Office Clerk: Job Profile and Role

Do you like to be in charge of admin work? Are filing, documenting, and making arrangements some of your favourite pastimes? Do you furthermore consider yourself a people person who loves communicating and interacting with others? If your answer to these questions is a huge and resounding “Yes!”, you may find your perfect job in the following blog: the job of an office clerk.

In the following sections, you will find out how to become an office clerk in the UK, what competencies your employers expect, who your employers can be, and what they will likely pay you each year. You will also find out what trajectory your career can take, how you can contribute to thriving as an office clerk, and what your working day can look like.

Short Summary

• As an office clerk, you are in charge of the general office management. This can include working office machines, handling incoming and outgoing calls, and taking care of other communication.
• As an office clerk, you handle customer queries, hand out information, and deal with potential customer issues and complaints.
• As an office clerk, you are responsible for ordering and managing supplies, thus ensuring that your office has all it needs for daily business.

Job description

Being an office clerk means you are pretty much a Jack/Jane of all trades. You deal with a multitude of daily or regular tasks which span from handling all incoming and outgoing correspondence to the general office management, managing databases, taking minutes, and making business and travel arrangements. Depending on your exact job, you can be in charge of accountancy, legal aspects, and supporting HR in recruiting and assessing new staff. Being an office clerk furthermore means direct contact with customers where you give out information and deal with customer queries, complaints, and other feedback.

Responsibilities

• Ordering/Managing Supplies
• General Office Management
• Operating Office Machines
• Handling Correspondence
• Answer Customer Queries
• Sorting/Distributing Mail
• Managing Databases
• Meeting Coordination
• Travel Arrangements
• Maintaining Records

Different types of Office Clerks

• Administrative Clerk
• Purchasing Clerk
• Database Clerk
• Library Clerk
• Receptionist

Salary

In the UK, your annual salary as an office clerk can range from ￡19,000 to ￡26,000, with an average base salary of around ￡22,000. Keep in mind that the first two numbers given refer to your starting and work experience salary, respectively. Also, be aware of further salary-affecting factors, among which are your employer and the location. Currently, the average base salary for office clerks tends to be considerably higher in Scotland. In England, you can expect higher annual wages in the North.

Working hours

Your typical working hours will range from 35 to 40 hours per week. The job of an office clerk tends to be a 9 to 5 job, Monday through Friday. Nevertheless, you may have to work both evenings and weekends which mainly depends on your work contract and potential peak times. You should check whether your future employer offers the option of remote work since this can give you some flexibility over your working hours – in short, it can limit the time spent on commuting from your home to your office.

Employers

You can find employment in any business or company that has offices and is, therefore, in need of an office clerk. Since your job options are very varied, you first need to ensure that your future employer meets your personal values and interests – this is a sure way to enjoy and thrive in your job. For now, here are some options for you where you may find your perfect office clerk job: government agencies, consulting businesses, healthcare, educational, and nonprofit organisations like charities.

Qualifications

In the UK, you can become an office clerk through different educational approaches – or no educational approach at all. Typically, most office clerks have completed either a college course or an apprenticeship, and an undergraduate degree is also an option. If you want to pursue your career through one of these options, you generally need GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D) for a college course or at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) for an apprenticeship or a university course. 

Your GCSEs should include maths, English, and information technology. A-Levels tend to be an alternative entry qualification. Since you will be working digitally a lot of the time, you should be familiar with office software, ranging from Microsoft Office to communication, accounting, and project management tools like Slack, Asana, and QuickBooks.

Skills

IT skills are one competency you need when working in an office. Communication and writing skills will also not go amiss since you will spend a lot of time talking and answering people. Naturally, the exact skills needed will be detailed in the job posts you are applying to – which is why you must always check them. However, we are almost 100 per cent sure that the following three competencies will be among those needed when applying for an office clerk position.

Discretion and Confidentiality

Being an office clerk means that you deal with a lot of private and sensitive information, be it through making travel arrangements or sitting in on meetings and taking minutes. No employer will appreciate you leaking this information to friends, colleagues, or even the competition. This is why you must be a very discreet confidante to the person you are working for – anything else not only potentially ruins your reputation, it can also cost you your job and positive references for alternative employment.

Bargain Ability

One part of your job is to handle travel arrangements for your superior. Even though you can argue that any accruing costs will be covered by a budget and expenses, you should still find the odd bargain. After all, even first-class flying, five-star hotels, and excellent dining can be booked at reasonable prices. If you have a nose for these bargains, you are one step closer to climbing to the top of the office clerk career ladder.

Empathy

Since you deal with your employer’s personal things, you know exactly what he or she expects, needs, and wants. This can also result in you becoming your employer’s confidante, meaning that you are one of the only people he or she trusts. This role requires strong empathy from you to understand your superior at all times and to deal with any request in a sympathetic and also effective manner.

