Secretary to office clerk
A secretary already meets 52% of what the office clerk role asks for. The move turns on 11 required skills not yet in the profile.
55.5/ 100
1 How much of what an office clerk is expected to do is already part of a secretary’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the office clerk role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.
Why this move works
An office clerk role treats 15 of its required skills as things a secretary already does. You would walk in with these on day one.
- communicate by telephone
- company policies
- deliver correspondence
- disseminate internal communications
- disseminate messages to people
- file documents
What stands in the way is 11 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.
Table 2 · What you already bring
Of the 22 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. An office clerk role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a secretary background worth leading with.
- already held monitor staff absences information skills
- already held use personal organization software working with computers
- already held organise facilities for office personnel management skills
- already held draft corporate emails communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held file documents information skills
- already held fill out forms information skills
All 22 carried skills, including the 15 the office clerk role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you may need to learn
The 26 missing skills fall into 9 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.
- still to learn align content with form required
- still to learn apply grammar and spelling rules required
- still to learn communicate with customers required
- still to learn use different communication channels required
- optional, not held communicate with customer service department optional
- still to learn facilitate access to information required
- still to learn maintain correspondence records required
- still to learn process data required
- optional, not held manage digital archives optional
- optional, not held ensure proper document management optional
- optional, not held keep records of customer interaction optional
- optional, not held maintain inventory of office supplies optional
- optional, not held translate keywords into full texts optional
- still to learn route correspondence to business departments required
- still to learn handle delivered packages required
- optional, not held perform cleaning duties optional
- still to learn prepare correspondence for customers required
- optional, not held process customer orders optional
- optional, not held use free typing techniques optional
- still to learn information confidentiality required
- optional, not held respect data protection principles optional
- optional, not held serve beverages optional
3 further areas in the appendix
Table 4 · Where to start
The 3 entries an office clerk role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.
- 01 route correspondence to business departments practise this
- 02 facilitate access to information practise this
- 03 information confidentiality study this
Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.
Appendix · The rest of the record
All 22 skills that carry over
- already held communicate by telephone skill
- already held company policies knowledge
- already held deliver correspondence skill
- already held disseminate internal communications skill
- already held disseminate messages to people skill
- already held file documents skill
- already held fill out forms skill
- already held handle mail skill
- already held manage digital documents skill
- already held organise business documents skill
- already held organise facilities for office personnel skill
- already held perform office routine activities skill
- already held process commissioned instructions skill
- already held use office systems skill
- already held use spreadsheets software skill
- already held accounting techniques knowledge
- already held draft corporate emails skill
- already held issue sales invoices skill
- already held maintain internal communication systems skill
- already held monitor staff absences skill
- already held use microsoft office skill
- already held use personal organization software skill
The 3 learning areas not shown above
- optional, not held digitise documents optional
- optional, not held use software for data preservation optional
- optional, not held transcription methods optional
- optional, not held document sharing procedures optional
15 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held communicate with customer service department optional
- optional, not held manage digital archives optional
- optional, not held respect data protection principles optional
- optional, not held serve beverages optional
- optional, not held digitise documents optional
- optional, not held document sharing procedures optional
- optional, not held ensure proper document management optional
- optional, not held keep records of customer interaction optional
- optional, not held maintain inventory of office supplies optional
- optional, not held perform cleaning duties optional
- optional, not held process customer orders optional
- optional, not held transcription methods optional
- optional, not held translate keywords into full texts optional
- optional, not held use free typing techniques optional
- optional, not held use software for data preservation optional
21 held skills the office clerk role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role administer appointments skill
- not needed by the target role communicate schedules to the people concerned skill
- not needed by the target role demonstrate professional attitude to clients skill
- not needed by the target role develop documentation in accordance with legal requirements skill
- not needed by the target role education administration knowledge
- not needed by the target role education law knowledge
- not needed by the target role handle financial transactions skill
- not needed by the target role handle petty cash skill
- not needed by the target role keep task records skill
- not needed by the target role labour law knowledge
- not needed by the target role liaise with typists skill
- not needed by the target role manage accounts skill
- not needed by the target role manage budgets skill
- not needed by the target role manage needs for stationery items skill
- not needed by the target role manage online content skill
- not needed by the target role manage personnel agenda skill
- not needed by the target role organise travel arrangements for staff skill
- not needed by the target role place orders for printed paper goods skill
- not needed by the target role prepare presentation material skill
- not needed by the target role use word processing software skill
- not needed by the target role write meeting reports skill
3 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice
Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.
- still to learn information confidentiality required
- optional, not held document sharing procedures optional
- optional, not held transcription methods optional
Common questions about this move
Can a secretary become an office clerk?
Yes, and it is a substantial move. A secretary already covers 52% of what an office clerk is expected to do: 22 skills carry over, 15 of which the office clerk role treats as required.
What skills does a secretary need to become an office clerk?
11 required skills are missing, plus 15 optional ones. They fall into 9 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by communication, collaboration and creativity. The single most important is route correspondence to business departments.
How hard is the move from secretary to office clerk?
Its learning distance is 55.5 out of 100, which is the substantial band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.
How this record was compiled
Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.