Data Entry Resume

If you work in data entry, your job title might be data entry clerk or information processor.

These positions are typically easy to qualify for. Basic computer skills are often the only requirement because you’ll mostly be transferring data from paper or other digital sources into databases.

However, you still need an effective data entry clerk resume to stand out from the dozens of other applicants applying for the same position.

Here are a few pointers for showcasing your computer and other skills on a resume for a data entry role.

1. Add skills to your data entry resume

You need to display not just computer skills, but a range of hard and soft skills on your data entry resume if you’re to impress hiring managers.

You pick up hard skills through training, education, or on the job. Because data entry clerks spend most of their time on a computer, your hard skills need to include technical skills related to using a computer for entering data. For example:

• Microsoft Excel
• Google Sheets
• Microsoft Access
• Apple Numbers
• Claris Filemaker Pro
• Data entry
• Typing proficiency
• Transcription skills

If the job ad mentions a particular piece of data entry software, be sure to mention it in your skills section. And you should also talk about what you’ve accomplished with such software in your work experience section to further emphasize your expertise.

However, to prove you’re a person others want to work with, your soft skills are also important. Soft skills are personality-based skills that evolve naturally throughout your lifetime and professional career.

Here are some essential soft skills for a data entry clerk:

• Organizational skills
• Attention to detail
• Time management skills
• Adaptability
• Collaboration skills

2. Add hard numbers to your bullet points

All businesses want to know what you can do for them. And the best way to show them what you can do is by adding hard numbers to your resume.

Mention some of your data entry accomplishments on your resume, along with numbers to provide context to hiring managers. Here are three ways to add numbers to your experience bullet points:

1. Identify any time you saved a company money through your data entry processes. For example:

• Improved and consolidated spreadsheets, increasing efficiency and saving the company $22,000 annually in labor costs

2. Mention if you oversee junior clerks. For instance:

• Oversee 2 junior clerks’ daily input to ensure accuracy, maintaining a 99% error-free record

3. Give a sense of scale to the amount of data you manage. For example:

• Maintain ongoing accounts of 1000+ patients

Compare this bullet point to one without figures and you’ll see the tremendous difference numbers make:

• Maintain ongoing accounts

Adding numbers to your resume shows what you’ve done as a data-entry professional in the past, and what you can do for potential employers in your new role.

3. Write a resume objective that highlights your efficiency

The beginning of your data operator resume should begin in a way that captures the hiring manager’s attention and gets them to keep reading.

A resume objective is the best way to begin a resume for a data entry role because it focuses on your career goals. An objective is a 3–4 sentence paragraph atop your resume that outlines your key qualifications, skills, and experience for the hiring manager.

Adding your resume objective last is the best option. Write your other resume sections first, and then pick out your biggest achievements as a data entry specialist and write your resume objective around them.

Here’s an example:

Information Processor with 6 years of experience in a high-pressure and fast paced professional environment. Independently motivated team player aiming to boost department efficiency by utilizing my strong ability to successfully complete projects well within their deadlines.

4. Add action verbs to your data entry bullet points

Starting a bullet point with an action verb marks you out as a proactive, engaged data entry applicant.

Rather than simply listing your duties like you’d do by beginning a sentence with “Responsible for,” action verbs highlight your achievements.

For example, “Increased efficiency, saving the company $4700 annually in labor costs,” naturally leads you to provide an example of how you succeeded on the job. This wording giving hiring managers an insight into what you can do for them in their open data entry role.

Here are more effective action verbs for starting data entry resume bullet points: