Skills
Payroll Clerk Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in payroll clerks, and how to build and show them.
What skills do payroll clerks need?
Payroll Clerks need technical skills such as payroll processing, wage and hour law, and payroll taxes, plus people skills like accuracy and confidentiality. They also use tools such as ADP and Paychex.
Technical (hard) skills
- Payroll processing
- Wage and hour law
- Payroll taxes
- Timekeeping systems
- Excel
- Reconciliation
People (soft) skills
- Accuracy
- Confidentiality
- Reliability
- Customer service
Tools, equipment and technology
- ADP
- Paychex
- Workday
- Timekeeping systems
- Excel
- QuickBooks Payroll
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how payroll clerks put their skills to work:
- How to calculate overtime pay correctly
- How to run a payroll preview check
- How to process a wage garnishment
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Payroll processing” and “Wage and hour law.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “accuracy,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as FPC near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our payroll clerk glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Payroll Clerk training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.