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File Clerks
File correspondence, cards, invoices, receipts, and other records in alphabetical or numerical order or according to the filing system used. Locate and remove material from file when requested.
Also Known As:
Claims Clerk
Clerk
Clerk Typist
Documentation Specialist
File Clerk
Medical Records Clerk
Office Assistant
Police Records Clerk
Records Clerk
Records Custodian
Wages
Annual wages for File Clerks in United States
Job Outlook
Below Average
New job opportunities are less likely in the future
United States
2034 Projected Employment
70,900
-16% Change From 2024
Explore File Clerks video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Track materials removed from files to ensure that borrowed files are returned.
- Perform general office activities, such as typing, answering telephones, operating office machines, processing mail, or securing confidential materials.
- Keep records of materials filed or removed, using logbooks or computers and generate computerized reports.
- Perform general office activities, such as typing, answering telephones, operating office machines, processing mail, or securing confidential materials.
- Add new material to file records or create new records as necessary.
- Assign and record or stamp identification numbers or codes to index materials for filing.
- Perform general office activities, such as typing, answering telephones, operating office machines, processing mail, or securing confidential materials.
- Complete general financial activities, such as processing accounts payable, reviewing invoices, collecting cash payments, or issuing receipts.
- Eliminate outdated or unnecessary materials, destroying them or transferring them to inactive storage, according to file maintenance guidelines or legal requirements.
- Perform periodic inspections of materials or files to ensure correct placement, legibility, or proper condition.
- Gather materials to be filed from departments or employees.
- Find, retrieve, and make copies of information from files in response to requests and deliver information to authorized users.
- Modify or improve filing systems or implement new filing systems.
- Scan or read incoming materials to determine how and where they should be classified or filed.
- Input data, such as file numbers, new or updated information, or document information codes into computer systems to support document and information retrieval.
- Design forms related to filing systems.
- Find, retrieve, and make copies of information from files in response to requests and deliver information to authorized users.
- Place materials into storage receptacles, such as file cabinets, boxes, bins, or drawers, according to classification and identification information.
- Answer questions about records or files.
- Sort or classify information according to guidelines, such as content, purpose, user criteria, or chronological, alphabetical, or numerical order.
- Operate mechanized files that rotate to bring needed records to a particular location.
- Retrieve documents stored in microfilm or microfiche and place them in viewers for reading.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
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Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")