What the job looks like in practice
The official occupation name is general office clerks (occupation code 43-9061), and the word "general" is the point. The duties are too varied to fit a single clerical specialty. Job ads use titles such as office assistant, administrative clerk, clerical assistant, general clerk and office support assistant for the same role. In a small office, one clerk may do everything: phones, mail, filing, typing, billing and data entry. In a large organization, the clerk often settles into a narrower routine around one system or department, but still picks up whatever the office needs that day.
The common thread is people and accuracy. Among office clerks, 93% have telephone conversations every day, 89% use email every day, 82% are in constant contact with others, and 77% say being exact or accurate is extremely important. If you dislike interruptions or detail work, this is the wrong job.
How the job differs by employer
General office clerks hold about 2.6 million jobs, spread over nearly every industry. The largest employers are educational services (14%), healthcare and social assistance (11%), construction (10%), government (10%) and professional, scientific and technical services (8%).
The setting changes the work and the software. In schools and colleges, clerks deal with students, parents and application paperwork, and the year follows the academic calendar. In hospitals and clinics, they file and retrieve medical records and may use systems such as MEDITECH or Dentrix. In construction, the paperwork is timesheets, delivery tickets, invoices and project documents. Property management firms use tools like Yardi, and larger employers run ERP systems such as SAP or Oracle PeopleSoft.
Pay: what the numbers say
The median annual wage for general office clerks is $45,010, or $21.64 an hour. The middle half earned between $36,350 and $54,300. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $30,310 and the top 10% more than $64,680. Official wage data are not broken down by years of experience, so be careful with "entry-level salary" figures you see elsewhere.
Location matters. California has the most jobs (311,490) and a median of $48,460. Texas has 218,470 jobs but a median of only $39,000, and its lowest-paid 10% earned less than $24,570. Florida (189,700 jobs, median $44,450), New York (134,280 jobs, median $45,890) and Pennsylvania (107,500 jobs, median $44,950) sit close to the national figure. The highest medians are in the District of Columbia ($55,040), Colorado ($53,550) and Alaska ($51,890).
What employers look for on a resume
Because the entry bar is low, the competition is about reliability and software skills. Show that you can type and format documents, work in spreadsheets, handle a busy phone line and keep records straight. If you have used a specific system employers in your area rely on, such as an electronic health record, a school information system or an accounting program, name it. Customer-facing experience from retail or food service also counts, because it proves you can stay polite with the public. College courses or an associate degree are not required, but some clerks have them, and they help when you aim for administrative or bookkeeping roles later.
Expect the hiring process to test the basics directly. Some employers ask candidates to type a short document, fill in a spreadsheet or sort a set of records during the interview, and they listen closely to how you speak on the phone. Accuracy beats speed: a clerk who checks figures and spelling before sending anything out is worth more to an office than one who types fast and creates rework.
The honest downsides
This is a shrinking occupation. Employment is projected to fall 6% over the next decade, a loss of about 156,200 jobs, because automated phone systems, document tools, electronic filing and file-sharing software let other staff do work that used to need a clerk. About 249,000 openings a year will still appear, but all of them come from people leaving the job, not from growth. Pay is modest, part-time positions often come with few benefits, and the work can be repetitive. The way to protect yourself is to treat the job as a starting point: learn the systems, take on billing or records responsibility, and move toward secretary or administrative assistant roles, the typical advancement path, and later toward office manager.