Career Path

Starting with your entry-level job, for example, as an office assistant or admin assistant, you can progress to more senior roles which could still be referred to as an assistant – albeit, a senior one. Other career opportunities that can be available to you are manager jobs, such as the job of an office manager – and even executive roles can be within your reach after several years of working in office administration.

Educational Background

An academic background is not mandatory but can benefit you short and long term. A lot of employers are impressed by undergraduate and postgraduate degrees since they show a high level of commitment, ambition, and research qualities – all things you will need to perform your daily tasks admirably. Then again, you can also benefit from doing a business administrator advanced apprenticeship where you gain first work experience during your training. A college course in business administration (office work) could also work for you.

Entry Level

Entry-level positions are a requirement when starting a job – this means that your first office clerk job will be just such a position. You may start as an administration assistant, a trainee receptionist, or an office assistant. After you have excelled in this job for about a year, you can discuss possible promotions to more senior roles or other departments with your employer and Human Resources.

Continuous Learning

Whatever your educational approach is, never forget that learning for your position does not stop with a degree or a certification. We are sure that thriving in the job of an office clerk is something that you are interested in. Besides earning various Microsoft certifications, such as Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) or Microsoft Office Specialised Master, you can look into doing a postgraduate degree, for example, a Master’s degree in business management. Further beneficial options are the OCR Level 2 Certificate in Administration (Business Professional), the City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma in Business Administration, and the AAT Foundation Certificate in Accounting.

A Day in the Life of an Office Clerk

Will you be asked to provide your boss with coffee? Possibly – even when you are not working as an office assistant. Will you be checking inboxes continuously? Definitely – since you are handling all incoming and outgoing correspondence. But do not fret – there is way more to a day in the life of an office clerk than these two tasks. Let’s take a look at three of those tasks that you perform daily or regularly.

Project/Event Support

Your company may be working on projects and events regularly. Albeit the planning and conducting of said projects and events does not tend to be your main responsibility, you may be drafted in from time to time to help other departments with organisational aspects. This can include providing important information and materials and preparing reports and other needed documentation.

Making Arrangements

As an office clerk, you handle all sorts of arrangements, which is why making and booking them will fall under your daily tasks. Be it a business lunch or dinner, a business trip (or even a private one, that is also possible) or booking an event venue – these things are all on your list of responsibilities and priorities. Here, your aforementioned bargain skills will come in very handy, together with organisational and planning skills.

Troubleshooting

You may have a perfect schedule and plan set up which, unfortunately, does not always mean that everything will keep to it. This means that unforeseen appointments, disruptions, IT breakdowns, and interpersonal conflicts can ruin all your planning and scheduling. Here, you need to become the perfect troubleshooter who has a Plan B in place to deal with any unforeseen issue. Ideally, you will not be asked to perform in this role daily but only very, very occasionally. 

Tips for Thriving as an Office Clerk

You have already looked into further training, qualifications, and certifications? Excellent – you are at least one step ahead of your competition and at least one step closer to getting to the next stop on your career ladder. In this section, you find three more tips that help you achieve whatever goals you have set for yourself in the profession of an office clerk:

• Skills improvement
• Going the extra mile
• Boundaries

Skills Improvement

Never mind that you excel at any needed skill already – please keep on improving them since this is a sure way to thrive as an office clerk. Research new methods to better your communication, and do further training and workshops when it comes to adaptability, stress resilience, attention to detail, empathy, and mindfulness. This list could be continued almost indefinitely and is, for now, a good start if you want to thrive in your job.

Going the Extra Mile

A lot of employees regard their jobs as an almost annoying necessity that is a means to pay the bills. Those employees tend to just do the jobs they are asked to do. This is all well and good but it is not the way forward when higher career ambitions are also at play. If you want to thrive and advance, it will not hurt to go the extra mile, even if it is just the cliché coffee that you prepare for your boss. Taking extra attention and care shows that you are serious and passionate about your job. Which better way to improve your career chances?

Boundaries

We can tell you one better way that should go hand in hand with going the extra mile: having boundaries. You can be both passionate and serious about your job and say “no” every once in a while. Knowing when and how to use this tiny but oh-so-important word helps you thrive. It shows that you have a backbone and are not a pushover. And this is a quality professional bosses will value, believe us.

Take Breaks to Thrive

By this, we do not mean that you should stop implementing our tips. We mean that you need to take breaks in between tasks to thrive. Office clerks tend to spend most of their working time in front of a computer, therefore, in a sitting position. What may sound comfortable can quickly turn into the opposite. Cold feet and hands, tense shoulders, and a cricked neck can be the payback of a day spent without moving. To avoid this, you need to go for a walk around the block or try to squeeze in the odd yoga session or massage. Your body, your mind,, and your job will thank you for it.

Frequently Asked Questions