How To Become A Business Office Clerk: What It Is and Career Path

What is a business office clerk and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

As a business office clerk, you will be the jack-of-all-trades in the office. You will do clerical tasks like typing, editing memos, filing records, and answering phones. You will often help your employer with administrative duties.

Business office clerks' jobs may change from day to day and also are different depending on where you work. Office clerks are needed in health care facilities, schools, government offices, and just about any other place of business.

To be a business office clerk, you will need a high school diploma or GED. You can learn job skills while working on the job and most training takes about one month. On the job, you will learn office procedures, use of office equipment, phone etiquette, and some computer applications. The median salary of a business clerk is about $29,000 per year. You can make more the longer you work in a business office.

ScoreBusiness Office ClerkUS Average

Salary

2.2

Avg. Salary $28,097

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.6

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.99%

Asian 8.12%

Black or African American 10.56%

Hispanic or Latino 20.94%

Unknown 4.49%

White 54.90%

Gender

female 82.10%

male 17.90%

Age - 50

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 50

Stress level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.3

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a business office clerk

Explore business office clerk education requirements

Most common business office clerk degrees

Bachelor's

37.1 %

Associate

28.6 %

High School Diploma

21.1 %

Start to develop specific business office clerk skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	26.16%
Data Entry	13.05%
Insurance Verification	7.33%
Hippa	3.66%
Office Equipment	3.44%

Complete relevant business office clerk training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New business office clerks learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a business office clerk based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real business office clerk resumes.

Research business office clerk duties and responsibilities

Manage front office check-in, insurance verification and certifications from doctors.
Verify insurance using knowledge of medical terminology, provide customer service, and schedule patients for surgery.
Demonstrate ICD-9, CPT, and data entry.
Expand knowledge of ICD-9, CPT and HCPCS codes to include cardiovascular procedures

Prepare your business office clerk resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your business office clerk resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a business office clerk resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable business office clerk resume templates

Build a professional business office clerk resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your business office clerk resume.