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What does a Clerical Specialist do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
What does a Clerical Specialist do

Clerical specialists are office assistants or executive secretaries offering administrative support. The specialists schedule conference meetings or calls, prepare statistical reports and correspondence, and maintain sensitive data. They manage both incoming and outgoing mails and the distribution of letters and packages to administrative offices and staff. Their job includes the redesign and reorganization of the existing filing systems of client and internal documents. They comply with corporate confidentiality, regulations, and guidelines. Skills in data entry, customer service, and medical records are necessary for this job.

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Clerical specialist responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real clerical specialist resumes:

  • Manage CI s SharePoint pages and serve as CI s subject matter expert on SharePoint working groups.
  • Provide excellent customer service, advising patients about clinic policies and responding to specific inquiries.
  • Follow all guidline to Hippa regulations.
  • Attend multiple yearly in-services addressing issues such as HIPPA, resident safety, fire safety, and current long-term care issues.
  • Obtain verification case/certificate number to update the patients chart.
  • Maintain computerized individual faculty payroll, title and employment data.
  • Assist other departments and co-workers in researching and analyzing payroll transactions and by preparing accurate and useful reports.
  • Prepare breakfast menu, gather information from system for allergies and nutrition.
  • Obtain information about patient's medical history, drug history, allergies.
  • Verify Medi-cal and additional government plans prior to patient attending appointment.

Clerical specialist skills and personality traits

We calculated that 26% of Clerical Specialists are proficient in Patients, Data Entry, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Detail oriented, and Organizational skills.

We break down the percentage of Clerical Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patients, 26%

    Scheduled and instructed patients for Out-patient procedures.

  • Data Entry, 17%

    Assist customers with purchase of traffic/criminal records* Customer service* Data entry traffic tickets

  • Customer Service, 8%

    Provide administrative support and customer service, calendar management and special projects for the Assistant State Conservationist of Management and Strategy.

  • Payroll, 6%

    Maintained computerized individual faculty payroll, title and employment data.

  • Clerical Support, 4%

    Provided clerical support necessary to produce technical reports, letters and memorandums for the Economic/Demographic Research Section of the Planning Commission.

  • HIPAA, 3%

    Ensured confidentiality of all medical records information and completes forms for release of information in compliance with HIPAA regulations.

"patients," "data entry," and "customer service" are among the most common skills that clerical specialists use at work. You can find even more clerical specialist responsibilities below, including:

Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a clerical specialist to have is customer-service skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "general office clerks often provide general information to company staff, customers, or the public." Clerical specialists often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "handled customers and their financial transactions through bank clerical functions. "

Detail oriented. Another essential skill to perform clerical specialist duties is detail oriented. Clerical specialists responsibilities require that "general office clerks perform many clerical tasks that require attention to detail, such as preparing bills." Clerical specialists also use detail oriented in their role according to a real resume snippet: "streamlined office operations for marked productivity gains, creating highly accessible filing systems and detailed outlook database storing clients/vendors information. "

Organizational skills. This is an important skill for clerical specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how clerical specialist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "general office clerks file and retrieve records." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a clerical specialist: "gained customer service/people skills, improved my computer skills and enriched my organizational techniques. ".

See the full list of clerical specialist skills

The three companies that hire the most clerical specialists are:

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Compare different clerical specialists

Clerical specialist vs. Administrative support specialist

An administrative support specialist is an individual who is involved in the office management, clerical tasks, and back-office duties of an organization. To run the office smoothly, administrative support specialists must manage the purchasing and inventory of office supplies as well as schedule the maintenance of office equipment. They serve as a liaison for executives by screening incoming calls and emails, sorting mails, and setting appointments with employees, customers, and vendors. Administrative support specialists must also be able to draft memos and edit report proposals and other business documents.

