Position: Receptionist
Report to: Office Manager
Division: Admin
Location: Midrand
Penguin Random House is looking for an organised and communicative receptionist to facilitate the receiving of visitors, attend to calls, assist employees and ensure relevant associated administrative needs are met.
We are a dynamic, industry-leading book publisher looking for creative, communicative, hard-working talent to join our team in our Midrand office. We offer market-related cost to company packages and a flexible, progressive environment that aims to support those who are prepared for a challenge.
Key responsibilities
Daily switchboard duty
- Before opening switchboard, take voicemail messages from switchboard.
- Answering and screening of calls.
- Taking messages and emailing them to employees.
- Reporting faults on the switchboard and out of order extensions and deadlines.
- Incoming calls answered timeously.
General reception duties
- Receiving visitors and notifying relevant employees of their arrival.
- Offering guests refreshments while waiting.
- No visitor to be allowed in the offices unattended.
- Receiving and dispatching of documents/parcels with courier services.
- Generate waybills on the Courier Guy system.
- Organising collections of parcels/documents.
- Allocating parcels that arrive for employees to the marked pigeonholes.
- Ordering of waybills and flyers, to maintain sufficient stock levels.
- Assisting in ensuring that the reception area is presentable and tidy.
- Updating of all master documents.
Other duties
- Booking the boardrooms and meeting rooms for meetings.
- Annual booking of boardrooms for New Concept & Manco meetings.
- Ad-hoc work for marketing.
- Assisting non-trade when necessary.
The ideal candidate has
- Exceptional communication and listening skills.
- 1 – 2 years’ relevant experience.
- Matric
- Reception or secretarial diploma preferable.
Prospective Penguins must have the following skills
- Excellent at working across teams in a fast-paced environment.
- Exceptional organisational skills and the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
- An ability to work individually or in a team environment.
- Be passionate about the field of customer care and employee support.
Skills and knowledge required
- Strong computer skills
- General administration knowledge
- Switchboard knowledge
Company culture & environment
- Our employees are all intelligent, dynamic, fun-loving, customer-focused problem-solvers, with the shared aim to be the best in the industry.
- We are book lovers and love sharing this passion with others.
- We offer an open and all-inclusive culture championing equity and diversity.
- Our company is a supportive environment, particularly with a focus on the development of Psychological Safety.
- We believe in leadership through transparency and the recognition of performance excellence.
- We focus on fostering employee development through the tenets of creativity, entrepreneurship, and empowerment.
If you meet the above criteria and have what it takes to become the newest member of our team,
please send your CV and a covering letter, clearly stating your salary expectations, to
please send your CV and a covering letter, clearly stating your salary expectations, to
Jason Daniels – applications@penguinrandomhouse.co.za
Closing date: 25 July 2025
NB: Only short-listed candidates will be interviewed, and previously disadvantaged candidates will be given preference in line with the company’s equity target.
If you have not heard from us within six weeks, you should regard your application as unsuccessful.
Penguin Random House is under no obligation to fill this position.
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