As keeper of the books, er sorry, we mean bookkeeper, you're in charge of all things financial records. From creating the records in the first place to checking them for accuracy, you've got a lot of math on your hands.
Speaking of math, you'll probably need some postsecondary education to become a bookkeeper. Math will be a good starting point, but you'll also want to be familiar with certain bookkeeping software and other computer skills. While it's great to have some experience and knowledge before you secure the job, you will learn a lot through on-the-job training.
The majority of your work will be in the office. But depending on where you're employed as a bookkeeper, you may have to travel to clients' sites as well. The majority of your work can be completed in solitude so no group projects here. Isn't it time they ban those types of projects anyway?
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a bookkeeper. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.08 an hour? That's $39,688 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -4% and produce -65,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many bookkeepers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, math skills and writing skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a bookkeeper, we found that a lot of resumes listed 15.7% of bookkeepers included payroll, while 5.7% of resumes included quickbooks, and 5.5% of resumes included customer service. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the bookkeeper job title. But what industry to start with? Most bookkeepers actually find jobs in the professional and retail industries.
If you're interested in becoming a bookkeeper, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 40.1% of bookkeepers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 6.5% of bookkeepers have master's degrees. Even though some bookkeepers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a bookkeeper. When we researched the most common majors for a bookkeeper, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on bookkeeper resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a bookkeeper. In fact, many bookkeeper jobs require experience in a role such as office manager. Meanwhile, many bookkeepers also have previous career experience in roles such as administrative assistant or cashier.