If we compare the average clerical specialist annual salary with that of an administrative support specialist, we find that administrative support specialists typically earn a $7,508 higher salary than clerical specialists make annually.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both clerical specialist and administrative support specialist positions are skilled in patients, data entry, and customer service.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between clerical specialists and administrative support specialist. For instance, clerical specialist responsibilities require skills such as "hipaa," "clerical tasks," "patient appointments," and "emr." Whereas a administrative support specialist is skilled in "administrative functions," "office procedures," "strong customer service," and "provides administrative support." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Administrative support specialists really shine in the government industry with an average salary of $42,241. Comparatively, clerical specialists tend to make the most money in the government industry with an average salary of $33,106.On average, administrative support specialists reach similar levels of education than clerical specialists. Administrative support specialists are 2.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Clerical specialist vs. Administrative specialist

An administrative specialist is in charge of various clerical tasks to support supervisors and management staff. Their responsibility is to act as the main point of contact among clients through answering calls and responding to inquiries, managing schedules, arranging appointments and travel, addressing complaints and resolving internal issues, managing payroll, and keeping an organized database. Furthermore, an administrative specialist can also conduct research and analysis, prepare reports and other forms of documentation, and coordinate workflow in a particular area.

A career as a administrative specialist brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a clerical specialist. In fact, administrative specialists salary is $8,022 higher than the salary of clerical specialists per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both clerical specialists and administrative specialists have skills such as "patients," "data entry," and "customer service. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real clerical specialist resumes. While clerical specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "hipaa," "clerical tasks," "patient appointments," and "emr," administrative specialists use skills like "office procedures," "provides administrative support," "human resources," and "database management."

Administrative specialists earn a higher average salary than clerical specialists. But administrative specialists earn the highest pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $50,521. Additionally, clerical specialists earn the highest salaries in the government with average pay of $33,106 annually.In general, administrative specialists achieve similar levels of education than clerical specialists. They're 2.5% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Clerical specialist vs. Administrative office specialist

An administrative office specialist helps offices to run efficiently and smoothly by performing clerical support tasks. Their responsibilities often include preparing and processing documents, arranging meetings and appointments, monitoring the budgets and expenditures, answering calls and correspondence, handling the inventory and procurement of office supplies, and developing strategies to optimize office operations. They may also address issues and concerns, resolving them promptly and professionally. Furthermore, as an administrative office specialist, it is essential to coordinate staff, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

On average scale, administrative office specialists bring in higher salaries than clerical specialists. In fact, they earn a $4,441 higher salary per year.By looking over several clerical specialists and administrative office specialists resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "data entry," "customer service," and "payroll." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, clerical specialists are more likely to have skills like "patients," "clerical tasks," "patient appointments," and "scheduling appointments." But a administrative office specialist is more likely to have skills like "phone calls," "provides administrative support," "database management," and "office management."

Administrative office specialists earn the highest salary when working in the technology industry, where they receive an average salary of $36,820. Comparatively, clerical specialists have the highest earning potential in the government industry, with an average salary of $33,106.When it comes to education, administrative office specialists tend to earn similar degree levels compared to clerical specialists. In fact, they're 0.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Clerical specialist vs. Office support specialist

An office support specialist is in charge of performing clerical tasks to help offices maintain a smooth workflow. Among their responsibilities include preparing and processing documents, answering calls and correspondence, disseminating and organizing files, monitoring the inventory of office supplies, and processing procurement requests should there be any. They may also assist staff with projects and programs, greet visitors, and coordinate with different company departments. Furthermore, an office support specialist must enforce the company's policies and regulations.

Office support specialists tend to earn a higher pay than clerical specialists by an average of $5,813 per year.According to resumes from clerical specialists and office support specialists, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "data entry," "customer service," and "payroll. "While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "patients," "hipaa," "clerical tasks," and "patient appointments" are skills that commonly show up on clerical specialist resumes. On the other hand, office support specialists use skills like provides administrative support, phone calls, human resources, and office procedures on their resumes.office support specialists enjoy the best pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $41,711. For comparison, clerical specialists earn the highest salary in the government industry.office support specialists reach similar levels of education compared to clerical specialists, in general. The difference is that they're 0.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of clerical specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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