School receptionist job

[Waitingforcoolbreeze]

I started a new job as a receptionist in a secondary school. I have never worked in any other customer service roles and I am not given any training in the new job. Its been only two days and I am already exhausted with calls. Can anyone give me a general idea of question and answers I am getting from parents and other people starting from absence informing calls to complain calls. Is it really a hard job?

It's an awful job! I have nothing but the greatest respect for our admin officer, she deals with SO much crap! Absence chasing takes a minimum of an hour every morning, parents who don't let you know when a child is absent and refuse to answer calls and messages. A constant stream of forgotten items every morning( we are primary,) that need to be delivered, children without lunches that need sorting, parents complaining that their child hasn't been given the exact clubs they needed ( all our clubs are run by volunteer staff and are free, which means they are hugely oversubscribed and not every child will get a place in every club they want, some parents take it as a personal affront!) abusive calls from members of the public about parking- its not her fault! We even had an abusive message left on the answer phone from a supply agency because no one had answered their call straight away! Most parents are really lovely but a small minority are rude and petty- minded. You will need to develop a VERY thick skin!

No training? That’s crazy!
are you on your own?

write everything down!

well done for getting the job
i presume you are not alone on the desk?
have you got someone to shadow?

Hi I used to do this in a secondary school.

I think you get used to the names/parents pretty quickly so it does become easier in that sense. Also ask for senior staff or put a note in your staff bulletin that if staff are expecting visitors they should let you know in advance if they don't already do this.

If you have your staff list make notes on it as a quick reference for who is responsible for what and who they deal with. We had a lot of sales calls, but their details would just be taken and forwarded (check who is happy to do this as you get the calls). As if they genuinely did work with the school they would have details of the staff members they were working with and wouldn't come through reception.

With this type of job It is just the more you do it the easier it becomes. Sorry if that isn't much help but it does get easier. Is there anything in particular you find difficult or just the amount of calls?

I also worked in a similar role - no training - awful manager - wouldn’t do it again.

Another couple of things. As soon as you get in, have a look what’s happening for that day/week. You may be asked about clubs what they need what time they finish. Especially as it’s the beginning of the year.
Don’t be afraid to ask staff and pass on calls etc too. I found this made it easier to get to know staff and more about the school. Be honest and say to callers bare with you while you get the correct information for them or find someone who can speak with them.

Our receptionist has an A4 hardback notebook. She logs every single call-date, name, number, action required-while she’s on the call, then emails the member of staff who needs to deal with it (teachers are usually unavailable during the day, so can’t take calls immediately). This might help it feel less overwhelming.

it’s a very hard job at the beginning, when you don’t know who deals with what, but it will get easier. Remember, you are a gatekeeper, you don’t need to solve the problems yourself, just send them to the right person.

Thank you all for the valuable suggestions.. I have a senior staff to shadow but she is on maternity leave. So I am mostly my own.. I was crying all night on the first day as I had to deal with lots of crap. One parent abused me for not getting her son a place in school. Sometimes callers don't realise our helplessness. My partner was saying it's because of my soft heart that i find it very difficult. Someone mentioned about kids forgetting lunch bags. I had one of this call and school don't provide proper school dinners for this type of situations. Only give them a portion of jacket potatoes . But dad got so angry that I almost lost it. I really need to have a thick skin.

Log every call per line in a big notebook. Anything that's just info for you to pass on to others, highlight the whole line when it's done.

Anything that requires a response to go back to the caller, highlight their name only, then its easy to spot that an action is needed. Once you've returned their call, highlight the whole row.

Its easy then to spot any non highlighted rows as a To Do item. Also quite satisfying when you see pages and pages of done stuff.

Oh and you definetly need to remind yourself they are pissed off (rightly or wrongly) at the situation, not you. You are just the face of the school for those few minutes.

It's not for everyone OP. Its low paid with a high workload and as you've sadly discovered, often comes with a whole load of abuse. Personally I don't think you can change how you react to stuff as in go from having a 'soft heart' to not caring; but chances are as you settle in and find your feet you deal with things better. In a role like this organisation is key, as is knowing certain information so you sound confident on the phone. This will come with time, its really bad no one is there to support you much though, its a lot to learn as as the parent facing part of the school in many ways you'd think it be worth their while.

