Top 12 General Clerk Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's competitive job market, standing out as a general clerk means showing a tight mix of practical skills that prove you’re fast, accurate, and organized. Highlighting the right abilities can lift your resume and nudge hiring managers to picture you smoothing out the daily rush without breaking stride.

General Clerk Skills

1. Typing Speed
2. Microsoft Excel
3. Data Entry
4. QuickBooks
5. Customer Service
6. Filing Systems
7. Google Workspace
8. SAP Software
9. Multitasking
10. Proofreading
11. Scheduling
12. Adobe Acrobat

1. Typing Speed

Typing speed, in the context of a General Clerk, refers to the number of words per minute (WPM) typed accurately. It powers data entry, documentation, and communication—quietly but decisively accelerating your day.

Why It's Important

Faster, more accurate typing shortens turnaround times for emails, forms, spreadsheets, and records. Less waiting. Fewer errors. More done.

How to Improve Typing Speed Skills

Build speed the steady way—muscle memory and consistency.

1. Learn touch typing: Home row, correct finger placement, no peeking.

2. Practice daily: Short, focused sessions. Track WPM and accuracy.

3. Fix your posture: Neutral wrists, elbows at your side, screen at eye level.

4. Use typing drills or games: Make it engaging to keep momentum.

5. Set targets: Incremental goals—accuracy first, speed second.

Progress compounds. Keep at it.

How to Display Typing Speed Skills on Your Resume

2. Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet tool for organizing, analyzing, and reporting data. For clerks, it’s the engine behind lists, logs, trackers, budgets, and tidy reports.

Why It's Important

It streamlines recordkeeping, turns raw entries into insights, and standardizes workflows across teams. Clarity in cells, order in your day.

How to Improve Microsoft Excel Skills

1. Master core formulas: SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MIN/MAX, IF, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, TEXT functions.

2. Speed with shortcuts: Navigation, selection, fill, formatting—time saved adds up fast.

3. Use PivotTables: Summarize large datasets without breaking a sweat.

4. Visualize data: Clean charts, sparklines, conditional formatting for instant readability.

5. Clean data: Remove duplicates, split/trim text, data validation for error-proof entry.

6. Certify: Consider the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS): Excel credential to validate skills.

How to Display Microsoft Excel Skills on Your Resume

3. Data Entry

Data entry means capturing, updating, and maintaining information in systems or databases—accurately, consistently, and with a careful eye.

Why It's Important

Reliable data fuels everything else: reporting, audits, customer service, compliance. If the inputs are clean, the outputs make sense.

How to Improve Data Entry Skills

1. Touch type: Raise speed and accuracy to reduce rework.

2. Know your tools: Excel, Google Sheets, and form builders—templates, validations, and protections.

3. Double-check: Spot-check entries, use read-backs, and reconcile totals routinely.

4. Shortcuts and automation: Keyboard shortcuts, autofill, and basic macros for repetitive tasks.

5. Ergonomics: Comfortable setup reduces fatigue and errors over long stretches.

6. Work in intervals: Focus blocks (e.g., Pomodoro) to keep accuracy sharp.

How to Display Data Entry Skills on Your Resume

4. QuickBooks

QuickBooks is accounting software for tracking income and expenses, invoices, bills, bank feeds, payroll, and financial reports. Clerks often keep transactions tidy and up to date.

Why It's Important

It centralizes money matters, reduces bookkeeping errors, and speeds up monthly closes. Less guesswork, more confidence in the numbers.

How to Improve QuickBooks Skills

1. Customize setup: Chart of accounts, products/services, terms, and forms aligned to your workflows.

2. Maintain the file: Reconcile frequently, merge duplicates, archive closed items, and use the Condense Data tool or equivalent when appropriate.

3. Streamline entry: Bank rules, recurring transactions, batch actions, and memorized entries.

4. Use integrations: Connect timesheets, payments, or inventory tools to cut manual work.

5. Report smart: Build custom reports and memorized report groups for scheduled delivery.

6. Keep learning: Explore product updates and training modules; consider a recognized QuickBooks certification.

How to Display QuickBooks Skills on Your Resume

5. Customer Service

Customer service is support before, during, and after a purchase—answering questions, solving problems, and keeping communication clear and kind.

Why It's Important

It builds trust, keeps customers returning, and protects the company’s reputation. One good interaction can do a lot of quiet marketing.

How to Improve Customer Service Skills

1. Active listening: Let customers finish, mirror back what you heard, confirm next steps.

2. Clear communication: Simple language, no jargon, precise timelines.

3. Know your products and processes: Confidence reduces handoffs and speeds resolutions.

4. Solve, don’t stall: Triage quickly, escalate when needed, and follow through.

5. Empathy and patience: Stay calm, validate concerns, and keep the tone steady.

6. Collect feedback: Short surveys, quick check-ins, and visible improvements close the loop.

How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume

6. Filing Systems

Filing systems are structured methods to store and retrieve records—paper or digital—so information is findable, secure, and current.

Why It's Important

Good systems shrink search time, reduce risk, and keep audits from becoming firefights. Everything in its place, when you need it.

