A clerical worker performs clerical tasks in a school, library, hospital, medical office, government agency, or business. His or her job is to provide administrative support, such as answering and directing telephone calls, greeting visitors, and sorting and distributing mail.
A clerical worker performs clerical tasks in a school, library, hospital, medical office, government agency, or business. His or her job is to provide administrative support, such as answering and directing telephone calls, greeting visitors, and sorting and distributing mail. Alternative job titles for an office clerk include help desk clerk, typist clerk, or office assistant.
Quick Facts
- In 2016, office clerks earned a median salary of $30.580 annually, or $14. 70 per hour.
- As of 2014, approximately 3,063,000 people were employed in this profession.
- Clerical workers work in all industries.
- Only 25% of jobs are part-time.
- The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment will grow more slowly than the average for all occupations, but job prospects will be good. There will be a significant number of vacancies to replace workers who retire or move on to other occupations. The capabilities will be the best in the healthcare industry. The BLS classifies it as Outlook Vibrant.
A day in the life of an office clerk
What is it like to be an office clerk? Job advertisements for real. com tell us about some typical responsibilities:
- "Operate copying, scanning and mailing equipment"
- "Answer the phone, enter documents, file and complete all other office tasks"
- "Transact directly with customers either by phone, email or face to face"
- "Keeping Accurate and Effective Records"
- "Store an inventory of office supplies"
- "Receive data or correspondence from files upon request within an appropriate period of time"
What do you need to know to be a clerical secretary?
To obtain a clerical position, you will need to know how to perform common office tasks. You must be able to use a computer, including word processing, presentation, spreadsheet, and database applications.
You should also become familiar with typical office equipment, such as copiers, fax machines, and scanners. Additionally, you need strong phone etiquette and customer service skills.
Many jobs do not require more than a high school diploma or equivalent. Employers provide on-the-job training to new employees. Others will only hire job candidates who have taken courses to learn about office procedures and computer applications. Look for programs with titles such as administrative business technology, administrative support, and clerical services at vocational schools and colleges. You can earn a PhD or a certificate.
What soft skills do you need to achieve in this career?
- Active Listening: The ability to listen carefully to what your boss and co-workers are saying will enable you to understand and follow instructions.
- Conversation: You must be able to convey information to others.
- Time management: You must know how to prioritize tasks in order to complete them quickly.
- Social Sensitivity: You need to understand why people react the way they do and react accordingly.
The truth about becoming a clerk
- You will spend most of your day sitting in front of your computer. It can cause back and eye problems, and some studies show that sitting for long periods of time is bad for your overall health.
- Your work will be completely closed. If you want to spend your day outdoors, you should consider doing something other than being an office clerk.
- While your job is essential to the functioning of the office, your boss may also expect you to do menial tasks like making coffee and running errands.
What do employers expect from you?
Here are some requirements from actual job postings found. com:
- “Multitasking skills are highly recommended to be successful in this position.”
- “Must be a team player and have the ability to work independently.”
- "Self-motivated and willing to take initiative towards goals"
- "Able to communicate effectively with all team members"
- "Strong oral and written communication skills"
Is this activity right for you?
- Holland Code: CER (Common, Enterprising, Realistic)
- MBTI personality types: ISTJ, ESFJ
Related activities
| Description | Average annual salary (2014) | Minimum requirement Education/Training | |
| Secretary or administrative assistant | Performs clerical and administrative tasks | $ 34, 820 | HS or equivalent diploma |
| Library Assistant | Helps organize materials in the library | $ 25, 220 | HS or equivalent diploma |
| HR Assistant | Provides clerical support to the organization's Human Resources department | $ 39, 020 | HS or equivalent diploma |
| Information Clerk | Tends to routine office tasks and provides information to clients | $ 27, 920 | HS or equivalent diploma/some college courses or doctorate |
| Paralegal | Supporting attorneys by helping them prepare for trials and hearings | $ 49, 500 | Bachelor's or Associate's Degree in Paralegal Studies |
Sources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor, Guide to Professional Study, 2016-17 (visited September 13, 2017).
Employment and Training Administration, US Department of Labor, O*NET Online(visited September 13, 2017).
Clerk
clerk, clerk, husband. (French clerk). In the West In Europe - an office worker, a clerk, a candidate for the position of a notary or for judicial positions.
Political Science: Dictionary-Reference Book
Clerk
(French clerc, from Late Lat. clericus cleric)
in some countries an office worker; clergyman in medieval France and England.
