How To Become A Clerical Office Worker: What It Is and Career Path

What is a clerical office worker and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a clerical office worker. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.84 an hour? That's $30,865 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -130,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreClerical Office WorkerUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $30,865

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.6

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.11%

Asian 6.05%

Black or African American 11.41%

Hispanic or Latino 18.81%

Unknown 4.79%

White 57.83%

Gender

female 81.05%

male 18.95%

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 clerical office worker

Explore clerical office worker education requirements

Most common clerical office worker degrees

Bachelor's

31.9 %

High School Diploma

31.4 %

Associate

17.6 %

Start to develop specific clerical office worker skills

Skills	Percentages
Office Procedures	14.16%
Computer System	12.75%
Telephone Calls	12.48%
Office Equipment	6.88%
Word Processing	6.50%

Complete relevant clerical office worker training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New clerical office workers 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 clerical office worker based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real clerical office worker resumes.

Research clerical office worker duties and responsibilities

Order office supplies, enter invoices for accounting, put documents in order, used QuickBooks to manage propane accounts.
Handle incoming and outbound calls, schedules, appointments, accounts payable/receivable, payroll, computer management.
Copy and distribute educational and other material for administrators, teachers, payroll and pupil accounting secretaries.
Operate 10-key calculators, typewriters, and copy machines to perform calculations and produce documents.

Prepare your clerical office worker resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your clerical office worker 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 clerical office worker resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable clerical office worker resume templates

Build a professional clerical office worker 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 clerical office worker resume.