Office and Administrative Support · Holland code CER

Order Clerks

Receive and process incoming orders for materials, merchandise, classified ads, or services such as repairs, installations, or rental of facilities. Generally receives orders via mail, phone, fax, or other electronic means. Duties include informing customers of receipt, prices, shipping dates, and delays; preparing contracts; and handling complaints.

Also called: Materials Specialist, Order Clerk, Warehouse Clerk, Warehouse Person, Hub Associate, Order Analyst, Order Entry Administrator (Order Entry Admin), Order Entry Representative (Order Entry Rep).

O*NET 43-4151.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $46,170; Middle half earn $39,660 to $54,310. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED); 63% 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.

Review orders for completeness according to reporting procedures and forward incomplete orders for further processing.
Obtain customers' names, addresses, and billing information, product numbers, and specifications of items to be purchased, and enter this information on order forms.
Prepare invoices, shipping documents, and contracts.
Recommend merchandise or services that will meet customers' needs.
Inspect outgoing work for compliance with customers' specifications.
Receive and respond to customer complaints.
Check inventory records to determine availability of requested merchandise.
Verify customer and order information for correctness, checking it against previously obtained information as necessary.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening4.0 / 5
Speaking3.9 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.5 / 5
Writing3.1 / 5
Critical Thinking3.1 / 5
Monitoring3.1 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service4.4 / 5
Production and Processing4.2 / 5
Computers and Electronics4.0 / 5
Education and Training3.9 / 5
English Language3.8 / 5
Administrative3.7 / 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.

Realistic26
Investigative0
Artistic0
Social25
Enterprising59
Conventional100

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)

office clerk · DE Büroassistent/Büroassistentin · FR employé de bureau/employée de bureau
sales support assistant · DE Verkaufssachbearbeiter/Verkaufssachbearbeiterin · FR assistant des ventes/assistante des ventes
sales processor · DE Mitarbeiter Verkaufsabwicklung/Mitarbeiterin Verkaufsabwicklung · FR responsable de l’administration des ventes
warehouse order picker · DE Warenkommissionierer/Warenkommissioniererin · FR préparateur de commandes/préparatrice de commandes

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Elementary storage occupations n.e.c. (9259)12,000 employed
Delivery operatives (9253)21,800 employed
Warehouse operatives (9252)383,400 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 “Clerical support workers”. 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, Clerical support workers, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€40,035
Austria	€38,296
Germany	€37,844
Netherlands	€35,854
Sweden	€33,483
Ireland	€32,144
Italy	€29,311
France	€25,943
Spain	€22,026
Portugal	€12,602
Poland	€10,250

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 +0.84. 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 (43-4151).

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