Modern economic dictionary. 1999
CLERK
(franci, clerc, from lat. clericu - spiritual person)
office worker.
Reference Commercial Dictionary (1926)
Clerk
in England this is the name of a clerk, an employee of a commercial and industrial enterprise.
Dictionary of economic terms
Clerk
(from French clerk, from lat. clericus- clergyman)
office worker.
Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms
Clerk
♦ (ENG clerk)
a person responsible for maintaining various types of records of a church organization.
Thesaurus of Russian business vocabulary
Clerk
Syn: employee
encyclopedic Dictionary
Clerk
- (Klerk) Frederik Willem de (b. 1936), Vice President of South Africa since 1994. President of South Africa in 1989-94. Since 1978 he has held a number of ministerial posts. Leader of the Nationalist Party since 1989. Nobel Peace Prize (1993).
- (French clerc, from late Latin clericus - clergyman), 1) clergyman in medieval France and England. 2) In some countries, an office worker.
Ozhegov's Dictionary
CLERK, A, m. In some countries: office worker.
Efremova's Dictionary
Clerk
- m. An office worker who conducts office work, prepares reports, etc.
- m. Cleric (in medieval France and England).
Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron
Clerk
(French clerc, English clerk, from Latin clericus) - originally meant a cleric, i.e. a person of spiritual state. Since in the Middle Ages science and even literacy were distributed exclusively among the clergy, over time scientists and scribes, and then clerks and other officials who performed certain functions in the management of justice, police and finance, began to be called K. The Parisian K. formed a special guild, Bazoche (q.v.). Clerc du Trésor was the name in France for the officer appointed to guard the royal treasury. Subsequently, K. were called in France mainly by supernumerary clergy, as well as by young people preparing for the title of attorney (avou é), bailiff (huissier) or notary. Currently, anyone wishing to receive one of these titles must undergo a certain experience called clé ricature. So, for a candidate notary, this experience is determined to be 6 years; Anyone wishing to obtain the title of solicitor must, after completing his legal education, serve 5 years as a clerk for a notary or solicitor. In Belgium and Holland, some officials were also called K. In England, the person of the Anglican clergy is still referred to in official papers as clerk in holy order; then K. refers to persons who carry out assignments in a wide variety of areas of life, for example, lawyer scribes serving in trade institutions and ministries.
“It’s better to drink living blood once than to feed on carrion for three hundred years” - this is approximately how the well-known authority Emelyan Pugachev expressed the ideology of a robber’s life in a conversation with a captured law enforcement officer Grinev. But these are too general phrases. A lot is written about the life of the “brothers”, films are made, but what exactly attracts a person to such a life?
Recruitment
Bro:“Starshak” Kolyan said that he shouldn’t limit his career growth to the position of “access authority” and brought him to the “brigade”; a fellow member of the boxing section suggested practicing skills on live “bags”, and even getting paid for it!
Probation
Office clerk: 3 months of intense tail wagging and painful fortune-telling - Will they take it? Won't they take it?
Bro: Until the very first serious action, after which the serious “boys” will seriously discuss whether you behaved funny? The results will be reported immediately, with entry into a personal “scoreboard”.
Schedule
Office clerk: Voluntary-forced rise at 5-6-7 in the morning, friendly neighbors in the carriage. Throwing from the image of a squirrel in a wheel to the image of a cyclical marmot - both eaten by the image of an eternally sleepy owl
Bro: I woke up when I needed to, got a hangover or smoked (if necessary), went where I needed to go, did what I was told or according to my own understanding, had dinner at a restaurant (or didn’t have dinner at the district police station). Or others had dinner, remembering you with warmth.
Salary
Office clerk: A fixed amount, which is usually enough to live for a month (food, housing, clothing; entertainment to a minimum). They say that the cost of living was determined experimentally in Buchenwald, and has changed little since then. Slightly higher than that of Euroset sellers.
Bro: What is left after a fair division or more. In the case of dishonesty, followed by walking around looking around. On average, 2-3 clerk salaries, there is no upper limit.
Bonuses, awards
Office clerk: There may or may not be bonuses. More often, like Hamlet, they prefer the second. There are usually no rewards for ideas and rational proposals in the capitalist world; they don’t even post a photo on the “Drummer of Capitalist Labor” board.
