Why Filipino Freelancers Are the Best and Well Preferred by Foreign Employers

Plus: The Advantages and Tips on Being The “Ideal Filipino Freelancer

Filipino talents are found, if not recognized with awe, all over the world. Additionally, this acknowledgment is much notable noting the limited opportunities, exploitations, and unfair disadvantages brought by various issues encountered by a lot of Filipinos.

Freelancing life in the Philippines has is many advantages, as well as concrete ways for you to benefit from these advantages. However, before delving into that part, let us discuss mainly why Filipinos are in demand in the international freelancing market. This discussion will both be for informing purposes and for you to know what aspects of being a Filipino worker should you focus on:

What Makes Filipino Freelancers Outstanding

1. Filipinos are Naturally Proficient in Learning the Latest of Internet Trends

Mainly because of the Filipinos’ huge and prevailing interest in participating in the latest news, updates, and trends in different internet platforms especially in various social media sites, learning and adapting to technological changes serves nothing else but a by-product of the said further growing interests.

Based on Statista, a website that provides a count for various statistical needs, Facebook users in the Philippines from 2017 to 2023 is expected to reach 49.9 million in total. That is almost a million users increase for every year. That is since in 2016 there are 41.2 million recorded active users of the said website.

Twitter, on the other hand, based on the statistical calculation back in 2014, is expected to have 10.4 million users in the year 2019. That involves the same interpretation as stated for the growth in Facebook users, which again, accumulates a roughly estimated million users every succeeding year.

Another data that could help us understand this seemingly unstoppable interest of Filipinos on the internet is their recorded usage of computer in comparison to the world average, based on the data released by the Social and Hootsuite annual digital report, the Philippines tops the global stage in terms of internet usage (using desktop or laptop computer), clocking in at 5 hours and 4 minutes daily, significantly higher than the global average of 3 hours and 28 minutes.

From this, the majority of the Filipino people were able to develop an efficient and effective way of “connecting” to their social media friends– developing proficiency in building their possibly unnoticed strategic techniques for connecting to their audiences. That which for many times, proved itself worthy for employers’ digital marketing needs.

2. Numerous BPO Companies are Investing in the Filipino talent

Besides from the immediate implication of this statement alone, that which is Filipinos are highly in-demand for these companies which further denotes how skills and work ethics of Filipinos are at par from other nations, this also provides us the reason how these countless outsourcing jobs in the Philippines have been a way of developing Filipinos already rising potential, so as they could shine bright in the freelancing field. As claimed by testimonials from Filipino freelancers who in the past used to be part of one to few outsourcing companies, the work experience itself that they had in the BPO companies helped them to be knowledgeable and used to with adjusting to their time in fit to their customers’, meet deadlines as expected of them, as well as how to treat and deal with different clients according to varying culture and personalities.

Both soft and hard skills from experiencing BPO jobs, truly, improves and prepare Filipino people for far greater opportunities— one of which is freelancing online.

3. Filipinos Know What “Hard Work” Means

With the Philippines being a developing country exposed to different economic vulnerabilities, the majority of its citizens know that obtaining their dreams is worth the hard work. This molded mindset of Filipinos is probably one of the reasons why they can qualify, if not exceed, the standards put in front of them by their freelancing employers.

All that the Filipino needs is a clear set of expectations, concrete list of instructions, and sufficient payment (that undeniably, is still cheaper than the rates of the world’s average), and surely these international employers are sure to receive nothing an output just as expected, if not way more than the said.

4. Filipinos Have a Remarkable Command of the English Language

Perhaps the only good thing that the American oppression has brought to the Filipinos- us learning their language with the same degree of priority as our native language/s, noting that the global workforce language remains to be controlled and still mainly utilizes the English language at present.

In light of this, the blog site Investopedia goes on to claim that “(The) Philippines has found English to be an unofficial second language thanks to its historical ties, including periods of both conflict and prosperity.”

The excellent English skills of the Filipino people is a big step that created the mile advantage of the Filipino freelancers compared to other nations— even those whose mother language is English.

5. Filipinos Are Preferable Beyond Trend

Having no seriously dealt communication barriers since Filipinos, as said, are expert with the English language and are capable of connecting with those coming from different cultures, in addition to their inclination to being skillful in their chosen fields, as well as adaptable, trustworthy, efficient, and creative— it is of no wonder why Filipinos are much chosen in comparison to their foreign freelancing counterparts.

Filipinos having the ethics, skills, and personality gives them the ability to surpass that “trend-worthy” potential and become top among their respective fields in freelancing.

Benefits of Choosing Freelancing in the Philippines

1. Starting Up Is Way Less Hassle but More Accessible vs. Corporate Jobs

Before being able to enter into a decent corporate job, except if you’re Laude from a well-known university or already has a rich working experience, it would be very stressful for you— as you are expected to have an extent of experience way greater than what you normally should be having, as well as a couple of bureaucracy-related hardships towards obtaining government requirements that could take up not only much of your precious time but most importantly of your well-being and resources.

