Bank Clerk / Personal Banker
💳Serves customers in a branch: opens accounts and savings, arranges loans and cards, processes payments and sells the bank's products.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $37.9k a year on average · -13.2% jobs by 2035 · 26,800 openings a year
Tellers — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £30.3k median a year · 50,000 jobs
Bank and post office clerks — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
Credit scoring approves loans, accounts open in the app and bots answer calls. There are fewer and fewer branches and tellers.
Who it suits
Interests: 🗂️ Order, paperwork, systems, 💰 Finance and economics, 🗣️ Persuading and negotiating.
Key strengths: understanding people, organisation, attention to detail.
Where to study
- Vocational Ausbildung Bankkaufmann/-frau (DE, AT, CH), associate degree in business (US)
- Apprenticeship Financial Services Customer Adviser apprenticeship (UK)
- Course In-house bank training; FINRA SIE to sell investments (US)
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Maths, Business, English Literature.
🧗 In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, a respected 2.5–3-year banking Ausbildung. In the UK, an apprenticeship; in the US, banks hire school or college leavers and train them.
Things to know
📞 Sales targets, cold calls
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