What does a clerical staff do?
Clerical staff responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real clerical staff resumes:
- Manage the receptionist area, including greeting visitors and responding to telephone and in-person requests for information.
- Assist in accounts payable, payroll, and process OR/Rec room charges for the billing department.
- Supervise clerical staff, prepare payroll, maintain accounts payable, and order medical and office supplies ensuring sufficient stock.
- Follow all request for medical records by abiding the HIPPA regulation and scan appropriate medical documents to the client's charts.
- Comply with confidentiality; adhere to all HIPPA guidelines/ regulations.
- Manage the receptionist area, including greeting visitors and responding to telephone and in-person requests for information.
- Establish and maintain effective communications and cohesive working relationships with company associates, telephone and walk-in customers, and site visitors.
Clerical staff skills and personality traits
We calculated that 30% of Clerical Staff are proficient in Data Entry, Patients, and Clerical Support. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Detail oriented, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Clerical Staff that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Data Entry, 30%
Performed insurance verification and executed accurate data entry of demographic health care policy information with exact allowances.
- Patients, 17%
Ensured approximately 75 patients per week received appropriate information regarding prescriptions, medications and treatment.
- Clerical Support, 9%
Delivered temporary clerical support to law office and Delaware State Police Traffic Section.
- Database Management, 6%
Results-oriented in office management, business administration, accounting, database management, customer service, billing, and relationship management.
- Front Desk, 5%
Greeted customers at Front Desk, checking in 20 to 100 hotel guests daily and helping with needs.
- Payroll, 3%
Supervised clerical staff, prepared payroll, maintained accounts payable, and ordered medical and office supplies ensuring sufficient stock.
Common skills that a clerical staff uses to do their job include "data entry," "patients," and "clerical support." You can find details on the most important clerical staff responsibilities below.
Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a clerical staff 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 staff often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "performed various clerical duties, answered customer service calls, and entered insurance claims over the telephone. "
Detail oriented. Another essential skill to perform clerical staff duties is detail oriented. Clerical staff responsibilities require that "general office clerks perform many clerical tasks that require attention to detail, such as preparing bills." Clerical staff also use detail oriented in their role according to a real resume snippet: "assisted patients with sensitive and detail oriented documentation, scheduled appointments and verified insurance benefits. "
Organizational skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of clerical staff is organizational skills. This skill is critical to many everyday clerical staff duties, as "general office clerks file and retrieve records." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "carry out administrative assignments; data entry, word processing, organizational, and customer service. "
The three companies that hire the most clerical staffs are:
- Sodexo Management, Inc.26 clerical staff jobs
- Buchheit4 clerical staff jobs
- Kelly Services3 clerical staff jobs
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Compare different clerical staff
Clerical staff vs. Office worker
An office worker is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support the daily operations of the business. Office workers assist in receiving calls to respond to the clients' inquiries and concerns, as well as welcoming visitors, verifying their appointments, and leading them to the appropriate personnel and department for their business needs. They also do data processing, sorting mail, and filing documents for easy retrieval and reference, especially during meetings and company activities.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, clerical staff responsibilities require skills like "patients," "database management," "typing data entry," and "appointment scheduling." Meanwhile a typical office worker has skills in areas such as "administrative tasks," "customer service," "scheduling appointments," and "computer programs." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Office workers earn the highest salaries when working in the education industry, with an average yearly salary of $40,267. On the other hand, clerical staff are paid more in the insurance industry with an average salary of $36,825.office workers tend to reach similar levels of education than clerical staff. In fact, office workers are 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Clerical staff vs. Office technician
An Office Technician handles installation and repair tasks by using power tools and manual equipment safely and effectively. Besides installing, maintaining, and repairing central office equipment, an office technician also installs, tests, and labels cable lines. They deactivate, activate, and maintain office equipment. Other duties performed by office technicians include removing non-functional and unused office equipment, managing equipment stations and telecommunication rooms cabling, and maintaining inspection, repair, maintenance, and installation documents. Also, these professionals work as per environmental, safety, and health policies.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, clerical staff responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "database management," "typing data entry," "appointment scheduling," and "insurance verification." Meanwhile, an office technician has duties that require skills in areas such as "office procedures," "schedule appointments," "vital signs," and "provides administrative support." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
On average, office technicians earn a higher salary than clerical staff. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, office technicians earn the most pay in the construction industry with an average salary of $38,498. Whereas clerical staff have higher pay in the insurance industry, with an average salary of $36,825.office technicians earn similar levels of education than clerical staff in general. They're 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clerical staff vs. Transit department clerk
It's the job of a Transit Department Clerk to process and verify all shipment documents that are both inbound and outbound. Your primary job will be to perform a ton of clerical duties in a transportation environment/organization. The Transit Clerk also ensures that all goods are safely processed and well secured for shipment. Furthermore, you'd have to identify and tag goods with the help of the shipment documents. Finally, your job will also be to supervise the delivery of goods to customers to their specific locations.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from clerical staff resumes include skills like "database management," "typing data entry," "appointment scheduling," and "insurance verification," whereas a transit department clerk is more likely to list skills in "customer satisfaction," "customer orders," "cleanliness," and "allergies. "
Transit department clerks make a very good living in the finance industry with an average annual salary of $35,204. On the other hand, clerical staff are paid the highest salary in the insurance industry, with average annual pay of $36,825.Most transit department clerks achieve a similar degree level compared to clerical staff. For example, they're 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clerical staff vs. Office support clerk
Office support clerks are professionals who provide clerical and administrative duties that support the daily activities of an organization's office setting. These clerks are required to answer incoming calls from clients while maintaining all office and cleaning supplies for the organization. They must communicate with clients and direct them to the appropriate department to ensure quality customer service. Office support clerks must also utilize the automated word processing equipment so that they can produce reports, statistical information, and other departmental information.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between clerical staff and office support clerks, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a clerical staff might have more use for skills like "patients," "typing data entry," "appointment scheduling," and "hipaa." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of office support clerks require skills like "customer service," "database systems," "scheduling appointments," and "hr. "
The finance industry tends to pay the highest salaries for office support clerks, with average annual pay of $34,227. Comparatively, the highest clerical staff annual salary comes from the insurance industry.office support clerks reach similar levels of education compared to clerical staff, in general. The difference is that they're 0.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of clerical staff
Updated January 8, 2025