However, freelancing is a whole different experience. Requiring less while opening doors of opportunity to more people, despite their background and with much less faced discrimination, freelancing is truly a pathway towards career development and perhaps, financial freedom also, for a lot of Filipinos… with less of the unnecessary hardships that traditional means of job acquisition usually poses.

Another solid proof of this accessibility is witnessing the number of beginners in freelancing that add up to the market every single day, the result of this should already convince anyone regarding the veracity of the said claim.

2. Avoid Wasting Couple of Hours in Heavy Traffic

With the lack of sufficient public transport systems in the Philippines and the exploitative pricing of few remaining private transport agencies, altogether worsened by the ever-increasing count of vehicles, hours that could have been spent to work or for personal well-being and family are then wasted as if they are worth nothing.

Although some may see this as a band-aid solution, we cannot deny that because of freelancing opportunities that you can access as long as you have an internet and a functional laptop or desktop computer, the wasted hours in traffic is not seen as a problem for home-based freelancers anymore.

This benefit can be maximized by using the time you bought yourself into utilizing skills to expand your specialty or master the craft you’re already focusing on. If not, you can use it simply for leisure or for making up to the lost moments with your loved ones that you sacrificed for that corporate job.

3. Avoid the Crowd

If you are not fond of interacting with people during work and all the other priorities you have to go on through the day such as when working out at the gym, freelancing having flexible hours and foreign employers usually on a different time zone in comparison to ours, could be of much help for a privacy-loving person like you.

Ultimately, freelancing is a career pathway that prides itself with that ever persuasive and liberating line, “You do you.”

4. Cliquey Colleagues and Ever-Commanding Boss Is Not Your Problem Anymore

Having a good working space contributes not only to your efficiency as a part of a workforce but most importantly, it stimulates your growth as an individual. If at present you have encouraging and positive workmates alongside a boss that is constructive and appreciates you and your work, then that would be very well to keep up with— unfortunately, this is not the case for some, if not many, of the Filipino employees.

That makes up as an additional reason why freelancing is tempting for almost everyone it is given an opportunity with. Although there are people who still prefer the traditional way of how a job is done, having a working autonomy and a healthy space where there is no pressing need for you to find your “group” and deal with unnecessary comments is arguably better at many angles.

Additionally, you are also in control of how much amount of work you want to be loaded with for a given time.

5. Adopt Useful Business Skills

Freelancing is considerably a small business too, which makes a freelancer automatically as an entrepreneur.

More importantly, the relationship of freelancing and business world is further enhanced on how the competitive field of freelancing requires each to be able to find a way how to sell themselves, rising beyond their competitors yet without necessarily pricing their services short.

Alongside this, as freelancers interact and negotiate with their employers, they can develop their administrative proficiency and other marketing skills, even including the kind qualifications that are expected only by business managers.

6. Become That In-Demand Filipino Freelancer

Of course, to become that ideal freelancer and be able to reap the best of benefits out there, you should be strategic through choosing what field you should master and focus on.

For this concern, the major factor you should be dealing with is the skill’s marketability in the freelancing platform. With that, here are the top seven most in-demand and high-paying jobs for all aspiring Filipino freelancers out there!

1. Quality Analyst

A quality analyst is responsible for testing workflows and processes to guarantee that all assigned services and products of the company of his/her employer to him/her satisfy the company’s set standards, as well as vision and mission.

Mainly, the tasks under this include reviewing the performance of either product or the output of an employee, as well as checking for any existing errors and seek respectively needed corrections.

The median pay for this is around P26 000/month, estimating up to P312 000 annually.

General qualifications for this freelance job are:

Strong knowledge in computer science or of management information systems
Verified track record of effective problem-solving
Considerable to a strong command of oral and verbal communication skills
Moderate to extensive knowledge of SQL, JavaScript, and HTML

2. Technical Writer

Under creative services, a technical writer is expected to be able to present various sorts of complex technical details and lay it down on a simpler, easy to grasp framing and format.

Technical writing, conflicting to its name, does not only cover the “writing” part but as well as handling tutorials.

The median pay is P30 000 per month which totals around P360 000 annually. Additionally, the projected job growth of technical writing is 8% from 2018 to 2028.

General qualifications for this freelance job are:

Online publication abilities
Extensive knowledge of information management
Considerable Research Skills

3. Software Engineer

Under the technological industries, software engineering is identified as a job that requires software and systems building that are meant to address various technological needs addressed, as well as maintenance of assigned networks and databases. Software engineers are expected to have mastery over various programming languages.

The median pay for this is expected to be at P33 000 monthly which makes around P406 000 annually.