Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a deputy clerk of court and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

The deputy clerk of court is an individual charged with the responsibility of being the custodian of all court records. He/she also coordinates and directs a wide range of clerical duties. The records can include but not limited to civil, adoption, domestic relations, criminal, juvenile, and paternity.

Other specific duties include issuance, filing, and keeping the record of all business licenses and marriage licenses in the court system, performing a broad range of tasks related to civil cases including carrying out a document check, the filing of pleadings, issuance of summons, and docketing. He/she also coordinates sharing of court records with other courts such as the Supreme Court. Also, he/she maintains records of child support cases and maintains records indicating payments, prepares documents for court proceedings and maintains a list of exhibits. Finally, he/she is responsible for ensuring confidentiality of the court records.

Core Skills Required to be a Deputy Clerk of Court

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

A deputy clerk of court should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Writing Skills:

Written Communication involves the interaction that makes use of the written word with precision and logic making it the very common form of business communication.

A Deputy Clerk of Court must necessarily learn and stay updated on effective written communication skills that involve the construction of a logical argument, note taking, editing and summarizing as well as incorporating new ways of writing presentations.

Multi-Tasking:

Multi-Tasking allows one to juggle and perform more than one task at a time without losing track of what you are working on or dropping the ball.

A Deputy Clerk of Court must learn the trick of multitasking and help the staff balance the competing demands of their time and energy that they are expected to handle multiple priorities every day without compromising on the effectiveness of the work done.

Collaborating with others:

Collaborating is willingly working with one another and cooperating in whatever task one is assigned without behaving poorly or having an attitude change that hurts others.

A Deputy Clerk of Court is meant to collaborate with all workers and management both male and female without causing frustrations or sidelining any worker or delaying their promotion from any informal conversations where most decisions are often made.

Personal Growth:

Personal Growth is the improvement of one's awareness, identity, developing talents and potential to facilitate the growth of oneself and the position they handle at the workplace.

A Deputy Clerk of Court ought to assist his employees in finding themselves by introducing or referring them to methods, programs, tools, techniques and assessment systems that support their development at the individual level in the organization.

Following Directions:

Following Directions is the skill of carefully considering the given instructions and following them closely without fail.

A Deputy Clerk of Court must ensure that his workers are paying attention and listening to instructions provided as well as taking careful steps in doing what they are supposed to do and understand what it means to the business and bring satisfaction to their superiors.

Personal Accountability:

Personal Accountability is the feeling that you are entirely responsible for your actions and consequences taking ownership without blaming others.

A Deputy Clerk of Court should provide a list of duties and responsibilities that every employee is expected to perform and define timelines and supervisors who oversee the work to ensure each knows what she /he should do and remain accountable without passing blame.

Quantity of Work:

The quantity of Work is the amount of work accomplished by an employee against the expectations set by the employer.

A Deputy Clerk of Court should be keen to monitor an employee's job performance by comparing it to the standard work measurements that are often given at various intervals while evaluating the production to tell when to refresh a worker's skills or address any behavioral factors.

Customer Service:

Customer Service is the ability to cater for the needs of the client by providing excellent customer service without compromise.

A Deputy Clerk of Court must understand that pleasing customers is directly connected to the success of the business, therefore, must create a superior customer experience culture in the company that every employee should follow in ensuring all the customers are treated as they should.

Writing Reports and Proposals:

Writing Reports and Proposals is the ability to record business reports and plans for the company or project following the policies and procedures of the company.

A Deputy Clerk of Court should, therefore, emphasize the need and accuracy of these reports and plans to ensure they are delivered promptly, and the details within are accurate adhering to the company's policies and regulations without compromise.

Data Entry:

Data Entry is a skill to key in information from various sources as directed by the management while keeping to the policies and procedures of the company and ensuring they are accurate.

A Deputy Clerk of Court should prioritize hard skills over educational backgrounds when it comes to data entry because experience and familiarity with the common workplace software, attention to detail, confidentiality and databases is critical.

Hard Skills Required to be a Deputy Clerk of Court

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

A deputy clerk of court should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

Deputy Clerk of Court: Hard skills list

Accounting Principles and Terminology
Administrative Law
Analyze Court Financial Data
Appointment Calendar
Clerical
Computer
Court Operation Procedures
Bookkeeping
Budgeting
Balance Cash and Receipts
Business and Personal Management
Clerical
Collecting
Communication
Compile information for court cases
Compose business correspondence
Coordinate witnesses and litigants
Court Procedures
Customer Service
Data Entry
Documentation
English Language
Financial Compliance
Human Resources Compliance
Information Systems
Inventory (Maintain Inventory of Office Forms)
IT Competence
Jury Management
Legal Procedures Knowledge
MS Excel
Office Procedures and Practices
Project Management
Public Administration Principles
Research
Telephone Log
Typing Speed
Word Processing or MS Word
Writing

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