Data entry is a prominent administrative task in many industries. That’s why there are data entry clerks who specialize in a particular industry. An e-commerce data entry specialist excels in encoding product data and organizing products. On the other hand, a medical data entry clerk inputs patient and medical records into an electronic health records (EHR) system.
Nowadays, data entry clerks are more than general data encoders that boost operational efficiency; they can also be industry specialists in their own right, providing data-driven industry insights to ensure business growth. Before you outsource data entry to the Philippines, let’s first learn the steps in hiring a data entry clerk. As a bonus, we’ll share a short round-up of the best companies for outsourcing data entry.
A 5-Step Tutorial On Hiring A Data Entry Clerk
Data entry clerk hiring can be challenging at first — especially if you’re the only one doing all the hiring. But really, it just boils down to analyzing your business needs and knowing what you’re looking for in a data entry specialist. Here’s how you can hire a data encoder.
Step #1: Find Out Your Needs
Take a deep dive into your company’s daily operations. What kind of data does your business work with regularly? This question helps you identify if you need a general or specialized data entry operator.
Likewise, you should be able to answer the “why” behind hiring a data entry clerk. Most of the time, businesses hire a data entry operator to optimize efficiency, improve customer satisfaction, maintain data integrity, or cut costs.
Whether you’re hiring a data entry clerk to reduce workload or ensure compliance, having a clear rationale helps set the expectations of your future job seeker and identify if the work is suitable for a part-time or full-time role.
Step #2: Know Your Business’s Tools
From Microsoft Excel to Amazon Web Services, these are the tools of the trade in data entry. By knowing which programs are used by your in-house team, you can narrow your candidate pool and find a data operator who’s highly proficient with those programs. This saves you time from training your freshly hired remote data entry clerk.
Step #3: Identify Key Traits, Skills, and Qualifications
We all have an ideal candidate. Ask yourself: What traits, skills, and qualifications must my data entry clerk have? Apart from software proficiency, your data encoder should have the following:
- Keen attention to detail
- Focus and persistence
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Exceptional organization skills
- Fast and accurate typing skills
- Critical and analytical thinking
Data entry jobs don’t require a high educational level, though a college degree is advantageous if the task involves specialized industry knowledge. You can also require potential candidates to have a data entry certification or relevant work experience in your industry.
Step #4: Draft A Job Description for A Data Entry Clerk
You now know what you’re looking for. But here comes the tricky part: Writing a data entry clerk job description. Remember, you’re competing with other clients, so a well-written job posting can make the difference between being passed over or attracting a candidate. Keep in mind the following tips:
- Begin job responsibilities with an action word.
- Make job titles specific (Ex: “Full-time Data Entry Clerk for E-Commerce).
- Outline the perks of working for your company (Ex: Performance bonuses).
- Provide a brief introduction of your business to attract potentially qualified candidates.
Including a link to an assessment form in the job description and stating you’re only accepting applications made through the form is also a good way to screen candidates — to see if they’re following directions.
In that form, you can include questions ranging from balancing multiple assignments to dealing with vague instructions. From their answers, you can gauge their character and written communication skills. You can include a link to a typing test to assess their typing speed.
Take note that the words per minute (WPM) differ between industries and tasks. A 30 to 40 WPM is already good for simpler data encoding tasks. If your business operates in the finance, medical, or customer industry, then a 40 to 60 WPM should be the minimum.
Step #5: Interview and Onboard Your Data Entry Clerk
Just like how candidates prepare for an interview, clients are also expected to do their part of the share. Online agencies and outsourcing companies include client interviews as part of their hiring process, so make sure you have a list of questions for shortlisted candidates. Here are three examples:
- Which skills can you transfer to this role?
- How do you maintain data integrity and accuracy under a tight deadline?
- How do you organize large data volumes?
Once a candidate passes the interview, you can onboard and acclimate them to your business’s operations. Provide additional resources, monitor their performance, and ensure timely feedback, so they can improve their performance.
Best Companies to Hire A Data Entry Clerk In the Philippines
An outsourcing, virtual assistant, or data entry company in the Philippines is the best place to hire and work with a remote data entry clerk. Check out the best companies that offer data entry assistance below.
1. KDCI Outsourcing
Based in Pasig City, KDCI Outsourcing is one of the best Philippine BPO companies with a global client base of well-known brands and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Its diverse portfolio of outsourcing services, from customer care to administrative support, enables it to provide much-needed manpower and streamlined operations at affordable rates.
KDCI Outsourcing’s data processing services are worthy of praise, as the company only hires the best data entry specialists who exhibit the speed, precision, and integrity to accomplish even the most repetitive and data-intensive tasks. The company also employs data entry clerks for niche roles, such as accounting encoders, e-commerce encoders, data conversion specialists, and many more.
Such diversity enables KDCI Outsourcing to train and onboard the right data entry clerk for any need. For example, a client who needs help sorting out financial data and analyzing trends benefits from an accounting encoder’s expertise and industry knowledge. Alternatively, a market research company that collects customer feedback can benefit from a survey encoder’s meticulousness and analytical skills.
