How to hire shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks

Job description template

Copy it, fill in the brackets, and remove anything that does not fit your job. Keep only must-haves you would really turn someone away for.

[Job title] at [Company name]
[City, State] · [Full-time / Part-time] · [Pay range]

About the role
[Two or three sentences about your team, the work and why it matters.]

What you will do
• Confer or correspond with establishment representatives to rectify problems, such as damages, shortages, or nonconformance to specifications.
• Contact carrier representatives to make arrangements or to issue instructions for shipping and delivery of materials.
• Deliver or route materials to departments using handtruck, conveyor, or sorting bins.
• Examine shipment contents and compare with records, such as manifests, invoices, or orders, to verify accuracy.
• Pack, seal, label, or affix postage to prepare materials for shipping, using hand tools, power tools, or postage meter.
• Prepare documents, such as work orders, bills of lading, or shipping orders, to route materials.
• Record shipment data, such as weight, charges, space availability, damages, or discrepancies, for reporting, accounting, or recordkeeping purposes.
• Requisition and store shipping materials and supplies to maintain inventory of stock.

What you bring
• [Required license, certification or years of experience, if any]
• [Education, only if you truly need it. Typical to start in this job: High school diploma or equivalent]
• Strong speaking, active listening, reading comprehension, critical thinking and monitoring skills
• [Anything else you would really turn someone away for]

Pay and benefits
[Pay range]. For reference, the U.S. median for this job is $21.76 an hour ($45,260 a year).
[Benefits, schedule and anything else candidates should know.]

How to apply
[Apply on JAI Bot. Every applicant hears back.]

Copy the template Check your finished job post

Interview questions for shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks

Ask every candidate the same questions, in the same order, and write down what they say. Questions about past work show what someone has actually done.

1. Tell me about a time you had to confer or correspond with establishment representatives to rectify problems, such as damages, shortages, or nonconformance to specifications. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
2. Tell me about a time you had to contact carrier representatives to make arrangements or to issue instructions for shipping and delivery of materials. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
3. Tell me about a time you had to deliver or route materials to departments using handtruck, conveyor, or sorting bins. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
4. Tell me about a time you had to examine shipment contents and compare with records, such as manifests, invoices, or orders, to verify accuracy. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
5. Explain something technical from your last job as you would to a new coworker.
6. Tell me about a time you had to understand a request or problem that was explained poorly. How did you make sure you got it right?
7. Tell me about written instructions, a policy or a manual you had to follow closely. How did you make sure you followed it correctly?
8. Why this job, and why now? What would make you stay here for the long term?

Good answers name a real situation, what the person did themselves and what happened. Avoid questions about age, family plans, religion, health, national origin or anything else unrelated to the job.

What shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks do

• Confer or correspond with establishment representatives to rectify problems, such as damages, shortages, or nonconformance to specifications.
• Contact carrier representatives to make arrangements or to issue instructions for shipping and delivery of materials.
• Deliver or route materials to departments using handtruck, conveyor, or sorting bins.
• Examine shipment contents and compare with records, such as manifests, invoices, or orders, to verify accuracy.
• Pack, seal, label, or affix postage to prepare materials for shipping, using hand tools, power tools, or postage meter.
• Prepare documents, such as work orders, bills of lading, or shipping orders, to route materials.
• Record shipment data, such as weight, charges, space availability, damages, or discrepancies, for reporting, accounting, or recordkeeping purposes.
• Requisition and store shipping materials and supplies to maintain inventory of stock.

Skills that matter most

SpeakingActive ListeningReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingMonitoring

Education, experience and outlook for shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks

• Typical education to start: High school diploma or equivalent (BLS)
• Related work experience most have: 6 months to 1 year (O*NET)
• Training on the job: Short-term on-the-job training (BLS)
• Job outlook: -7.6% over ten years, declining · about 61,300 openings a year (BLS)

What to pay shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks

Pay depends a lot on where the job is. Highest and lowest median yearly pay by state:

See shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks pay in every state

Related hiring guides

• Postal Service Clerks
• Stockers and Order Fillers
• Cargo and Freight Agents
• Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping
• Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators
• Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks
• Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service
• Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
• Order Clerks
• Procurement Clerks

Job duties and skills: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license; O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. JAI Bot has modified this information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Pay: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025. Interview questions and the job description template: JAI Bot, based on the duties and skills above.