Western Suburbs Legal Service
Information for reception volunteers
Reception, whether by phone or in person, is an important and often undervalued area in service provision. It is here that the public, funding bodies and other service providers form their first impression of the service and its staff, both paid and unpaid.
The skills involved in providing a quality reception service include:
- communication and appropriate listening skills
- being non-judgemental about service users or any other people/groups using the centre
- knowledge of other services and community resources
- appropriate telephone skills (ie phone "etiquette")
Duties Statement - Unpaid Reception Worker:
The position of reception worker entails more than just answering phones. It is about presenting an efficient, professional service to the community, to funding bodies and to other community agencies.
The main duties of the reception worker are to:
- To receive all phone calls and service users courteously and to transfer the calls etc., to the appropriate worker, take messages, or refer to another worker, aiming at all times to provide a quality service.
- To clear the answer machine at the beginning of your appointed session and to record messages accordingly. At the end of your session to turn the answer machine back on.
- To provide information to the service user, caller etc., as requested, referring at all times to the appropriate worker, if there is any element of doubt about the accuracy of the information required.
- To undertake other administrative duties (time and skills permitting) such as:
-typing
-photocopying & collating
-ensuring reception area is tidy and that pamphlets/information are well organised
-recording incoming and outgoing mail
-sending faxes
-keeping reception resources up to date and accurate.
Please note that you are not responsible for general support of service users, counselling or conflict resolution, dealing with service user crises, nor child care.
