What is a General Clerk?

General clerks perform clerical tasks to support other employees in the organization. Their duties vary by industry and can change daily. In retail outlets, they may process orders daily, sort payments weekly, and take inventory bimonthly. However, In accounting firms, they may post payments, verify entries in a database, or edit financial reports. This personnel usually works under a senior clerk or an office manager. Generally, they answer telephones, handle mails, operate office equipment, and maintain office supplies. They gather, process, and organize information and perform data entry.

This is an entry-level position, so you will need just a high school diploma or its equivalent to qualify. Although most candidates learn skills from more experienced clerks on the job, you are required to have at least a year of general work experience. You must possess communication, listening, interpersonal, and customer service skills. General clerks earn around $33,347 in a year. Their salary range falls between $26,000 and $43,000.

What Does a General Clerk Do

There are certain skills that many general clerks 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 customer-service skills, detail oriented and organizational skills.

Learn more about what a General Clerk does

How To Become a General Clerk

If you're interested in becoming a general clerk, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 33.1% of general clerks have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.4% of general clerks have master's degrees. Even though some general clerks have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a General Clerk

Top General Clerk Jobs Near You

General Clerk Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a general clerk can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as certified nursing assistant, progress to a title such as team leader and then eventually end up with the title office manager.

Average Salary for a General Clerk

General Clerks in America make an average salary of $33,254 per year or $16 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $40,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $26,000 per year.

Average General Clerk Salary

$33,254 Yearly

$15.99 hourly

$26,00010%

$33,000Median

$40,00090%

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What Am I Worth?

Roles and Types of General Clerk

The role of a general clerk includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general general clerk responsibilities:

Filing, scanning, uploading, spread sheet entry
Assisting in a variety of administrative matters; maintaining a wide variety of financial or other records (stored both manually
Perform duties, which include routine but varied clerical duties in accordance with standard procedures. Maintain records

There are several types of general clerk, including:

Clerk

Role:

Clerks have a lot of administrative roles in their day-to-day job responsibilities. From answering the phone to typing up documents, and even filing and speaking with clients, clerks have a lot on their shoulders.

For the most part, you only need to graduate from high school before becoming a clerk but some clerk positions may require you to complete a certification course beforehand. The majority of your knowledge of the job will come from the on-the-job training you'll be taken through.

You may not have a lot of stress in your day or you could feel a lot of stress, it really depends on what industry you choose to start your career in. Speaking of, you have a lot of options. On the plus side, you'll never work more than 40 hours a week so you can leave work at the office and enjoy your time off.

Average Salary: $31,163
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview How To Become Job Description Jobs

Data Entry Clerk

Role:

A data entry clerk spends much of their time inputing data into a computing system. But we bet you already guessed that much. Luckily, there's more than what meets the eye when it comes to being a data entry clerk.

In addition to typing up the data, data entry clerks also spend their time organizing and prioritizing that data. In this position, you need to understand how to properly operate a keyboard and understand how the computing system works.

As an individual in this position, it might be important for you to take some keyboarding lessons or enroll in some typing classes. While employers generally just look to make sure you have a high school degree, it can never hurt to have a little bit more experience.

Average Salary: $31,582
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview How To Become Job Description Jobs

Office Clerk

Role:

An Office Clerk works in an office and carries out administrative tasks. Working under the supervision of secretaries or executive assistants, office clerks prepare documents and sort mail, file and update company records, schedule meetings, answer phones, greet clients and make sure office supplies are in stock at all times.

You might be asked to make travel arrangements or book venues, take minutes at meetings, and maybe even do some basic bookkeeping tasks. Using photocopy machines and printers and being familiar with basic computer software, such as word processors or spreadsheets, will also be required.

If you want to be an efficient office clerk, you need to be diligent, reliable, and hard-working. You must be perceptive and easy to talk to, and experience with office equipment and procedures is always helpful.

Average Salary: $30,927
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview How To Become Job Description Jobs

States With The Most General Clerk Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active general clerk jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where general clerks earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of General Clerk Jobs By State

