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

What is a head clerk and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a head clerk. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.03 an hour? That's $37,496 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -130,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreHead ClerkUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $37,496

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.6

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.94%

Asian 7.93%

Black or African American 7.71%

Hispanic or Latino 23.78%

Unknown 4.50%

White 55.14%

Gender

female 51.68%

male 48.32%

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 head clerk

Explore head clerk education requirements

Most common head clerk degrees

Bachelor's

41.0 %

Associate

24.2 %

High School Diploma

22.3 %

Start to develop specific head clerk skills

Skills	Percentages
Sales Floor	23.13%
Basic Math	17.95%
Customer Inquiries	15.80%
Cash Management	12.89%
Customer Service	6.64%

Complete relevant head clerk training and internships

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

Research head clerk duties and responsibilities

Check out groceries, make sure shelves are efficiently stock, face and manage out-of-stocks.
Demonstrate strong math skills in managing inmate s accounts and calmly and effectively deescalating outbursts of belligerent inmates.
Support scanners, scales, POS terminals, IBM printers, IBM 486 dual servers, and dot-matrix printers.
Maintain cleanliness of the company warehouse, operate warehouse machinery and organize the warehouse to ensure proper product placement.

Prepare your head clerk resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your head 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 head 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 head clerk resume templates

Build a professional head 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 head clerk resume.

Apply for head clerk jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a head clerk job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do head clerks rate their job?

-/5

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1 star

Head clerk reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2019

Pros

I love the high demands on how fast the grocery store is!I love the different personalities that walk in the store i love the customer satisfaction the ability to learn something new every day I love to be an example and help others go above and beyond the co workers i work with make me feel like I'm at home!it's about team work and self discipline having common sense to do your daily task as a lead!