Difference Between Secretary and Receptionist
Secretary and receptionist have different roles and responsibilities in nay organization but most of the people think that they are same.
Here is the list of differences between the two:
- Secretary is like a personal assistant to assist the people at higher level in the organization in their work while receptionist is the person who receives all the visitors and telephone calls and directs them to the appropriate people.
- Outsiders hardly have to meet the secretary while they meet the receptionist as soon as they enter any office.
- Receptionist takes requests from the outsiders for meeting with different people in the organization and then she or he speaks with the secretaries of the concerned people to get their appointment.
- Receptionist is expected to be good at communicating with people, must have telephone etiquettes and have helping nature and pleasing personality while secretary must be efficient in organizing and managing work efficiently, the person needs to able to handle multitasking and reducing the workload of the person he or she is assisting.
- The job of a receptionist is very general in nature while that of a secretary needs high skills and it is expected that they should hold some certificate of secretarial course done by them.
In large organizations there are many secretaries but receptionist is generally one or two. In smaller organizations both the jobs may be merged and one person may handle both of these jobs.