Front Desk Assistant

Salary : $52,291.20 - $62,628.80 Annually
Location : Houston, TX
Job Type: Regular Full-time
Job Number: 17096
Department: Commissioner Precinct 1
Division: Reservations & Transportation
Opening Date: 08/13/2026
Closing Date: 9/17/2026 11:59 PM Central
Max Number of Applicants: 100


Position Description
About the Office of Commissioner Rodney Ellis

There are four precincts in Harris County. The four elected commissioners, along with an elected county judge, serve as members of Harris County Commissioners Court, the administrative head of the county's government. Commissioner Rodney Ellis represents the constituents of Precinct One.
With approximately 1.17 million residents, Harris County Precinct One is a diverse, urban precinct that covers 363 square miles. Precinct One's multi-racial, multi-ethnic population is roughly 33 percent African American, 38 percent Latino, 21 percent Anglo, 6 percent Asian and 2 percent other or multiple races. Precinct One stretches south to Brazoria County and reaches into eastern and northern sections of Harris County. The Precinct's territory includes a large section of Downtown Houston, including the Downtown Harris County Courthouse Complex, Toyota Center, Minute Maid Park and the BBVA Compass Stadium. Other notable landmarks include the 263-acre NRG Park Complex and the renowned Texas Medical Center. The Precinct is also the higher educational home to Houston Community College, Rice University, Texas Southern University, the University of Houston and the University of St. Thomas. Precinct One manages more than 21 parks, 10 community centers, numerous hike-and-bike trails, three maintenance service centers and several area offices, all of which provide an array of services to Precinct One residents.
Commissioner Rodney Ellis' Office Mission Precinct One:

Commissioner Rodney Ellis' Office, is committed to becoming a national model for delivering responsive public service that utilizes inclusive, innovative, and collaborative approaches to improve the quality of life, advance equality of opportunity, and promote the fair treatment of all people in Harris County. Key Areas of focus for our organization include, but are not limited to:

• Advancing more effective, fair and equitable criminal justice system.
• Furthering economic justice, equity, and opportunity for all Harris County residents, especially those often and historically left behind by government programs.
• Ensuring equitable outcomes in health and access to quality, affordable healthcare
• Fighting for environmental and climate justice that keeps all communities safe and healthy.
• Equitably investing in developing and maintaining resilient infrastructure and transportation for the 21st century
• Building and defending voting rights and a democracy that ensures equitable representation.
• Progressing equity and social and racial justice as common threads through all areas of public policy and public service.

The ideal candidate will manage a high volume of incoming calls, warmly greet all visitors, and efficiently direct inquiries and guests to the appropriate personnel. Key responsibilities include but are not limited to maintaining a welcoming and organized front desk area, ensuring a positive first impression for all constituents and visitors and managing conference room reservations. This position requires exceptional communication skills and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, public-facing setting. This role is for a highly organized and professional Front Desk Assistant to support a high-profile elected official's office in a formal and busy office environment.
Essential Duties:

Front Desk Customer Experience

• Manage High-Volume Communications: Efficiently answer and screen a large volume of incoming phone calls, directing them to the appropriate staff or department while maintaining a professional and courteous demeanor.
• Guest Reception and Direction: Warmly greet all constituents, visitors, and dignitaries entering the office, verifying their identities and ensuring they reach their intended destinations or appointments.
• Administrative Support and Information Dissemination: Provide accurate general information about the office's functions, services, and upcoming events to callers and visitors.
• Handle all sensitive information and constituent details with the utmost discretion and confidentiality.
• Provide general administrative support, including data entry, filing, copying, and preparing correspondence, to assist Shared Services as required.
• Complete daily opening and closing procedures.
• Collect, track and disperse mail received by office.
• Update Front Desk Resource Guide, as needed.
• Coordinate and Manage Conference Room Schedules: Processing booking requests, resolving scheduling conflicts, and maintaining an organized, up-to-date calendar for each room.
• Responsible for communicating schedule confirmations and changes to relevant conference room reservations.

Professionalism - Personal Appearance and Environment

• Maintain Front Desk Presentation: Ensure the front desk and reception area remain tidy, organized, and presentable always, reflecting the professional image of the office.
• Professional Dress: Always adhere to professional dress code.
• Problem Resolution:
• Skillfully address and resolve basic inquiries or concerns from the public, escalating complex issues to the appropriate personnel.

Other duties as assigned.
Harris County is an Equal Opportunity Employer


If you need special services or accommodations, please call View phone number on click.appcast.io or email View email address on click.appcast.io.

This position is subject to a criminal history check. Only relevant convictions will be considered and, even when considered, may not automatically disqualify the candidate.

