Data is a driving force in the modern world, and now is the perfect time to get into the field of data entry. Systems around the world are in the process of converting from physical to digital data records to improve efficiency, and the demand is high for data entry specialists.
It’s important to keep in mind that while demand is currently high, it will be falling off in the future. The Bureau of Labor Statistics anticipates that data entry specialist positions will decline by 25 percent from 2019-2029. Fortunately, the required amount of education and training required to get into the field during this viable window of opportunity is relatively low.
Data entry is perfect for people who are new to the workforce or are returning after a long period of absence (such as due to being the primary caregiver for a young child). Nearly every industry utilizes data entry positions to help input quantifiable and qualitative data, from sales records to medical records to inventory.
Technical skills such as having basic familiarity with computers (including software like Excel or Google Sheets) and a high level of attention to detail will be your primary assets as you navigate the data entry field.
In this guide, we’ll be covering what you should include in your data entry resume. We’ll be looking at four templates of data entry specialists and going over what each one does best to help you match your experience and create a similarly strong resume. Lastly, we’ve rounded up lists of key skills and action verbs that you should be sure to include for best effect.
If you’re a data entry specialist with experience, it’s possible you’ve gained that experience in multiple departments and have demonstrated your aptitude enough to be a team leader. Including the departments or industries you’ve worked with clues hiring managers into how you’ll fit best in their organization.
In the opening summary, this data analyst points out their five years of experience in the industry, along with the fields in which their experience was based (technology, business, and design). They also include their experience leading teams (and indicate how big the teams were numerically). You should include the fields you’ve had experience in, and, if you’d similarly led teams, be sure to note their size.
This resume offers excellent examples of data entry skills, including such gems as “improved data entry accuracy”, “increased operational excellence”, and “achieved cost savings”, along with adding quantifiable numbers to each accomplishment. On the right, a skills bank provides easy access to the applicant’s technical skills. You should aim to include standout skills (more on those later) along with a technical skills bank where possible.
Data entry clerks can wear many hats across different fields. If your experience is similarly varied, you can still emphasize your data entry skills by starting your bullet points with relevant action verbs and including a numerical value for each one.
Two things stand out about this resume: the variety of data entry-related positions, and how each bullet point is started with an effective action verb. Hiring managers will want to see words like “improved”, “achieved”, and “fulfilled” to give them an impression of your competency, and you can do that by including them.
As someone who may be tasked with numerical data entry in particular, having each one of your accomplishments include a quantifiable or numerically measurable component will show hiring managers that you are ready to meet the task. You should aim to include similar information, such as helping “100 customers” a day, improving data entry by “55%”, or putting in “24 documents” into the system each day.
Even without significant experience, you can elevate your resume by focusing on your past accomplishments that were relevant to data entry work (like this applicant does). If you took classes related to data entry or technical skills, you should include them, and if any volunteer work or extracurricular activities involved data entry projects, you should include those as well.
Data entry does not require an extensive background with specific skills; however, if you are an entry level data entry applicant and you have a background with relevant coursework, you should include them as in this example. Hiring managers that see you achieved high marks in “Data Analysis” will understand your academic training quickly.
While being involved in a tennis society may not be the first obvious thing to include on a data entry resume, when it showcases a developing and launching a new booking system, it should be. If you have similar experience in any extracurricular activities where your data entry skills have come into play, you should include them.
If you have a long background in data entry, you should aim to highlight the most impressive achievements in your most recent or current achievements (while having more basic, numerical accomplishments at your older positions) to demonstrate your ongoing progression of skill and responsibility. Data entry specialists should also have experience with data entry technologies and automation tools.
This experienced data entry specialist has several positions listed. Notably, the scope of their accomplishments has improved over time. If you have a long background in data entry, you should craft your resume in a similar fashion to have your hardest-hitting achievements in your most recent position (such as supporting supervisors in training new employees or fulfilling 100 percent of deadlines).
Each bullet point begins with a relevant action verb in this resume, as in the previous examples we’ve looked at. Experienced data specialists like this one should aim to include accomplishments highlighting how you “managed” and “improved” systems as it speaks to your capacity to make a positive impact at the hiring business.
