Bank Teller job description for a resume

The short answer

A bank teller writing a resume should describe what they actually did — work like balance currency, coin, and checks in cash drawers at ends of shifts and calculate daily transactions, using computer… — rather than copying a generic bullet list. The U.S. Department of Labor classifies the role as Tellers (SOC 43-3071.00). Its 19 published duties are the place to start, and the 14 most relevant are listed below. Active Listening is the capability O*NET rates highest for the work.

What follows is the published duty list, not a set of bullets to copy. The difference matters: a line describing work you did not do is one interview question away from falling apart.

What a bank teller does

Receive and pay out money. Keep records of money and negotiable instruments involved in a financial institution's various transactions.

O*NET occupation: Tellers (SOC 43-3071.00).

Bank Teller duties you can put on a resume

O*NET publishes 19 core duties for this occupation. These are the 14 its incumbents most often report performing, ranked by O*NET's published relevance rating — not a complete list of the job. Which ranking is a fact from the source; which of them you personally did is not something any dataset knows. Use the list as a memory aid, never as a list to paste.

1. Balance currency, coin, and checks in cash drawers at ends of shifts and calculate daily transactions, using computers, calculators, or adding machines.
2. Receive checks and cash for deposit, verify amounts, and check accuracy of deposit slips.
3. Cash checks and pay out money after verifying that signatures are correct, that written and numerical amounts agree, and that accounts have sufficient funds.
4. Enter customers' transactions into computers to record transactions and issue computer-generated receipts.
5. Process transactions, such as term deposits, retirement savings plan contributions, automated teller transactions, night deposits, and mail deposits.
6. Answer telephones and assist customers with their questions.
7. Examine checks for endorsements and to verify other information, such as dates, bank names, identification of the persons receiving payments, and the legality of the documents.
8. Prepare and verify cashier's checks.
9. Resolve problems or discrepancies concerning customers' accounts.
10. Identify transaction mistakes when debits and credits do not balance.
11. Arrange monies received in cash boxes and coin dispensers according to denomination.
12. Explain, promote, or sell products or services, such as travelers' checks, savings bonds, money orders, and cashier's checks, using computerized information about customers to tailor recommendations.
13. Count currency, coins, and checks received, by hand or using currency-counting machine, to prepare them for deposit or shipment to branch banks or the Federal Reserve Bank.
14. Receive mortgage, loan, or public utility bill payments, verifying payment dates and amounts due.

Skills a bank teller can list

O*NET rates these at importance 3.0 or above for this occupation.

Active Listening

importance 3.50

Speaking

importance 3.25

Reading Comprehension

importance 3.12

Critical Thinking

importance 3.12

Monitoring

importance 3.12

Social Perceptiveness

importance 3.12

Service Orientation

importance 3.12

Writing

importance 3.00

What not to claim

• A duty from the list above that you did not personally perform. It describes Tellers as an occupation, not your particular job — and interviewers for bank teller roles ask about the specifics.
• Duties from the 5 published items not shown here, unless you genuinely did them. A longer list is not a better one.
• A percentage, a headcount or a volume you did not measure. "Improved satisfaction by 35%" is the single most copied line on resume-example sites, and almost nobody who pastes it can source it.
• Active Listening at a level you have not worked at. O*NET rates it highest for this occupation, which makes it the most likely thing to be probed.
• A tool, system or certification you have not used or hold. This is the fastest claim to disprove.

Source and method

O*NET data are provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, used under the CC BY 4.0 licence.The duties and skills above are reproduced as published. The resume guidance, the prompts and any generated lines are RoleSprint's, and O*NET did not write them.

Related occupations

Same occupational family in the SOC classification, so the duties often overlap with work you have done.

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