Hiring guideRead at source, 29 September 2026

How to Recruit Shipping and Receiving Clerks Who Catch the Mistakes

To recruit shipping and receiving clerks, promote from your own warehouse associates first, then advertise to warehouse, retail backroom and delivery workers near your site with the pay, shift and whether you certify forklift operators in the first lines. Drop the years-of-experience requirement, since BLS lists only short-term on-the-job training for the job. Screen for accuracy with numbers and paperwork, and text applicants within minutes.

Who you are hiring

Shipping, receiving and inventory clerks held 827,700 jobs in 2025. BLS projects the occupation to shrink 7.6 percent by 2035, yet it still expects about 61,300 openings a year from people leaving the job (BLS Employment Projections 2025-35). The typical entry requirement is a high school diploma, with short-term on-the-job training.

The job is reconciliation with a pallet jack attached: matching what arrived against the bill of lading and purchase order, getting outbound freight staged and documented, and finding out why the two do not match. The person you want is careful, comfortable with a scanner and a screen, and able to talk to drivers, vendors and buyers all day. Our shipping and receiving clerk job description covers the duties in full.

Where to find shipping and receiving clerks

Your own warehouse floor

A picker or material handler who is accurate and asks good questions is a ready-made receiving clerk. They know your products, your locations and your system. Post the role internally first, with a pay step, and backfill the associate job, which is easier to hire.

Adjacent jobs

• Warehouse associates and forklift operators at nearby distribution centers
• Retail backroom and receiving staff, who already check in vendor deliveries
• Parts counter and will-call staff at distributors and dealerships
• Delivery drivers who know bills of lading and want an indoor, fixed-shift job
• Inventory and cycle count workers from third-party logistics providers

Social ads near the site

These candidates are working, not browsing job boards. Facebook and Instagram ads reach them in the feed within commuting distance of your building. Meta runs employment ads in a special ad category, so you cannot target by age, gender or ZIP code, and the location radius has to be at least 15 miles.

If you are hiring several dock roles at once, our sibling guide on how to recruit dock workers covers the loading side, and warehouse recruiting the wider building.

What to pay shipping and receiving clerks

BLS puts the median annual wage for shipping, receiving and inventory clerks at $45,260 in May 2025. Pay varies by industry, with manufacturing docks generally paying more than store-level receiving; the wage section of our shipping and receiving clerk job description breaks it down. Pay above your warehouse associate rate so the internal promotion is worth taking.

How to write the shipping and receiving clerk ad

Candidates check pay, shift and physical demands first, then whether they need forklift experience. Say whether you certify operators yourself. If the dock is climate controlled, say so in the first two lines. A sample for a hypothetical distributor (use your own details):

Delete “2+ years shipping and receiving experience.” BLS lists no required work experience for this occupation, and the requirement cuts out the warehouse associates most likely to do the job well.

Screening questions for shipping and receiving clerks

Knock out only on real requirements, such as the shift.

• This role is first shift, Monday to Friday. Can you work that schedule? (knockout; use your real shift)
• Have you received or shipped freight, or checked deliveries against paperwork?
• Have you used a handheld scanner or a warehouse management system?
• Do you hold a current forklift certification from an employer? (scored, not a knockout, if you train)

On forklifts: OSHA requires employers to ensure each powered industrial truck operator is competent, through training and an evaluation, and to certify that each operator has been trained and evaluated (29 CFR 1910.178(l)). An operator trained elsewhere does not have to repeat training on topics already covered if it fits your trucks and conditions, but must still be evaluated and found competent (29 CFR 1910.178(l)(5)). Since you evaluate everyone anyway, training newcomers in-house widens your pool. See our guide to OSHA forklift training requirements.

Speed and follow-up

Warehouse candidates apply to several jobs in an evening and start wherever calls first. Text within minutes, offer a site visit that week, and give a short accuracy check in the interview: a packing slip and a pallet that do not match.

The first 90 days

New clerks quit when the dock is chaos and nobody explains the system. Give the first week to shadowing an experienced clerk on both receiving and shipping, write down how your discrepancies get resolved and who signs off, and tell the new hire what the next job is: lead, inventory control or buyer. A clerk who can see a path has a reason to stay through peak season.

What a shipping and receiving clerk applicant costs

Shipping and receiving clerks fall in the Warehouse / production family in Boostpoint’s 2026 benchmark. That family ran a $9.83 median cost per applicant, with the middle half of campaigns between $3.15 and $18.72, a blended $4.44, and a 20 percent apply rate. Costs include campaign management and cover advertising only; cost per applicant is not cost per hire. See the full benchmark, and manufacturing and warehouse recruiting for the rest of the building.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 and BLS, May 2025 median annual wage (SOC 43-5071); 29 CFR 1910.178 (eCFR); Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark. Read at source 29 September 2026.