Bro: Sometimes you manage to catch luck by the tail, and by wrapping the tail around your hand, make Fortune turn to you with her angry face. It is because of this moment of luck that one has to endure hardships and hardships, sometimes for the rest of one’s life. Example: “My “bro” and I went into the office, and there the entrepreneurs were packing foreign money into banana boxes; a box for him, a box for yourself and a box for the authorities. They didn’t take change in a potato sack anymore.”
Career
Office clerk: As a rule, ghostly, or even the absence of it. The clerk is chained to his computer in his cozy “cubicle”, closed from prying eyes and ears. However, you can move up a couple of positions, or even become the head of a department!
Bro: As vacancies are released by the police and colleagues, you can reach your ceiling in a year or two. And then it depends on luck, sometimes it is needed simply so as not to prematurely vacate a vacancy.
Management's attitude
Office clerk: The boss is more often a tyrant, less often a soft-bodied and spineless weathervane, and even less often a good person. However, all cases included in the last paragraph are recorded in the Red Book and are protected by law from the influx of employees.
Bro: Most often, the boss is a respected person who has more convolutions in his brain than tattoos on his body. And sometimes - a random person pursuing only his own interests, which prompts further actions, see the previous paragraph.
Relationships in the team
Office clerk: Strained humor, malicious teasing of each other, envy, intrigue, pressure on the nerves. Plus such pleasant little things as discussing work during lunch.
Bro: As a rule, it’s a brotherly, good relationship that neither a woman nor problems can spoil. Only money can ruin it. Constant monitoring of everyone is required in order to stop the degeneration in time.
Discipline
Office clerk: You can do whatever you want, provided that you can shift responsibility from yourself and insure yourself with a bunch of pieces of paper. Formally, clerks arrive on time and wear ties.
Bro: The first remark is verbal, the second is physical, and the team usually doesn’t live to see the third: they go into the life of the working people or simply go in an unknown direction - neither back, nor forward, neither left, nor right, nor up.
Disciplinary action
Office clerk: Reprimand, reprimand again, reprimand again... Promotion! (but this is rare). Usually the player is sent to the bench with such a disgusting vestige of the Soviet era as a work book in his hands.
Bro: The commission consisting of vol. Makarov, Tokarev, Yarygin, Kalashnikov and various foreign persons as the last resort, jury trial as an intermediate one.
Social package
Office clerk: In a normal company, travel, communications, medical insurance, lunches, and a gym. Sometimes it happens. Cheer up, clerk!
Bro: Personal savings (which, as a rule, do not exist) and family assistance collected from everyone who knew you and can spare a couple of rubles. In rare cases, help from a higher authority is usually one-time.
Pension
Office clerk: It is accrued, transferred, and in the end something ends up in your pocket (transport losses, you understand). Entertainment includes dominoes, chess, TV, flatulence.
Bro: I got my ass up and lost my place. You can become a deputy and a billionaire, or you can die in a camp. But more often - the owner of a bar at the bazaar.
Credit
Office clerk: A new degree of slavery, giving the clerk a new understanding of the world, which was not at all desirable for him, and the opportunity to write a book in the spirit of Coelho or Pelevin (and maybe de Sade).
Bro: We come into this world naked, we leave naked, and everything else is done on our own. You can take a loan from some friendly entrepreneur.
Stress level when communicating with clients
Office clerk: Maximum - the customer is always right! By client, of course, we mean the customer, and not the buyer in the store...
Bro: Don't be too nervous at work; Over time, the clients' faces merge into the expressionless gray face of the average victim. At the same time, the client remembers you for a very long time, depending on the type of service - sometimes all his life.
Gym
Office clerk: Again, sometimes it’s included in the social package, sometimes it’s not. Optional, optional. With the exception of the notorious “team building” or the desire to make friends with one of the “colleagues”.
Bro: You should visit unless force majeure circumstances interfere. If circumstances arise every day, you need to be treated: we defeated syphilis, we will defeat drug addiction and alcoholism.
Meetings
Office clerk: Weekly joint killing of time - committed by a group of people by prior conspiracy. With intent. It’s also called “time to play games on your phone.”
Bro: You have to go, otherwise they will fire you (see previous paragraphs). You can combine it with exercise in the gym, or cultural recreation in a restaurant. The police are fighting the meetings by dispersing and detaining all participants.
Corporate events
Office clerk: A most depressing event, with even more strained smiles than usual, drinking alcohol, squeezing into corners - depending on your luck (or your luck).