Requirements
Education:

• High school diploma or equivalent

Experience:

• 5 years of administrative and clerical experience in a fast-paced office environment

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Professional Protocol & Etiquette: Understanding of appropriate decorum, protocol, and etiquette required when interacting with elected officials, dignitaries, high-profile individuals, and the public in a formal setting.
• Customer Service Best Practices: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing excellent customer and personal services, including customer needs assessment, quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Multi-line Phone Systems: In-depth knowledge of operating high-volume multi-line phone systems, including call transfer, conferencing, and voicemail management. Excellent problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills
• Basic Security Procedures: Awareness of visitor sign-in procedures, building security protocols, and emergency response guidelines.
• Exceptional Verbal Communication: Ability to articulate information clearly, professionally, and courteously over the phone and in-person, demonstrating active listening and effective questioning.
• Ability to Remain Calm Under Pressure: Capacity to maintain composure, professionalism, and effectiveness when managing high call volumes, multiple simultaneous tasks, and unexpected situations.
• Ability to Adapt and Be Flexible: Capacity to quickly adjust to changing priorities, schedules, and unforeseen circumstances without compromising service quality.
• Problem-Solving and Conflict Resolution: Skill in identifying issues (e.g., scheduling conflicts, visitor concerns) and effectively resolving them or escalating appropriately with sound judgment.

NOTE : Qualifying education, experience, knowledge and skills must be documented on your job application. You may attach a resume to the application as supporting documentation but ONLY information stated on the application will be used for consideration. "See Resume" will not be accepted for qualifications.

General Information
Work Environment:

• This job operates in a workstation in a professional office environment.
• This role uses standard office equipment such as computers, tablets, phones, printers, and copiers.
• Travel within Harris County to other Offices for coverage, as required.

Physical Demands:

• Able to lift at least 20 pounds.
• Occasional standing and bending. Lifting, pushing, and pulling of equipment, as needed.

Employment may be contingent on passing a drug screen and meeting other standards.

Due to a high volume of applications positions may close prior to the advertised closing date or at the discretion of the Hiring Department.

HARRIS COUNTY EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

Harris County offers a highly competitive benefits program, featuring a comprehensive group health plan and defined benefit retirement plan.
The following benefits are offered only to Harris County employees in regular (full-time) positions:
Health & Wellness Benefits

• Medical Coverage
• Dental Coverage
• Vision Coverage
• Wellness Plan
• Life Insurance
• Long-Term Disability (LTD) Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Healthcare Flexible Spending Account
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account

Paid Time Off (PTO)

• Ten (10) days of vacation leave per year (accrual rate increases after 5 years of service)
• Eleven (11) County-observed holidays
• One (1) floating holiday per year
• Paid Parental Leave*
• Sick Leave

Retirement Savings Benefit

• 457 Deferred Compensation Plan

The following benefits are available to Harris County employees in full-time and select part-time positions:

• Professional learning & development opportunities
• Retirement pension (TCDRS defined benefit plan)
• Flexible work schedule*
• METRO RideSponsor Program*

* Participation may vary by County department. The employee benefits plans of Harris County are extended to all eligible participants across various departments with the exception of the Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, for which the cited Health & Wellness Benefits are administered through the State of Texas.
In accordance with the Harris County Personnel Regulations, group health and related benefits are subject to amendment or discontinuance at any time. Harris County Commissioners Court reserves the right to make benefit modifications on the County's behalf as needed.
For plan details, visit the Harris County Benefits & Wellness website:
01


Do you have a high school diploma or a G.E.D. equivalency?Qualifying information must be documented in the Education section of your application.

• Yes
• No

02


Which of the following best describes your verifiable administrative and clerical experience in a fast-paced office environment?(To be considered, qualifying experience must be documented in your application's employment history)

• Less than five (5) years
• Five (5) years but less than six (6) years
• Six (6) years but less than seven (7) years
• Seven (7) years or more
• I do not have this experience

03


Please provide the dates of employment during which you obtained experience working in an administrative and clerical role in a fast-paced office environment.Provide the month and year that began and ended the experience ( Example: "January 2020 - December 2025" ) If this experience is not clearly documented in the Work Experience section, your application will be disqualified. If you do not have this experience, type "N/A" in the space provided.
04


Which of the following describes your level of proficiency using a personal computer and common office software such as MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook). Please select your level of proficiency based on the following descriptions:

Advanced:
A person with this level of skills is able to produce very large, complex formal documents that require a table of contents, footnotes, endnotes, bookmarks, and other special elements; a wide range of graphic effects, and use advanced techniques for analyzing and manipulating data. Has full mastery of Macro commands and skills to tie the objects together into a cohesive system by using Macros and Visual Basic for Applications code. Makes interactive presentations by using hyperlinks and action buttons.

Intermediate:
A person with this level of skills is able to customize toolbars, import and insert graphs, embed Excel data, and elaborate reports. Understands the concepts of databases and is able to work with charts and to use the list management capabilities of Excel. Able to use complex query techniques, create efficient forms and reports, and create Macros to automate these forms. Makes interactive presentations by using hyperlinks and action buttons.

Basic:
A person with this level of skills is able to use basic formatting, editing, printing functions, and understands the document page setup. Has the ability to enter and correct data, modify a workbook, format a worksheet, and use printing functions. Understands the different database concepts and structures and is familiar with data validation and is able to create a simple presentation in PowerPoint, run it, and print it.

Entry Level:
A person with this level of skills has the ability to open, create, save and modify documents in Word, send and receive email in Outlook and create spreadsheets in Excel. Format documents for printing, comfortable using the printer menu to preview documents. Has ability to change the font, the margins, insert or delete pages and use the built-in spellchecker and grammar check.

• Advanced
• Intermediate
• Basic
• Entry Level
• Not proficient

Required Question