Los Angeles County Learning Academy

The Clerical Certification Training Program is designed to help those in entry-level positions upgrade their skills, leading to increased chances for promotion or a change to a different career.

The program offers Certificates of Proficiency for completing all or a lesser combination of the five course modules:

Business Calculating
Interpersonal Effectiveness
Oral Communication and Written Expression
Recordkeeping
Keyboarding

Students that successfully complete all five modules will earn a Certificate of Proficiency for Intermediate Typist Clerk. This certificate will be accepted in lieu of the qualifying written and typing tests required when applying for the Typist Clerk (TC) or Intermediate Typist Clerk (ITC) examinations.

Students may also receive a Certificate of Proficiency for Intermediate Clerk for successfully completing all modules except Keyboarding. This certificate will be accepted in lieu of the qualifying test for Intermediate Clerk examinations.

Those who choose to take only the Keyboarding module can earn a Certificate of Proficiency for Keyboarding. This certificate will be accepted in place of the typing test for a TC or ITC examination. Successful completion of any of the other individual modules will earn the student a Certificate of Completion for that module.

Following are descriptions of each of the course modules and the number of hours of instruction:

Business Calculating -- 27 hours
You will develop your ability to solve work problems and prepare reports by increasing your understanding of percentages, decimals, and other math functions. This course is designed for clerical, secretarial, adminstrative assistants, or non-clerical employees who work with basic number skills.

Interpersonal Effectiveness -- 63 hours
The skills practiced in this module will enhance your ability to communicate with supervisors, co-workers and customers clients. You will learn strategies for resolving problems and conflicts in the office and practice techniques for providing effective customer service. This course is designed for clerical, secretarial, adminstrative assistants, or non-clerical employees whose primar task is in dealing with over-the-counter customer service skills.

Oral Communication & Written Expression -- 144 hours
Practicing effective oral communication skills used in telephone and face-to-face conversation are a key element of this module. You will strengthen your ability to prepare written communications and enhance your knowledge of spelling, vocabulary, sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation. This course is for clerical, secretarial, administrative assistants, and non-clerical employees who need to improve their basic grammar, oral presentation, and telephone skills.

Record Keeping -- 24 hours
Improve your organization skills in this course as you learn basic methods of classification and filing. You will become familiar with records management and inventory procedures. This course is designed for clerical employees whose tasks involve filing and retrieving files.

Keyboarding -- 114 hours
This course will introduce basic computer operations and help you to increase your keyboarding speed. It will help you to develop the skills needed to accurately type correspondence, reports, or numerical data, and meet the 40 net words per minute typing requirement for the Intermediate Typist Clerk or Typist Clerk examination. This course is for clerical employees who need to build their typing speed and accuracy in order to perform their essential job tasks.

Once you are admitted to the program, you will be assigned to a module depending on your desired training path. At the beginning of each module, your current skill level in the module subject will be assessed. You will then work at your own pace, starting on work that matches your skill level.

Matthew Leos: mleos@hr.lacounty.gov