It’s not uncommon to hire remote workers, and many small and large businesses do it to supplement their domestic teams.
There are reasons U.S. employers prefer Filipino workers. There is a large pool of college-educated professionals, and many remote workers from the country have excellent English skills, so their abilities and qualifications are immense.
The Philippines is one of the top places many businesses look to when it comes to building out a remote team, but there are considerations to keep in mind when outsourcing work.
This is especially true when you’re outsourcing to workers in another country. For example, you have to think about how much is considered a fair amount to pay your remote workers, how to send money to the Philippines, and how to manage your remote team even when there are significant time differences.
The following are some tips to keep in mind if you’re planning to hire Filipino remote workers for your business.
Identify the Specific Work You Want to Outsource
Before you can start looking for remote workers to add to your team, you need to have a very clear, specific idea of what business tasks you want to outsource.
How you approach this can vary depending on your business and your needs. For example, are you looking for a virtual assistant who works a few hours a day, or are you trying to outsource a more core component of your business?
Once you have an idea of the specific tasks you’re outsourcing, you can create a job description.
Create a Budget
You should also create a specific budget before you get to work on recruiting remote workers. You’ll need to think about whether you’re outsourcing for a one-time project, or if this is ongoing work.
You need to know the minimum you can reasonably pay someone to do the work, and you also need to think about whether or not you’re willing to pay higher rates for more experience.
As a side note, many remote workers don’t want full-time employment that prevents them from working on other jobs at the same time. Most remote workers like working on several projects at a time, so keep this in mind as you’re structuring the job role and the budget.
Finding Talent
There are some pretty good websites that will connect you with Filipino talent. To determine the specific resource you’ll use, think about what you need.
Upwork.com is probably the most well-known of all the freelance and remote worker sites, and you can post pretty much any job here. With that being said, you may have to sift through quite a few unqualified people before you find someone you can work with.
There are other sites as well, such as WorkingNomads, or you can work with an agency that specializes in connecting businesses with overseas talent, although this may be more expensive than recruiting directly.
Finally, don’t think you can’t interview candidates. If you need specialized skills, or you need your remote worker to manage customer service tasks, the interview process can be especially important. Hop on a video call and get to know the candidates you’re thinking of hiring.
