Interviewing and New Accounts Clerks

Nature of the Work
Employment
Job Outlook
Sources of Additional Information

(D.O.T. 205.362-018, -026, -030, .367-014, -026, -042, -054, and -058)

• Nature of the Work

  Interviewing and new accounts clerks obtain information that organizations need to enable individuals to open bank accounts, gain admission to medical facilities, participate in consumer surveys, and complete various other forms. By mail, telephone, or in person, they solicit and verify information, create files, and perform various processing tasks. The specific duties and job titles of these workers depend upon the type of employer.
  
  Many interviewing clerks work in hospitals, doctors' offices, and other health care facilities, where they are also known as admitting interviewers. They interview patients to obtain all preliminary information required for admission, such as the patient's name, address, age, medical history, present medications, previous hospitalizations, religion, persons to notify in case of emergency, attending physician, and the party responsible for payment. They may assign patients to rooms and summon escorts to conduct patients to the rooms; sometimes they may escort patients themselves. Using the facility's computer system, they prepare admitting and discharge records and route them to appropriate departments. They may also bill patients, receive payments, and answer the telephone. In an outpatient setting, they also schedule appointments, keep track of cancellations, and provide general information about care.
  
  Interviewing clerks also work for research firms conducting market research surveys and polls. Market research is not limited to the consumer market, but also includes executive, medical, and industrial research. No selling is involved. Often reading from a prepared script, interviewers ask a carefully worded series of questions, record the responses, and forward the results to management. They may ask individuals questions on such topics as their occupation and earnings, political preferences, buying habits, or customer satisfaction.
  
  New accounts clerks, more commonly referred to as customer service representatives, work for financial institutions such as commercial banks, credit unions, and savings and loan associations. They interview people who want to open a checking or savings account and record the data directly into a computer. They must be familiar with the products and services of the bank for which they work, because it is their job to explain the increasing array of available financial services. They help people fill out enrollment forms for special services, such as automated teller machine (ATM) cards. They may also answer telephone inquiries concerning bank services or procedures for opening or closing accounts. (Bank tellers, who also may perform customer service representative duties, are discussed elsewhere in the Handbook.)

• Employment

  Interviewing and new accounts clerks held about 208,000 jobs in 1996. More than 50 percent were employed by commercial banks and other depository institutions. Most of the rest worked in hospitals and other health-care facilities, while a small number of clerks worked for research and testing service firms in the business services industry. Around 3 of every 10 interviewing clerks worked part time.

• Job Outlook

  Employment of interviewing and new accounts clerks is expected to increase about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2006; however, growth rates will vary by industry. Opportunities will be best for applicants with a broad range of job skills.
  
  Employment of interviewing clerks in the health services industry, for example, is expected to grow as fast as the average as hospitals and health-care facilities consolidate their staffs and the duties of admitting interviewers expand. Much faster than average employment growth of interviewing clerks will occur in personnel supply services, as more organizations contract out for the services of these types of clerks rather than support a full-time staff. On the other hand, little change in employment is expected for new accounts clerks, reflecting the general lack of employment growth among commercial banks and savings and loan institutions as banking technology and consolidation decrease the role of branch offices.
  

• Sources of Additional Information

  Information on working conditions, training requirements, and earnings appears in the Information clerks introduction to this section.
  
  State employment service offices can provide information about employment opportunities.
  
  A brochure on careers in banking, including information on new accounts clerks, referred to as customer service representatives in the brochure, is available from:
  
  American Bankers Association, 1120 Connecticut Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20036.

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