By having the right people for the job, you can enjoy all the benefits that come with KDCI Outsourcing’s outsourced data entry solutions: An error-free database, a team of high performers, increased operational efficiency, and reduced expenses.
2. Outsourced
Headquartered in Quezon City, Outsourced is a BPO company with over a decade of experience in building personalized offshore staffing solutions for clients in various industries, including education, information technology, engineering and architecture, admin and data processing, and more.
As a company that maintains a high quality of service, Outsourced only hires the top 1% of the best data entry clerks. These data entry specialists not only meet your requirements and exhibit proficiency with database systems and customer relationship management (CRM) tools, they are also fast typists and detail-oriented. This allows your data entry team to complete any data encoding task with speed, care, and precision.
Because the outsourcing firm has an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 27001 certification, rest assured your data entry specialist and the Outsourced team will maintain confidentiality and protect your customers’ data at all costs.
With its talented workforce, world-class services, and ISO certifications, Outsourced makes for an excellent outsourcing partner for businesses of all sizes.
3. Stealth Agents
Stealth Agents is a company with a highly experienced team of full-time virtual assistants. The platform’s positive client reviews are a testament to its high hiring standards and world-class virtual assistance services. It handles the bulk of the sourcing and hiring process. Hence, it only matches you with the most qualified virtual assistant that best suits your goals, needs, and qualifications.
Stealth Agents has virtual assistants for every possible task, including inventory management, search engine optimization (SEO), copywriting, and data entry. The company’s virtual assistants for data entry are responsible for keeping databases organized and error-free. With their unparalleled speed and organization skills, they can accomplish data entry tasks with tight deadlines without sacrificing their eye for detail.
Beyond the usual data entry jobs, Stealth Agents’ data entry VAs can create custom reports to give you actionable, data-driven insights on market trends, so you can make the best decision for your business.
However, it’s important to remember that Stealth Agents is not aimed at clients looking for part-time virtual assistants, as the platform believes that growth is more sustainable with a full-time administrative assistant who’s fully dedicated to your business.
4. Unity Communications
Unity Communications prides itself in its 94% client retention rate, offering top-tier outsourcing solutions that help clients — particularly those from the United States — propel their small and Fortune 500 businesses to growth and success. With offices in Mexico, the Philippines, and the United States, this award-winning BPO company allows it to build teams based on the following outsourcing models: offshore, onshore, and nearshore.
While known for its stellar outsourced customer support services, Unity Communications outsources other services, such as tech support, virtual medical assistance, and data entry. Speaking of the latter, the BPO company’s data encoding services cover online research, listing and content management, online data input, and data entry for images, real estate, and payroll.
The firm’s data entry specialists are educated high-performers who can streamline your data encoding and processing operations, giving you more time for research and development, strategic decision-making, and other core business functions. Their commitment to data integrity and confidentiality ensures that all your business’s sensitive data are in safe hands.
Continuous professional development is also a norm in Unity Communications, so data entry specialists can keep up with trends and gain new skills to improve their performance and provide exceptional services to clients. Overall, Unity Communications is a great choice if you want a high-performing data entry specialist team that doesn't take too much toll on your budget.
5. OnlineJobs.PH
OnlineJobs.PH is a popular job and talent search platform with a long history of outsourcing work to the Philippines. It is also one of the best places to hire a Philippine-based virtual assistant. Filipino professionals on the platform boast skills and expertise that are most sought after by clients, including virtual assistance, writing, web development, e-commerce, graphic design, and data entry.
There are two ways of hiring a data entry clerk in OnlineJobs.PH: look up resumes or create a job posting. For the first method, you type a skill — in this case, data entry — on the search bar, and the platform will yield a list of virtual assistants who have this skill on their profile. You can review a virtual assistant’s profile and filter results according to your preferred employment type, availability, hourly rates, ID Proof score, and other metrics.
For the second method, you create a job opening and wait for candidates to send their applications. Either way, you will handle all steps of the hiring process, from sifting through applicants’ profiles to interviewing and onboarding qualified candidates. The best part about OnineJobs.PH is its commitment to client security.
Though only available for Premium users, its Background Data Check feature analyzes an applicant’s patterns through their employment history as well as their edit and job application logs. Thanks to this feature, you can ease your worries of hiring a scammer.
While you can create a free OnlineJobs.PH account, upgrading to Pro or Premium is recommended for the added features and benefits, including the ability to read reviews and contact candidates.
Collaborate With A Filipino Data Entry Team
With so many companies hiring data entry clerks, finding potentially qualified candidates for the data entry role is like finding a needle in a haystack. If you don’t want to spend time sourcing candidates, look no further than working with a reputable BPO company like KDCI Outsourcing.
At KDCI Outsourcing, we take care of the hiring process from start to finish, interviewing and vetting data encoders based on your requirements. This way, we can help you build a reliable Filipino data entry team composed of professionals with good typing speeds, a strong commitment to data accuracy and integrity, and proven experience and proficiency with your software.
Ready to boost your business’s efficiency at cost-effective rates? Contact us now for inquiries!
