Organizations rely on documents to record agreements, plans, discussions and business activities. Lost or misplaced documents can paralyze the entity’s operations or even the entity itself. The document control clerk has the task of preventing the lost productivity, confusion and inaccuracies that arise from lost, illegible or erroneous records. The following document control clerk job description explains that this type of worker must exercise attention, care and a certain technological acumen to preserve the organization’s records.
What Does a Document Control Clerk Do?
Document control clerks promote the efficient operation of work places through an organized handling of organizational records. These workers must read and scrutinize documents to ensure they are prepared correctly and placed in the appropriate file. The job description also entails the ability to harness technology to store, manage, preserve and transmit documents, some of those large.
Document Control Job Responsibilities – Resume
- Create files according to project, subject or other criteria as set by organizational policy
- Review files for duplicate, missing and incomplete documents
- Determine accuracy and compliance with organizational standards of incoming and outgoing documents
- Examine legibility and accuracy of documents before distribution to recipients
- Arrange documents in files by date or time or other sequence
- Maintain registry of documents received by organization, including correspondence, notices, contracts, invoices, plans and revisions
- Scan and archive records
- Store records, including items received by mail, scanned and emailed, onto discs, storage drives and cloud-based systems
- Monitor level of supplies in mailroom
- Report breaches in computer, storage system or mailroom security
- Prepare records as needed or directed by supervisors
Document Control Clerk Essential Skills
Computer. The duties of a document control clerk require the ability to use portable document file (pdf) programs, word processors, databases, PowerPoint and spreadsheets. Skills with computers include cloud-based storage, using emails, compressing large computer files and assembling large quantities of records in a manner to be delivered or accessed by recipients.
Detail-oriented. The job description of a document control clerk involves tasks that require attention to details. Clerks must be able to catch inaccuracies, misspellings, absent signatures and other errors in plans, billing statements, correspondence and other documents coming into or especially leaving the organization.
Grammar. To properly prepare and proofread documents, document control clerks should have skills in following rules on capitalization, punctuation, subject-verb agreement and other grammatical conventions.
Organization. Document control clerks must be able to sequence and order records in files by date, subject or other criteria. Organization skills are necessary to accurately and completely maintain registries of inbound or outbound documents and label files.
Typing. Skills in typing documents accurately and quickly are necessary to help organizations meet deadlines, comply with regulations concerning certain records and get correspondence and messages to recipients promptly. Document control clerks must be able to type a certain number of words per minute, depending on the particular employer.
Becoming a Document Control Clerk
Typically, document control clerks do not have formal education or training in the field. However, a combination of courses and experience that focus on the essential skills and work setting can help those applying for these positions.
Education and Training
Employers generally require candidates for document control clerk jobs to be high school graduates. Classes in typing and the use of word processors and other computer applications can afford a background in some of the duties and skills.
Beyond high school, community college courses may afford classes in typing and computer skills, especially where an applicant did not take these in high school. Community colleges may award certificates or associate degrees for office assistant, office technology or business technology. Such programs may cover topics such as document formatting, keyboarding, word processing, Microsoft Outlook, spreadsheets and business grammar or proofreading.
Post-secondary programs may tailor office skills to particular office environments, such as medical or legal.
Work Experience
Employers generally seek applicants with prior experience in an office setting. Positions as receptionists, general office clerks and work in mail rooms afford background for document management duties.
For offices or establishments in a specialized field, document control clerks should have a work history in that setting. For example, hospitals may prefer clerks who have served in a medical or health field in order to understand the vocabulary of health care and health insurance and help the facility comply with privacy or record keeping regulations. Clerks in pharmaceutical companies may need experience in the industry from jobs such as working in a retail pharmacy store, pharmacy wing of a hospital or a medical practice.
Work Schedules
Where a document control clerk works will shape the expected work schedules. In general business, physicians’ and other professional offices, clerks should have weekday work and traditional day time hours. Hospitals, residential care facilities and industrial plants operate at all hours, so clerks in those places may have evening, night-time or weekend shifts.
Career Prospects
Overall job growth in clerical fields may run below the seven percent job growth in all occupations in the economy. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a three percent increase in employment of general office clerks through 2024. In many offices, technology allows some of the document control clerk tasks to be consolidated with other job functions. Secretaries and administrative assistants, especially in small offices, perform typing, proofreading, filing and organizing activities.
Larger facilities and the medical field may provide stronger prospects for employment. These settings may involve more documents and terminology not found in general business or office settings.
Conclusion
In organizations of larger scale and those with highly-specialized or technical projects, document control clerks will continue to have solid chances for work. These employers need document management that might extend beyond more routine filing and organization tasks that administrative assistants might be less likely to perform on their own.