Bro: As a rule, in your circle + invited girls, followed by fireworks into the air, into a chandelier or at someone who is wrong.
Dismissal
Office clerk: The long-awaited relief from daily doubts - “How do my bosses treat me?” Slamming doors or slamming traffic jams - depending on the situation.
Bro: Very rarely, after reaching retirement age. As a rule, a transition to another social stratum - to prisoners of war, to workers or to masters of life.
Transfer to a competing company
Office clerk: The pleasant grinding of the boss’s teeth - especially if in the new place they promised to pay more and beat you less.
Bro: Often - accelerated retirement, because when moving to a competing company you need to tell all the secrets of the previous one.
Status in society (respect, love of women, self-realization)
Office clerk:“Office plankton” - and that says it all. You can also recall a number of jokes about an unlucky office clerk.
Bro: High, because people are only brothers, and the rest are either food or dogs. The status is unstable, you must always be ready to confirm it, or challenge someone’s status.
Clerk/ … Morphemic-spelling dictionary
- (English clerk from Latin clericus cleric) is a polysemantic term. Profession Clerk in English-speaking countries - employee (clerk, office worker, white collar). In the original and narrower sense, a scribe, an employee,... ... Wikipedia
- (French clerc, from Latin clericus). 1) clergyman. 2) clerk, scribe, clerk. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. CLERK [fr. clerc Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
A; m. [from lat. clericus clergyman] 1. In some countries: office worker. Judge, bank clerk. 2. In medieval England and France: clergyman. * * * clerk (French clerc, from late Latin clericus spiritual person), 1) spiritual... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
clerk- a, m. clerc m., English. clerk lat. clericus clergyman. 1. Clerk, minor official. Clerk. Kurganov 1769. I was engaged in finding possible means to reduce writing and at the same time to facilitate not only clerks and scribes.... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language
Proletarian in a white collar, office worker, clerk, clerk, clerk Dictionary of Russian synonyms. clerk see office worker Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical reference... Synonym dictionary
- (Clerk), Sir Dugald (1854 1932), Scottish engineer. He is the inventor of the Clerk cycle, or two-stroke cycle (see TWO-STROKE ENGINE), which he patented in 1881. Engines of this type are widely used on light motorcycles,... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary
CLERK, clerk, husband. (French clerc). In the West In Europe, an office worker, a clerk, a candidate for the position of a notary or for judicial positions. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
CLERK, huh, husband. In some countries: office worker. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
Books
- Body-building. Strength Exercises and Workout Plans, Clerk R.. Your Personal Trainer! . The book, written by a consultant from Men's Health magazine, will replace you with a personal trainer and tell you how to exercise in the gym and at home! The author’s advice will help you achieve visible…
- Body-building. Strength exercises and training plans. Programs of varying complexity for any level of training, Clerk R.. This book will become your personal mentor! The author, Ray Clark, a consultant for Men's Health magazine and a professional fitness trainer, shares his years of experience on how to significantly improve...
It is enough to go out on the central streets of any city during your lunch break or approach any business center in the morning or evening, and you will see hundreds of men and women who are simply impossible not to recognize in the crowd: all neatly trimmed, all in strict business suits, all in fashionable coats, and, of course, white shirts. And it’s worth paying special attention to the last detail, since it is because of it that they got their name “white collar workers,” or, more simply, office staff, or clerks.
But what distinguishes them is not only their external similarity, but also the goals that they set for themselves. And each of them, and you can be sure of this, is going to at least become a foreign currency millionaire, and at maximum (and every third, if not second of them dreams of this) having risen to the very top, to become one of. But you know, what’s most surprising is that now we can say with full responsibility that not one of them will make their dream come true.
We undertook to say this not because for some subjective reasons we do not like office workers, and not out of envy that they are supposedly luckier in this life than we are. The fact is that the very manner in which white-collar workers are taught to work means that not only will they never achieve success, but they will also never be able to take the initiative to take the next rung of the career ladder without the permission of their superiors.
Without wanting to be accused of bias, we will undertake to explain our point of view to you, with no doubt that after reading this article, you will not only think like us, but also learn something. And we will consider only 5 qualities that every self-respecting clerk prides himself on, and because of which none of them will ever be able to earn their million.