A data entry operator is tasked with entering data into computer databases and ensuring that a company’s database is up-to-date and accurate. The work itself may not be very complicated but this position requires you to perform very repetitive tasks while maintaining a high level of attention to detail. You should be able to work efficiently and without much supervision.
This position does not generally require a bachelor’s degree, but experience in data entry or a related field is highly preferred. Take a look at this strong data entry operator resume sample.
There are industry standard tools you will need to know how to use to perform your duties in this position. These may include MS Office, data programs, fax machines, scanners, etc. Ensure that your tools section includes at least the basic tools of the trade.
This resume is tailored to the data entry operator job this candidate is applying for and mentions the job title at the top of the resume to get past ATS. They use specific keywords relevant to the industry, like ‘entry tasks’, ‘stored records’, and ‘automated tasks’. You should too.
Technical skills are the bread and butter of data entry, so you’ll want to include every relevant one that you have in your skillset. On the left, we’ve compiled a list of the common technical skills and tools used by data entry specialists (which hiring managers will be looking for).
When your accomplishments are directly related to a particular skill or tool, be sure to include it in the bullet point. Additionally, you should include a skills bank (either on the right hand side, as in the first template we looked at, or at the bottom, like the last resume we reviewed) with your technical skills listed clearly.
Not only will including your relevant skills throughout the resume impart to hiring managers that you have expertise with specific software, but it will also improve your place with automatic screening tools.
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Data Entry job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
When it’s time to pull it all together, you should start by determining which of the above templates best matches your experience in data entry. Remember, if your past experience is light on specific data entry positions, you can still emphasize data entry-related skills and accomplishments (as the entry level data applicant did above by referencing their management of the launch of the new booking system at their tennis club).
Once you’ve determined what template to follow, go over the list of technical skills and determine which ones best fit your experience. Plan to make a skills bank to showcase your breadth of technical skills, and identify how these skills or tools have come into play in your past work so you can include them in your listed accomplishments.
As a data entry employee, you’ll want to include how you “improved” a system, such as by improving accuracy, client satisfaction, or operation efficiency, all of which are examples from the last template we reviewed. Or perhaps you “reduced” monthly expenses or the number of company errors.
Whenever you “performed” or “handled” tasks, it speaks to your core competency, as in the example of the second template. From the same resume, verbs like developing, implementing, and updating will clue in hiring managers to your ability to work in solutions and further improve efficiency.
If you have a strong technical background, you should include verbs like “aggregated”, “analyzed”, “built”, or “designed” like the entry level example we looked at above. This will clue in hiring managers to your technical proficiency.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
If you're a senior-level employee, or you're changing careers to become a Data Entry, it's useful to add a paragraph at the top of your resume highlighting your most impressive accomplishments. This is called a resume summary.
Here's an example of a summary that can be used on a Data Entry resume.
A resume summary is a totally optional section, and in most cases, it's better to leave it out of your resume than include it. For example, if you're a student or mid-level hire, you should not include a summary, and instead use the space to add to your work experience.
To learn how to write an effective resume summary for your Data Entry resume, or figure out if you need one, please read Resume Summary Examples for Job Seekers: When To Include One.
You should use bullet points to describe your achievements in your Data Entry resume. Here are sample bullet points to help you get started:
Identified changes to assortment, distribution, and marketing using financial and behavioral analysis that enabled an upmarket fashion company to better target their customers, resulting in $400M growth
Conducted survey and quantitative analysis to confirm hypotheses on customer sentiment and purchasing trends; results defined future marketing strategies
Analyzed brand's pricing, advertising and distribution data and identified seasonal trends and white space by integrating consumer insights; recommended strategic changes in portfolio and marketing plan to C-suite executives, reversing sales slump (+6.5%)
Recommended multi-brand strategy for a leading restaurant chain company to enter fast casual market by evaluating core competencies and performing market analysis
Generated 50+ project requests through cold call sales and systematic email outreach; completed due diligence to qualify leads based on credit, industry and location
For more sample bullet points and details on how to write effective bullet points, see our articles on resume bullet points, how to quantify your resume and resume accomplishments.
