Receptionist and Information Clerk Career Assessment
The usual front door into office work
Welcome
Receptionists greet people arriving, answer the phone, and keep the front of an office running.
The North Dakota median is about $19.00 an hour, no degree is required, and it is the most common way people get from service work into an office.
This takes about 15 minutes.
What is a Receptionist and Information Clerk?
You are the first person anyone meets. You greet visitors and get them to the right person, answer and route calls, book and confirm appointments, handle mail and deliveries, keep records and files straight, and absorb a steady stream of small interruptions without losing track of what you were doing. In a clinic or a law office it also means handling confidential information correctly, every time.
The Reality: If nobody is at the front desk, nobody who walks in gets to the right person and the phone rings out. The job looks quiet from outside, and the thing people underestimate is the interruption. You are expected to be composed and pleasant with every single person while being pulled off the task you were doing every two minutes. It is a different kind of tiring than physical work, and people who say the job is easy have usually never had to be the public face of a bad morning. You also take the first reaction to anything that has gone wrong — a wait, a bill, a mistake made somewhere else in the building.
Your Responsibilities:
- Greet visitors and direct them to the right person
- Answer and route phone calls
- Book, confirm, and reschedule appointments
- Handle mail, deliveries, and couriers
- Keep files, records, and logs accurate
- Take payments and handle basic paperwork
- Keep the reception area tidy and the forms stocked
- Handle confidential information properly
- Keep track of your own work while being interrupted constantly
The real skill is composure under constant interruption, and nobody puts that on a job description.
A Day in the Life
8:00 AM — Unlock the front, check voicemail, pull up the day’s appointments.
8:30 AM — First arrivals. Check them in, phone ringing at the same time.
10:00 AM — Someone arrives upset about a bill. Handle it calmly, get the right person.
11:00 AM — Sort mail and deliveries. Confirm tomorrow’s appointments.
12:00 PM — Lunch, often covering the phone through part of it.
1:00 PM — Afternoon arrivals and calls.
3:00 PM — Filing and paperwork in the quieter stretch.
4:45 PM — Last calls, lock up the front, leave notes for tomorrow.
Business hours, indoors, with your day set by whoever walks in and whoever calls.
Training in North Dakota
No degree needed. Trained on the job, usually within a couple of weeks. You learn the phone system, the scheduling software, and the building’s own way of doing things on shift. Nothing here requires a certificate, though basic computer confidence genuinely helps.
Training Pathways:
- Direct hire: Clinics, dental offices, law firms, auto dealerships, salons, schools, and government offices hire receptionists year-round across North Dakota.
- From retail or counter work: One of the most natural moves available. You already handle the public; say so plainly in your application.
- Medical and dental front desk: Usually better paid than a general reception position, and the clearest route onward into medical office and billing work.
- Short office-skills courses: North Dakota two-year colleges and Job Service offer short courses in scheduling software, spreadsheets, and medical office basics. Optional, and they move you up faster.
Where to Train in North Dakota:
Before You Start: Most employers ask for a high school diploma or equivalent. You need to be reliable, organized, and comfortable with a computer. Some medical, legal, school, and government positions require a background check — ask what they look at rather than assuming.
Tip: Most of these jobs need no school, so the cost of starting is not tuition — it is the things you need in the first month. Non-slip shoes, work clothes or a uniform, a way to get to work, and getting through the two or three weeks before the first paycheck arrives. Ask the employer first: many will supply a uniform, some give a shoe allowance, and some pay weekly rather than every two weeks, which matters a lot at the start. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like work clothes, boots, tools, or getting to work. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you start rather than after.
Certification & Licensing
No license or certificate is required. Nothing is needed to start. A few short certificates help you move up, especially in medical offices, and employers sometimes pay for them.
Worth having, but not required:
- HIPAA training — required in medical and dental offices, and the employer provides it
- Microsoft Office or spreadsheet basics — short courses, often free through Job Service North Dakota
- Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA) — optional, and it moves you up in a clinic
- Notary commission — cheap, quick, and genuinely useful in law offices and government
The Exams: None to start. The optional medical office certificates involve a short exam.
Cost: Nothing to start. Short courses are often free or low cost through Job Service North Dakota — ask before paying for anything.
Keeping It Current: HIPAA training is usually repeated yearly. Optional certificates renew every few years.
Salary & Job Outlook
North Dakota Receptionist and Information Clerk Pay (May 2025):
- Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $14.22–$16.95/hour ($29,570–$35,250/year)
- Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $19.00/hour ($39,530/year)
- Experienced (top 25–10%): $22.20–$25.11/hour ($46,170–$52,220/year)
What that means: Medical, dental, and legal front desks generally pay above this median; small offices and salons sit nearer the bottom. The top of the range is usually a senior or lead front-office position with scheduling, billing, or records responsibility. If you want more than $19 an hour here, the route is a specialized office rather than more years in a general one.
Jobs in North Dakota: About 2,150 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 2,210 (about 3% growth). Expect about 280 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is growing slowly.
Outlook: Steady but modest — about 3% growth in North Dakota and roughly 280 openings a year. Healthcare and dental offices are the most reliable end of it, and the growth there is better than the overall figure suggests.
Who Hires in ND: Medical and dental clinics, law firms, auto dealerships, salons and spas, schools, government offices, real estate and insurance agencies, and almost any business with a front door.
Work Setting: Indoors at a desk, business hours, almost always weekdays. One of the few jobs in this area with no nights, weekends, or holidays as a rule.
Physical Demands: Low. Mostly seated, some standing and light lifting of supplies and mail.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 43-4171); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.
Where This Leads
Path 1: Receptionist — Where you start.
Path 2: Medical or Dental Front Desk — Better paid, and the gateway into clinic work.
Path 3: Medical Records or Billing Clerk — A common and well-paid next step out of the front desk.
Path 4: Administrative Assistant — More responsibility, less front-of-house.
Path 5: Office Manager — Running the office rather than its front desk.
Path 6: Customer Service Representative — Median about $2.50 an hour higher — see that page.
The Real Talk
What's Great:
- Weekdays, business hours, no nights or weekends at most employers
- Indoor, seated, year-round work
- No degree or certificate needed
- The most common door into office and clinic work
- Pays about $4.50 an hour more than fast food
- Short free courses through Job Service North Dakota can move you up quickly
What's Hard:
- Constant interruption, which is more tiring than it sounds
- You take the first reaction to anything that has gone wrong
- Expected to be pleasant with everyone, all day, without exception
- Modest growth and only about 280 openings a year
- The pay ceiling in a general reception position is low — moving up means a specialized office
- Often tied to the desk, including through part of lunch
Be Honest: Can you be interrupted every two minutes and still remember where you were? Can you be the composed face of a bad morning that is not your fault? And are you willing to move into a medical, dental, or legal office, which is where the pay actually is?