opening paragraph has to:

• Mention the job title to which you’re applying and the company’s name.
• Show what you can offer your potential new employer (by showing what you’ve done for your previous employer(s)).
• Be infused with your enthusiasm for the role.

If you already have some experience working as a receptionist, then how you go about achieving the second point above is pretty straight forward:

• Start with an achievement, something you did at work and the benefits it brought to your employer.
• Make sure it’s clear that this achievement lines up with the company’s goals.
• Explain how you can apply the skills that led to your achievement to the company’s situation (this is often obvious and doesn’t need to be spelt out).

If you’re writing a receptionist cover letter with no experience, then you’ll need to take a slightly different tack:

• Lead with your passion for the role (or even the company).
• Describe a relevant achievement from your studies or any volunteer or internship work you’ve done.
• Include a belief statement, through which you show that you’re a match for the company’s claimed values and mission.

Were you referred to the position? Now is a great time to mention it if you were. The fact that someone within the organisation thinks you’d be a good fit is a huge plus for you and the company. So take this opportunity to drop names. It’s not nepotism as long as you’re responsible about it.

The whole opening paragraph should take up a total of 40–80 words. So as complicated as it might seem, there’s not a lot to it in the end. Check out the example below for inspiration.

Receptionist cover letter example: opening paragraph

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4. Use your receptionist cover letter to show what you can bring to the company

There are adequate receptionists and there are great receptionists. You can claim to be great all you like, but showing is always going to be more effective than telling. Show what you can bring to the company by presenting the benefits you brought to your current and/or previous employers.

Do this by describing two or three of your achievements from previous jobs. An achievement is simply a description of actions you took at work and the benefits that your employer gained from these actions. Your actions might have been in response to a particular project, problem or, more generally, situation.

The more recent these actions, the better, of course. Be sure to quantify everything you can—first and foremost the benefits your employer gleaned from your skills, effort or initiative. Start each achievement off with a strong verb, like ‘managed’, ‘organised’, or ‘reduced’. Set the scene if necessary.

Consider using something like the CAR (Context-Action-Result) approach to help organise your thoughts. You can estimate things in order to put numbers to them, but stay grounded and keep it realistic. String two or three achievements like this together with just enough explanation to tie them into a coherent whole.

You should aim to end up with 120–200 words in total. This can be in the form of one paragraph or two. Use bullet points to break up any huge blocks of text into smaller, more manageable and easily searchable chunks. Your receptionist cover letter will be read more than once if you do it right.

Receptionist cover letter example: body paragraph

5. Wrap your receptionist cover letter up and include a CTA

Take a total of 40–60 words to neatly tie up any loose ends and deftly summarise your achievements. Link them back to how you can benefit the company if it’s not immediately obvious. Squeeze in some more of your research regarding the company if you can, but don’t force it.

Thank whoever’s reading your cover letter for their time and attention. It’s a small but significant gesture that shows your appreciation and that you value their time. End your cover letter with a confident call to action (CTA) in which you suggest the next step in the process (a phone call or an interview).

Cover letter for a receptionist example: closing

6. Sign off your receptionist cover letter the right way

You know those calls that take a second to answer but leave you oddly satisfied at having been able to help someone? It can be something as simple as ‘what time do you close today?’ and yet it leaves you feeling like you’re on a roll. Signing off on your cover letter can be like that in many ways.

There’s nothing to it, only two options and one choice to make:

• End with ‘Yours sincerely’ if you addressed the cover letter to someone by name.
• End with ‘Yours faithfully’ if you didn’t, e.g. if you used ‘Dear Office Manager’. 

Leave some extra space before typing out your full name. This space is for your signature if you’ end up printing your cover letter out and submitting it in hardcopy. In the more likely event that you’re submitting your application electronically, leave the space above your typed name blank.

Receptionist cover letter example: sign-off

7. Keep these things in mind before sending your receptionist cover letter

Good attention to detail is always going to be an important quality in a receptionist. From keeping clear notes on appointments and messages to keeping track of parcels and key cards. Make sure your receptionist cover letter showcases your attention to detail in every way possible. Follow these cover letter formatting rules:

Keep the length appropriate and proportions in check

How long can a cover letter be?

• Shoty cover letters work best (especially if it's an email cover letter). You should end up with 250–400 words in total (half an A4 page to one A4 page)
• Your opening paragraph should be between 60 and 80 words
• Your main body paragraphs should be between 120 and 200 words
• Your closing paragraph should be between 40 and 60 words.

Your receptionist CV and cover letter should match

Your receptionist CV and cover letter are two parts of a whole. Your choice of font, font size, and any colours you use (if any) should reflect this. Make sure these two documents form an obvious set, visually.

Choose a subtle, professional font

Your choice of font shouldn’t draw attention to itself. If there could be only one rule for choosing a font it’d be ‘nothing crazy’. Something like Noto, Garamond or Arial will be fine and if in doubt, leave the default Liberation or Calibri in place. Font size should be kept at 11 or 12 points.

Pay attention to layout and spacing

For a neat cover letter layout, use plenty of white space to clearly separate the parts of your cover letter. Keep everything looking as balanced as you can.

Don’t copy-paste your receptionist cover letter

If you follow along with this guide, you’ll find that you have to write a new cover letter for each job application. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to recycle parts of one cover letter to use in another. Start each cover letter from scratch. This is perhaps the single most effective way to boost your chances.

Stick to the PDF format

One last piece of advice. Protect your formatting by saving/exporting to PDF, unless you’ve been asked for something else, of course.

A cover letter alone simply won’t be enough—you need an impactful CV, too. Create your CV in minutes. Just follow our wizard and fill in every CV section with ready-made content. Get started by choosing a professional CV template.

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I hope this article has been what you were looking for! Is there anything that I touched on that’s unclear? Are you writing a receptionist cover letter with no experience? Please let me know in the comments section below.

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Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.