Document Controller Job Description: Duties, Future, and Salary

Businesses create and use a plethora of documents that need to be appropriately organized, stored, and retrieved. The job of a Document Controller is to collect any document created during a project, make sure they are accurate, and make them available to teams in different departments. Document controllers will play a very significant role in the future, as companies and organizations push to become more eco-friendly in their operations.

Job Description

Most document controllers report directly to the project manager. They are responsible for controlling, sorting, numbering, filing, and retrieving documents, whether electronically or manually stored. They ensure that all reports generated by suppliers, contractors, and project teams are adequately managed and safeguarded. They make everyone’s work simpler, by organizing data and documents that make it easy for relevant parties to retrieve them.

Duties

A typical work day in the life of a document controller includes:

• Providing adequate support for technical projects and departments
• Preparing, updating, and operating document control procedures by the company’s document management protocol
• Produce and maintain updated document progress reports that will be made available for the project manager.
• Sometime, the document controller will be responsible for training employees on record management policies, including retention, destruction, documentation, and disaster recovery.
• Ensuring that every project going on in the company or organization has the proper document control support
• Working with high-level precision to ensure that document stored in hard copy or electronics are accurate and easily retrievable
• Making sure that all the templates used in creating records for different departments follow the guidelines of the company’s document creation standards

Qualities and Skills

To become a reliable and trustworthy document controller is not a piece of cake. You have to possess specific attributes which include having the ability to work independently. You must also be highly motivated, self-directed, and be highly focused. Document controllers must be skillful in multitasking, prioritizing, and time management. You must also be computer savvy, with a deep understanding of most of Microsoft office products or AutoCAD. Sometimes, employers require that a document controller have experience in specific document control programs like FTP clients, SharePoint, FileNet, etc.

Entry Requirements and Education

The essential entry requirement for a document controller is High school diploma or GED certificate, although many employers prefer someone with an associate degree. The more advanced position will require at least a bachelor’s degree or extensive experience in the field.

Salary and Future Outlook

The median annual salary for a document controller is around $29,580, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The Bureau projected that employers would increase salary for their document specialists for up to 3%, within the next 10 years. As many companies move towards making their document storage, creation, and retrieval more eco-friendly, there will be a higher demand for experienced and highly diversified document controllers in the future.

Document controller jobs offer excellent opportunities for anyone who has a keen attention to detail, can multitask, and can quickly learn company procedures. The chances of getting hired increases if the candidate can equip themselves with relevant IT knowledge in Microsoft, Adobe, and other document control and management programs.