Office and Administrative Support · Holland code CES

Correspondence Clerks

Compose letters or electronic correspondence in reply to requests for merchandise, damage claims, credit and other information, delinquent accounts, incorrect billings, or unsatisfactory services. Duties may include gathering data to formulate reply and preparing correspondence.

Also called: Correspondence Clerk, Correspondence Coordinator, Correspondence Representative (Correspondence Rep), Dispute Resolution Analyst, Chargeback Specialist, Claims Correspondence Clerk, Correspondent, Dispute Specialist.

O*NET 43-4021.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $46,800; Middle half earn $38,610 to $56,090. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED); 43% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 2 of 5; Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Ensure that money collected is properly recorded and secured.
Maintain files and control records to show correspondence activities.
Read incoming correspondence to ascertain nature of writers' concerns and to determine disposition of correspondence.
Gather records pertinent to specific problems, review them for completeness and accuracy, and attach records to correspondence as necessary.
Prepare documents and correspondence, such as damage claims, credit and billing inquiries, invoices, and service complaints.
Process orders for goods requested in correspondence.
Compile data from records to prepare periodic reports.
Compose letters in reply to correspondence concerning such items as requests for merchandise, damage claims, credit information requests, delinquent accounts, incorrect billing, or unsatisfactory service.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Writing4.0 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.8 / 5
Active Listening3.8 / 5
Speaking3.5 / 5
Critical Thinking3.4 / 5
Monitoring2.9 / 5

Knowledge areas

Administrative4.4 / 5
English Language4.0 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.8 / 5
Economics and Accounting3.6 / 5
Mathematics3.5 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.4 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic5
Investigative25
Artistic10
Social28
Enterprising41
Conventional98

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

administrative assistant · DE Verwaltungsassistent/Verwaltungsassistentin · FR assistant administratif/assistante administrative
office clerk · DE Büroassistent/Büroassistentin · FR employé de bureau/employée de bureau
typist · DE Textypist/Textypistin · FR dactylographe
post office counter clerk · DE Postschalterbediensteter/Postschalterbedienstete · FR guichetier en bureau de poste/guichetière en bureau de poste
receptionist · DE Empfangssekretär/Empfangssekretärin · FR réceptionniste
mail clerk · DE Postabfertiger/Postabfertigerin · FR employé au courrier/employée au courrier

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

School secretaries (4213)50,600 employed
Sales administrators (4151)85,100 employed
Other administrative occupations n.e.c. (4159)554,000 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.15. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (43-4021).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test