And it is from this desire that every clerk without exception is born. Otherwise, they would not be so similar to each other, explaining this by “the need to comply with the dress code established in their office.” But this can be judged not only by their manner of using the same “slang” words, and not by their manner of communicating with everyone as if they were clerks; they consider everyone who works in offices to be second-class creatures. Pick up a stack of resumes compiled by clerks from different cities of our vast country, and you will be horrified that all of them are a carbon copy. And there you can find “executive”, and “communicative”, and “knowledge of English”, and a lot more, but not what makes every millionaire a millionaire.
A person who has set himself the goal of achieving true success in business must first of all be unlike anyone else. Only by following his own path towards his goal can a person emerge from the general mass of humanity, shining in the sky as a new star, unlike all the others. Because only dissimilarity is not just a guarantee, but also a guarantee that you will definitely achieve success, even if now no one around you believes in it.
2. Robot-level performance
And the clerks are very proud of this. Yes, yes, you can entrust them with the most senseless task from the point of view of healthy logic, and they will gladly take on it, but not in order to do it as best as possible, but only to demonstrate their diligence. Once you approach business with a similar attitude to getting work done, you can safely say that nothing good will come of such an approach.
What distinguishes a millionaire from other people is that they will never waste time, especially on work or things that do not bring any significant results. He will think a thousand times about the end result before he takes on something, and he certainly won’t force someone to do work that doesn’t bring results just because that was his decision.
3. Promotion in small steps
Every clerk knows that you can build a career only if you move towards your goal in small steps. All the books that talk about how to become a real clerk are written about this. That is why white-collar workers are accustomed to setting small goals and small tasks for themselves, and, having not achieved them, do not even try to think about the next ones.
A millionaire cares about only one goal - the main and final one. Only he puts it differently than you and I. We say, “I want to earn one million by the end of the year,” but he asks himself the question: “How can I earn a million dollars by the end of the year?”
This is the goal - to find out the answer to the question “how?”, because having learned it, a millionaire, unlike us, will actually become much richer by the end of the year. Well, everything that separates him from the final result - small steps and small goals - is insignificant for him. And that is why a millionaire always has complete freedom of maneuver and the opportunity to reconsider his strategy at any necessary moment, while people who move only in small steps do not have such freedom.
4. Innate sense of hierarchy
Moreover, clerks are slaves to hierarchy. That is why they are always respectful to those who are above them on the corporate ladder, and can never be respectful to someone who occupies a position lower than them. Moreover, they evaluate themselves from exactly the same positions, and therefore do not demand respect from employees occupying more important positions in their company, but they will never forgive disrespect from those who are under their command.
A person with the spirit of a true millionaire is distinguished, first of all, by the fact that they do not look at ranks and regalia. If they can learn at least something worthwhile from someone, they do it without hesitation; if someone can suggest an idea that will bring profit, he will boldly use it, paying (ideally) the author of the idea the percentage due in such cases .
And also - and this is evidenced by the biographies of everyone who built their own business empires - a real millionaire and billionaire treats with equal respect everyone who works for him or with him, from the office cleaner to the president of the country or the chairman of the board of any international bank .
5. Inability to take risks
Well, this is the most important quality of all those we have already listed, because the ability to take risks is the most important in any business, especially in one that brings in millions and billions. “But I can... I’m ready to take risks!..” - every clerk will tell us, but we will immediately answer: no. And let’s take statistics to confirm that we are right. And she says: 98% of clerks are not satisfied with their work, but prefer not to quit it in the hope that someday, when they themselves become managers and bosses, everything will change.
A millionaire takes risks everywhere and always. No, he does not jump from rooftop to rooftop and does not go bare-handed against a crowd of racketeers (although many businessmen in the 90s largely survived only thanks to such skills). It’s just that a millionaire will never do something that doesn’t give him pleasure.
Investing money even in a project that obviously promises profit, he still risks losing everything, not to mention investments in those areas in which the millionaire, thanks to his innate dissimilarity from everyone else, is trying to do something that no one has ever done before , and therefore there is no way to even predict how this project, which is not similar to “standard investment schemes,” will end.
So if you are ever asked, “Can an office clerk turn into a billionaire? “Yes”, “No””, asking you to cross out what is unnecessary, you will be able to answer this question without difficulty.
But first we want to ask you personally: do you have qualities that we did not find in the office clerks discussed above? Yes? In this case, know that you have every chance of achieving it in the very near future, and they are estimated at approximately 80-90%, where 10-20% is an adjustment for your innate laziness. Namely, we can explain by the presence of laziness that at the moment you are spending time reading this article, and not making big and very big money.