Rank	State	Number of Jobs	Average Salary
1	California	9,326	$37,230
2	New York	3,823	$35,006
3	Texas	3,003	$30,721
4	Florida	2,692	$27,012
5	Massachusetts	2,116	$39,234
6	Washington	1,982	$38,436
7	New Jersey	1,781	$33,912
8	Pennsylvania	1,780	$31,036
9	Ohio	1,554	$29,467
10	Illinois	1,494	$31,755
11	Michigan	1,403	$31,410
12	Georgia	1,251	$28,691
13	North Carolina	1,093	$28,145
14	Indiana	1,080	$30,732
15	Minnesota	1,057	$34,042
16	Virginia	1,044	$31,757
17	Tennessee	1,023	$27,387
18	Connecticut	950	$38,169
19	Wisconsin	931	$33,663
20	Missouri	930	$31,804
21	Utah	929	$31,462
22	Oregon	824	$33,881
23	Colorado	795	$36,506
24	Maryland	745	$33,598
25	Kentucky	582	$27,098
26	Nebraska	572	$33,134
27	Kansas	553	$23,841
28	South Carolina	545	$25,180
29	Arizona	525	$35,763
30	Iowa	488	$34,354
31	Idaho	431	$29,758
32	Alabama	391	$24,474
33	Oklahoma	366	$27,153
34	New Hampshire	356	$34,758
35	Delaware	343	$29,632
36	Louisiana	312	$27,351
37	Maine	308	$34,244
38	Rhode Island	295	$36,725
39	South Dakota	267	$25,913
40	New Mexico	260	$27,670
41	Mississippi	252	$28,784
42	Arkansas	234	$31,232
43	North Dakota	191	$32,525
44	West Virginia	176	$26,161
45	Nevada	155	$35,361
46	Alaska	134	$42,656
47	Vermont	134	$36,151
48	Hawaii	115	$35,708
49	Montana	108	$31,707
50	Wyoming	73	$33,424

General Clerk Education

General Clerk Majors

Business

31.0 %

General Studies

8.3 %

Accounting

8.1 %

General Clerk Degrees

Bachelors

33.1 %

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 12.3% of general clerks listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and detail oriented are important as well.

Customer Service, 12.3%

Data Entry, 10.4%

Office Procedures, 6.1%

Veterans, 5.8%

Office Equipment, 5.0%

Other Skills, 60.4%

Choose From 10+ Customizable General Clerk Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use General Clerk templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your General Clerk resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

General Clerk diversity

General Clerk Gender Distribution

Female

67%

Male

33%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

Among general clerks, 66.9% of them are women, while 33.1% are men.

The most common race/ethnicity among general clerks is White, which makes up 53.6% of all general clerks.

The most common foreign language among general clerks is Spanish at 73.5%.

Online Courses For General Clerk That You May Like

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Best States For a General Clerk

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a general clerk. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Massachusetts, Washington, and Connecticut. General clerks make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $42,656. Whereas in Massachusetts and Washington, they would average $39,234 and $38,436, respectively. While general clerks would only make an average of $38,169 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Connecticut

Total General Clerk Jobs: 950

Highest 10% Earn:

$47,000

Location Quotient:

1.57

$38,169

Avg. Salary

View 950 General Clerk Jobs In CT

2. Washington

Total General Clerk Jobs: 1,982

Highest 10% Earn:

$46,000

Location Quotient:

1.49

$38,436

Avg. Salary

View 1,982 General Clerk Jobs In WA

3. Massachusetts

Total General Clerk Jobs: 2,116

Highest 10% Earn:

$48,000

Location Quotient:

1.26

$39,234

Avg. Salary

View 2,116 General Clerk Jobs In MA

Full List Of Best States For General Clerks

How Do General Clerks Rate Their Jobs?

Top General Clerk Employers

Most Common Employers For General Clerk

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	Computer Science Corporation	$41,112	$19.77	50
2	Lockheed Martin	$37,949	$18.24	153
3	CSC Holdings LLC	$37,850	$18.20	72
4	MetLife	$36,233	$17.42	66
5	Ukpeagvik IOoOupiat Corporation	$35,516	$17.07	96
6	Management Consulting	$34,507	$16.59	47
7	McKesson	$34,417	$16.55	56
8	Safeway	$33,539	$16.12	85
9	Cognosante	$33,202	$15.96	219
10	Serco	$32,317	$15.54	162

General Clerk Videos

Office Clerks, General Job Description

Updated April 6, 2023

What is a General Clerk?

What Does a General Clerk Do

How To Become a General Clerk

General Clerk Career Paths

Average Salary for a General Clerk

Roles and Types of General Clerk

Clerk

Role:

Data Entry Clerk

Role:

Office Clerk

Role:

States With The Most General Clerk Jobs

Number Of General Clerk Jobs By State

General Clerk Education

General Clerk Majors

General Clerk Degrees

Top Colleges for General Clerks

1. Western Carolina University

2. Stanford University

3. Ball State University

4. University of Pennsylvania

5. Bowling Green State University

6. Cedar Crest College

7. Morgan State University

8. Northwestern University

9. Siena Heights University

10. University of Akron

Top Skills For a General Clerk

Choose From 10+ Customizable General Clerk Resume templates

General Clerk diversity

General Clerk Gender Distribution

Online Courses For General Clerk That You May Like

Best States For a General Clerk

How Do General Clerks Rate Their Jobs?

Top General Clerk Employers

Most Common Employers For General Clerk

General Clerk Videos

General Clerk Related Careers

General Clerk Related Jobs

What Similar Roles Do

Resume For Related Jobs