Abstract Clerk Responsibilities

Clerks work in all industries, offices, agencies, manufacturing units and all other business organizations. This position offers different designations, abstract clerk being one of them. An abstract clerk is performs similar duties as that of an abstractor, so it won't be wrong to say that these two jobs are similar albeit with different title.

Usually, an abstract clerk is in charge of preparing, verifying, maintaining and presenting documents and reports. Though it may sound a normal procedure, the catch of this job is that the abstract clerk has to compile all information and create an abstract out of it. This abstract needs to be clear and concise and should convey the message and information to the reader. Abstract are prepared for circulation of information within a department, organization and for the clients, too. It is thus expected that the abstract clerk performs his job duties keeping in mind the people for whom abstract is to be prepared.

An abstract clerk is required to go through the technical information presented in contracts and other documents. This can be complicated sometimes because people for whom the abstract is prepared might not be familiar with the technical terms. The abstract clerk has the responsibility of simplifying the information without missing out any critical points while preparing the abstract.

A description of abstract clerk responsibilities, followed by requisites for this job will guide you in finding a way to reach to this position.

Collecting and Compiling Information

This is the basic procedure that lays the path for further actions for an abstract clerk. The abstract clerk researches and collects information through various sources.

Categorizing

Once the information is collected, the abstract clerk divides the information into different categories. He divides the information into different categories as it becomes easier for other employees to refer to a specific section.

Verifying Facts and Figures

Once all the information is collected, the abstract clerk verifies the accuracy of the information. It is very important while preparing medical, legal and all other abstracts because inclusion of false information can be misleading for the parties involved.

Circulating and Storing Abstracts

The abstract clerk circulates the abstracts to the concerned staff and stores it in a physical and/or digital format so that it can be accessed in future.

Skills of an Abstract Clerk

An abstract clerk should be skilled in the following areas:

• Research: To find out and gather information requires ability to research into various resources and decide what information should be taken. This also states that the abstract clerk must be skilled in using internet and other mediums of research.

• Domain knowledge: The abstract clerk must be knowledgeable if he is required to prepare abstracts of technical nature such as legal abstracts, medical abstracts, etc.

• Communication: To gather information, the abstract clerk is required to interact with a lot of people. He should be able to convey his queries and requirements and listen patiently so that the necessary information can be obtained.

• Unbiased approach: An abstract clerk needs to be unbiased in his nature and should present accurate information in order to inform and facilitate ease of understanding amongst all concerned parties.

Becoming an Abstract Clerk

There are no special educational requirements for this profession. Although some organizations prefer to recruit candidates with a bachelor's degree, other organizations recruit candidates who hold a high school diploma with some experience in a clerical position.

Career Scope for Abstract Clerk

Average annual salary for an abstract clerk ranges from $30,000 to $60,000.

Before applying for the job, you should once go through the abstract clerk responsibilities stated here as it will help you in drafting an impressive resume and cover letter as well.