Brokerage Clerks Career Guide: Tasks, Education Requirements, Earnings and Employment Outlook
Submitted by: Gypsy Santiago
Job Overview: Brokerage clerks prepare and maintain records of financial transactions related to bonds, stocks and various investments. They can be called various designations depending on duties assigned, such as matching orders to buy with orders to sell (purchase-and-sale clerks), paying stock or dividends to clients (dividend clerks), monitoring customer margin accounts (margin clerks), and handling receipt or delivery of securities (receive-and-deliver clerks), among others.
Education, Training and Knowledge Requirements: To become a brokerage clerk, one should possess a high school diploma. This job is an entry-level position, so many new finance or business graduates begin their careers as a clerk and advance into managerial positions with experience. The National Association of Securities Dealers offers Series 7 brokerage license to be able to take on various roles in a brokerage firm. The more designations or licenses a clerk obtains, the more valuable he/she is to a brokerage firm. A clerk must first work with a brokerage firm for at least four months before being able to take the Series 7 exam.
Skills & Abilities: To become successful in this field, one should have knowledge in computer programs and equipments, economics and accounting principles, banking and financial markets, arithmetic, calculus, geometry, statistics and their applications. He/she must also possess effective written and verbal communication skills, good interpersonal skills, excellent customer service skills, administrative and time management skills, leadership skills, sound reasoning and problem-solving skills and be detail-oriented, organized, honest and trustworthy.
Duties: Brokerage clerks are responsible for recording and documenting various security transactions such as sales, purchases, redemptions, conversions, payments, certificate records and accounting ledgers, among others.
They are also tasked to prepare reports of daily transactions and individual account earnings, prepare forms, communicate with clients, monitor daily stock prices and fluctuations, as well as compute various financial data such as total holdings, interest, dividends, brokerage fees, commissions and taxes to allocate payments to customers accurately.
Earnings & Job Outlook: Brokerage clerks find jobs in banks, securities and commodities, brokerage firms and other financial institutions. The employment in this field is expected to grow slowly than average through 2014 due to the constant developments of technologies in office automation, which are expected to reduce the demand of clerks in financial institutions. Openings in this field usually come when clerks are promoted or leave their jobs due to other reasons. In 2004, the lower 10% received less than $11/hour, while the middle 50% earned $13.50 with the higher 10% earning up to $22/hour.
Gypsy Santiago is a professional resume writer and career search strategy/career branding coach with years of experience in assisting job seekers prepare for the job market. She helps create career-targeted resumes, provides useful tips about career transition, offers future career ideas and guide jobseekers about effective job search techniques.
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Word Count: 430 Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2010 Time: 2:59 PM
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