A clerical worker provides basic administrative support to an individual, a team or a department of a company. Typical work activities include:
Clerical Duties and Skills
Clerical jobs for beginners essentially consist of secretarial duties as there are several basic skills required to perform clerical jobs effectively. Following are some of the essential clerical duties and skills which form the main aspect of clerical job description.
Good Communication
A clerk is normally expected to be good at business communication skills. He/she should have good written and verbal skills. It’s important as majority of the organizations allot the job of managing the reception counter to the clerks. In an organization, they are expected to make and receive calls as well as direct calls to the respective establishment. In case the concerned person is busy or absent, they are required to take the message on his/her behalf and need to pass this message across the concerned person. Their work also involves drafting and sending professional letters and emails for official communication.
Computer and Software Knowledge
Every organization or industry requires special software that could make their work easy. There are some companies which possess special industry linked software and also have software for internal communication. In such a situation, a clerk should be able to learn this software swiftly and must be good at using any software. Numerous companies provide training to their staff to learn specific software, while in some companies it’s obligatory for the applying applicants to be well versed in specific software. A clerk must be good at photocopying, typing, faxing and scanning, etc.
Data Management
A clerk must be an excellent organizer as filing the documents neatly and regularly is one of the important clerical duties. Organizations are supposed to send and receive quite a few letters, reports, notices, etc., which need to be documented in an appropriate way for future reference. A clerk is also expected to check the documents, correspondence letter and annual reports, etc. before distributing them to avoid any errors in the course of communication.
Planning
A clerk in some organizations is also expected to make travel or hotel bookings for the guests. They are also given the job of scheduling meetings, arranging transport, booking meeting venues, arranging and booking venues for conferences, etc. For doing this, a clerk must have excellent organizational skills at work. In different companies, there are a number of names for clerical positions and office assistant duties such as receptionist, front desk assistant and customer executive, etc., but the nature of clerical work is nearly similar. Usually, a clerical job requires merely a high school diploma as a basic qualification. From the above job description, it’s obvious that the clerical job is the back bone of the company administration and no one can afford to dent its importance.