How to Get Hired as a Payroll Clerk

A payroll clerk is a necessary part of all businesses that have employees. In this job, you will be responsible for making sure that all employees receive their paycheck on time and that it is in the right amount for the hours they worked. Many companies have time cards that the employees must punch when they arrive at work and when they leave. Your job as the payroll clerk will be to screen these timecards to calculate the amount of pay for each employee and also to detect any errors. Once you have the number of hours for each employee, you calculate the rate of pay for each one, to arrive at a gross amount for the weekly, bi-weekly or monthly pay. Then the appropriate taxes have to be deducted as well as any other deductions for health benefits or savings plans. Using accounting software, you perform the calculations and print each employee's paycheck.

Some of the other tasks you will have to complete as part of the duty of payroll clerk include updating employees address and name changes, opening new files for new staff and closing out files of employees no longer with the company, and advising employees of the proper amounts of deductions for taxes. Pay raises will mean changing the computations in the computer system as will changes in the tax laws and regulations. In small businesses, your role may be more like that of a general clerk as there will be less staff to handle the daily activities of the office.

In order to get hired a s payroll clerk, you do need a high school diploma as well as computer skills. Most employers prefer applicants for this type of position to have some post- secondary training in accounting and the use of the computer. You may need to have training in the use of the specific software that the employer uses. Great interpersonal skills are also essential so that you can deal effectively with the employees and those who may have a problem with the amounts you compute for the pay.



You can become certified as a payroll clerk from the American Payroll Association. This organization has two levels of certification that will greatly enhance your skills and your chances of obtaining a job or a promotion in your job. These certificates verify that you have the level of knowledge and skills that enable you to do an effective job for any company. The first certificate level is the Fundamental Payroll Certification. This is designed to meet the needs of those new to the job, client representatives, systems analysts that write payroll programs and sales representatives that serve the payroll sector. You do not have to be a member of the APA in order to write the exam or obtain certification.

The second certificate you can obtain from this association is the Certified Payroll Professional Certificate. To be eligible for this certification, you must have at least three years of experience out of the last five years immediately prior to writing the exam and hold the FPC certificate. . There are specific courses you must take from the APA in order to be able to write the exam, as well. These courses are offered as 2-day seminars, which means you won’t have to take lengthy periods of time off work to attend class.