The rules are you friend here.

Rearrange your face in to a robotically compassionate arrangement and press play
''well, the rule is......
We're operating within the guidelines here, as we must........
The handbook says .........
Policy states
The council says .........
Legislation says......

If it's a bit vague, say ''well, people many grades above me have decided that...''

You're basically just the mouthpiece for decisions that have been made by people above you and you're unapologetically passing this on. With a sympathetic face.

You'll know yourself how to tweak these, but basically, staple gun on your half smile half robot face and reiterate calmly that these are the rules, this is how it is.

If anybody has a go at you after you use this line of defence then move on to line of defence two, ie the rules are to protect you.

I work in one of these roles, constant stream of people lining up to complain and it does require a resilience which I know I didn't have a decade ago.

I’ve been in the game for 5 years now, and I love it. Never a dull moment, but yes, a thick skin and a thick notebook are essential.

im in primary and get a lot of joy from being aroun the kids, it’s magic. Lots of trouble shooting, multi tasking, emotion. But I reckon if I can make a little (good) difference to someone’s day by helping out, I’m winning

The neighbours complaining about the parking can fuck right off though!

It sometimes helps to remember that if someone is angry because of something that is the schools fault you can just be polite, sympathetic and take notes to pass to someone else. Sort of 'i am sorry to hear that, you must be upset, let me escalate this for you, someone more senior will get back to you soon'

Then the other people who are angry tend to have made a mistake themselves and let their own child down. So just wait for it to pass. Its about them not you.

Other people are angry when scared. So you might have given them bad news like their child didnt turn up. Fear comes out like anger.

Basically they arent always angry with you, so dont take it personally.

can you let the phone go to answerphone, and by the time you get back to them they may have calmed down

have a little stash of museli bars and apples for kids with no food

Work out who stuff has to go to (ie head of year, lead of key stage etc) and politely say “thanks for raising this, have you contacted their head of year about it? Appreciate the HOY won’t want all the emails about it but it’ll buy you some time whilst you get used to the role.

Ask staff to email you if they are trying to get hold of a parent and can’t get through. Otherwise the parent calls back and doesn’t always know who has called them, and if you don’t know either they can be worried etc and keep calling back.

Get to know the pastoral staff and what the protocol for passing messages, on call etc is within the school

Awww.. that's alot of lovely suggestions here.. I feel bit relaxed now.. thank you everyone..

My son's school has an answerphone for absences so the receptionist can go through the messages and prioritise any follow ups. Maybe not something you can suggest in your first week but it could be good to start thinking of ways to make the job manageable going forward.

It's absolutely overwhelming at first in a large secondary, once you get used to the role and who does what in school it will get easier. You need to be highly organised but have the ability not to get flustered when you are interrupted constantly.

I'm in Finance and it took me a good year to really feel confident in how a school works and all the rules/processes and I've worked in Finance all my life but doing it in a school is something else. I also had very little training, like others have said keep a notebook and write everything down, you need a thick skin, I'm also quite soft and I was shocked at first when parents shouted/were rude to me over the phone but once I had confidence in my role I was able to deal with them much more easily.

It's not for everyone, it's not an easy job and the pays shit but it can be very rewarding, our school is a fabulous community and I love being part of it, stick with it, it will get better.

I will definitely keep a notebook next day onwards to keep the call details. And i hope the job will get better with time..

I work in a school and ended up helping in the office when the whole team got Covid - I would never ever want to do that job full time, it was unbelievably stressful and busy - you have my utmost admiration to chose that job!

As others say, make notes whilst you are on the call as it is easy to get distracted by the next one, don't take things personally and escalate / pass on where appropriate.

Hi, I was just wondering how you got on? Are you still in the role and did it improve and become easier quickly? I recently started in a large secondary school and it's quite overwhelming at times x

I am still on that job. It definitely got better. But some days it is emotionally draining with all the parents shouting and phone calls. I know it will be a struggle in the beginning especially if you don't have much help . But trust me you will get to know most of the parents and will learn to deal them. Keeping an A4 notebook is really helpful. And I love it when some parents really appreciate all my hardwork. All the best to you..