Point of contact...
Hamera is an evening receptionist, and is the first point of contact for visitors to the main All Saints' Building. She works with others in the Student Services team to provide advice and support to students, staff and visitors to the College.
Hand-over...
She starts work in the main reception area at 4.00 p.m. Linda, who is in charge of Reception during the day, leaves at 4.30 p.m. and this gives her time to hand over work and information to Hamera, and to let her know about any events taking place in College that evening. Tonight there are three exams taking place in two different buildings. Hamera inputs the information onto the computer so that it can be displayed on the large plasma screen in the foyer.
Enquiries...
Between 4.30 and 6.00 Hamera is kept very busy dealing with enquiries. One of these is from a distressed student who needs to see the Welfare Officer, Lorraine, and she has to try several numbers before she makes contact with her to arrange a meeting. She also has to deal with general telephone enquiries. Often she is able to deal with these herself, if she cannot, she forwards the calls to the relevant department.
Hospitality...
A visitor arrives to see the Principal and Hamera gives him a visitor’s badge. She informs him of the fire alarm procedure and asks him to sign the visitors book. If the fire alarm did go off, it would be Hamera’s responsibility to ensure that any visitors to the building were accounted for. She asks him to take a seat and then phones the Principal’s P.A. to let her know that he has arrived.
Professional development...
Hamera had telephone skills training when she started work at the College and has since completed Welcome Host and Welcome All courses as part of her staff development. She is a past student of the College, having taken extra GCSE’s here as a school leaver before going on to pursue studies in Health and Social Care, and later to embark on a Travel and Tourism course.
Correspondence...
When things quieten down, Hamera takes the opportunity to check the emails. A number are requests for prospectuses, and she sends these out in the post. Other emails have come to the general email address and need to be forwarded to the relevant department to be dealt with.
Displays and deliveries...
A delivery driver appears with a parcel. All deliveries which arrive at main reception must be signed for and then arrangements are made to have them picked up or delivered. This time the parcel contains new course leaflets to be displayed in reception, so Hamera fills up the display stands as this is one of her jobs.
Progression...
Hamera works term-time as Reception and is very busy during the main teaching periods. As she has a small son, her work times suit Hamera and make it easy for her to arrange care for little Zurdesh. When he is older, she may wish to look for other jobs within College with more hours, and to try working in another department. She will be encouraged to do this, and will be given further training if this will be helpful.