Accounts payable and receivable clerk — 3 out of 5 stars

• What it is: Paying a company's bills (payables) and chasing the money it is owed (receivables): matching invoices, entering data, resolving discrepancies, and making the polite, persistent calls that keep cash moving. The entry rung of the accounting ladder.
• Certificate or training: No credential required to start; employers train. Short accounting-certificate courses and the AIPB track (see staff bookkeeper) turn this rung into a career.
• Cost to get qualified: $200–$800 for a starter course if you choose one
• Time to job-ready: 1–4 months to job-ready
• Typical pay: $36,000–$52,000 a year full-time
• Why it works for a blind person: It is documents, matching, and follow-up calls inside accounting software — a clean, structured start that teaches you how business money actually moves before you climb.

Job 31 of 100 · Money, numbers, and office

Start here, step by step

1. Learn the words first: an invoice is a bill. Three-way matching means the purchase order, the delivery receipt, and the invoice must agree before payment. Aging describes how long money owed has sat unpaid.
2. Get fluent in spreadsheets and one accounting package — even the free tiers — so 'data entry with judgment' describes you accurately on day one.
3. Apply widely: every company of any size has this desk, including remote-first accounting services. Temporary agencies place many first AP/AR seats, and temp-to-hire is a real door.
4. Work the queue with visible discipline: discrepancies flagged the day they appear, vendor calls returned, notes on every account. Clerks who communicate get promoted; clerks who hide problems do not last.
5. Aim deliberately upward within a year: staff bookkeeper postings are the natural next step, and your AP/AR year counts as their experience requirement.
6. Add the AIPB credential once employed — many employers will help pay for it.

How AI can help

Use AI to draft collection emails that stay polite at the third reminder, and to reconcile lists by finding mismatches you paste in. AI cannot call a vendor and untangle a disputed shipment — that conversation is the clerk's craft.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The fastest door into office money work, honestly rated three: entry pay is entry pay, and the job only becomes a career if you treat it as the first rung and climb to bookkeeper within a couple of years.

Pros and cons — the honest version

Pros

• Fastest hiring in the money category
• Teaches real business from the inside
• Clear, short ladder to staff bookkeeper

Cons

• Lowest pay in this category at entry
• Repetitive if you let it stay repetitive
• Collection calls require polite stubbornness