How to Improve Filing Systems Skills

1. Audit first: Identify redundancies, outdated files, and gaps in labels or metadata.

2. Standardize: Clear naming conventions, version control, and folder taxonomies everyone follows.

3. Digitize: Scan paper, apply OCR where useful, and store with consistent metadata.

4. Use document management tools: Permissions, retention rules, and search that actually finds things.

5. Maintain: Scheduled cleanups and disposition per retention policies.

6. Train the team: Short guides and quick refreshers to keep usage consistent.

How to Display Filing Systems Skills on Your Resume

7. Google Workspace

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) bundles Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, Meet, and more—cloud-first, collaboration-forward.

Why It's Important

It keeps documents live, schedules synced, and teams aligned without version confusion. Work moves faster when everyone’s in the same place.

How to Improve Google Suite Skills

1. Docs: Styles, headings, comments, suggestions, and templates for consistency.

2. Sheets: Functions, filters, pivot tables, and protected ranges for clean collaboration.

3. Drive: Shared drives, granular permissions, and naming standards.

4. Forms: Data collection with validations and automatic Sheets outputs.

5. Calendar: Color-coding, time blocking, shared calendars, and smart scheduling.

6. Meet: Agendas, recordings (if enabled), captions, and follow-up notes.

How to Display Google Suite Skills on Your Resume

8. SAP Software

SAP is an enterprise resource planning platform that connects finance, procurement, HR, sales, and inventory in one system. Clerks use it to enter transactions, check statuses, and keep records aligned.

Why It's Important

It reduces manual handoffs, boosts accuracy, and gives real-time visibility across processes. One source of truth beats scattered spreadsheets.

How to Improve SAP Software Skills

1. Simplify the interface: Use SAP Fiori apps where available for cleaner, role-based screens.

2. Tailor workflows: Leverage available customization to surface the fields and steps you use most.

3. Automate repetitive work: Apply business rules and automation to cut clicks and keystrokes.

4. Invest in training: Role-specific learning paths and sandboxes accelerate confidence.

5. Integrate systems: Connect SAP with other tools to reduce duplicate entry and lookup time.

How to Display SAP Software Skills on Your Resume

9. Multitasking

Multitasking for a General Clerk means balancing calls, messages, filing, entries, and scheduling—without losing the thread.

Why It's Important

Offices move quickly. Being able to switch contexts smoothly keeps queues short and operations steady.

How to Improve Multitasking Skills

1. Organize visually: Use simple task boards or lists (e.g., Trello, Asana) to see priorities at a glance.

2. Prioritize with intent: Apply the Eisenhower Matrix—urgent vs. important—to decide what happens first.

3. Automate small stuff: Connect apps and set rules to remove repetitive steps (e.g., automation platforms).

4. Time blocking: Short focus sprints for deep work, buffer time for interruptions.

5. Sharpen skills: Short courses on time management and productivity can pay off fast.

How to Display Multitasking Skills on Your Resume

10. Proofreading

Proofreading is the final sweep for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting before documents go out the door.

Why It's Important

It preserves clarity and credibility. Mistakes in invoices, memos, or reports can cost time—or worse.

How to Improve Proofreading Skills

1. Read daily: Exposure sharpens instinct for correct usage and style.

2. Know common pitfalls: Homophones, subject–verb agreement, dates, numbers, and names.

3. Use tools wisely: Grammar and style checkers help, but your eyes make the final call.

4. Read aloud: You’ll catch rhythm glitches and missing words.

5. Take a break: Distance helps you see what’s actually written, not what you intended.

6. One pass per issue: Spelling on one pass, formatting on another, hyperlinks and numbers on a third.

7. Ask for a second set of eyes: Peer review uncovers blind spots.

How to Display Proofreading Skills on Your Resume

11. Scheduling

Scheduling means allocating time, resources, and people to tasks and appointments—so deadlines are met and days don’t trip over themselves.

Why It's Important

It keeps priorities in order, prevents conflicts, and makes workload visible. Predictability is a productivity booster.

How to Improve Scheduling Skills

1. Go digital: Use shared calendars (e.g., Google Calendar, Outlook) for visibility and reminders.

2. Prioritize: Apply the Eisenhower Matrix to protect time for important work.

3. Set real deadlines: Assign owners and due dates—every time.

4. Leave buffers: Space between meetings and tasks to absorb overrun.

5. Review and adjust: Weekly reviews to re-sequence based on changes.

How to Display Scheduling Skills on Your Resume

12. Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat handles PDF creation, editing, form building, commenting, redaction, and secure sharing.

Why It's Important

PDFs are the common language for finalized documents. Acrobat makes them editable when needed and locked down when required.

How to Improve Adobe Acrobat Skills

1. Organize pages: Merge, split, rotate, extract, and reorder without damaging layout.

2. Edit confidently: Tweak text, images, and links; preserve fonts and formatting.

3. Build forms: Create fillable fields, dropdowns, calculations, and submission actions.

4. Secure documents: Apply passwords, permissions, certificates, and precise redactions.

5. Ensure accessibility: Tags, reading order, alt text, and contrast for inclusive files.

How to Display Adobe Acrobat Skills on Your Resume