Receptionist- Casa del Carmen

Job Title: Receptionist – Casa del Carmen

Department: Catholic Charities of Philadelphia-Casa del Carmen

Reports to: Administrator

Direct reports: N/A

Summary

Casa del Carmen is a one of Catholic Charities of Philadelphia’s (CCoP) family service centers, located in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia. The Receptionist at Casa del Carmen will provide compassionate highly organized clerical/front desk support to community members seeking assistance with a wide range of social service needs. The Receptionist will manage front-desk operations while providing critical, hands-on support to local community members, including food pantry management, appointment scheduling and document assistance.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Greet visitors upon arrival at the office, assist with making appointments, and direct visitors to the proper staff or service on the Casa del Carmen campus.

• Maintain a calendar of staff locations and appointments as needed.

• Answer telephones; screen and forward calls and/or record and forward messages accurately; may also transcribe messages from telephone answering machine.

• Receives, sorts, and distributes mail throughout the office; filing correspondence and other materials as required.

• Welcome Community Laundry and Food Pantry visitors, registering new community members by collecting required basic household information. Check-in returning visitors using internal data management system.

• Provide clear instructions to visitors regarding pantry and laundry guidelines and distribution limits.

• Assist clients with paperwork required for requesting birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates from domestic states (PA, NY, FL, etc.) and Puerto Rico.

• Collect fees associated with services, ensuring accuracy of fees collected.

• Maintain necessary files; sorting, filing, and retrieving documents and case records.

• Maintain client confidentiality in conformance with Agency confidentiality policy and State laws and regulations.

• Provide secretarial support to Administrator and/or Office Manager relevant to confidential materials.

• Assist Administrator in preparation of audits and/or inspections of the site, programs, and/or case records.

• Perform other tasks and duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Knowledge of and orientation to the philosophy of Catholic Charities of Philadelphia as presented in the Mission Statement.

• Adherence to the teachings of the Catholic Church especially related to the position on abortion and contraception.

• Ability to maintain confidentiality regarding client information adhering to policies and procedures with knowledge of HIPAA laws.

• Knowledge of crisis intervention techniques, child abuse reporting, de-escalation techniques and trauma informed care.

• Ability to establish and maintain a positive and professional relationship with co-workers, clients, and visitors.

• Demonstrate cultural sensitivity and ability to relate well and effectively in a diverse workplace and with a diverse client population

• Access to and ability to utilize translation services to clients for whom English is not their first language.

• Ability to organize, efficiently document, and routinely update information in online reporting systems.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) as well as online platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and others for online meetings, training and workshops.

• Ability to work in person Monday-Friday with some occasional evening/weekend hours required.

Education

• High School Diploma or related (GED); some college preferred.

Experience

• 1 – 3 years of clerical experience

• Bilingual or multilingual abilities (English/Spanish)

• Experience in non-profit of social service agencies preferred

Physical Requirements

• Must be mobile and able to bend, stoop and moderately life (up to 30 pounds)

• Must be able to sit/stand at a workstation or computer screen for up to 2 hours at a time.

• Must be able to sit/stand at both indoors and outdoors events for up to 2 hours at a time.