Tagged: Market Trends

12 Nov

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Home Based Customer Service

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The earning opportunities that freelance jobs have offered to a lot of people in this tough time of recession are limitless. These freelancing options have provided us with the ability to cope with the situation despite the lack of job opportunities in our respective locations.

A good example is the people from India or people from the Philippines who have literally lived a night life for quite a long time because of their call center jobs. They are now left to sleep day and night, without any work to do, after the announcement of the global financial

crisis late last year. This is very unfortunate as these people are already equipped with skills and strengths to be able to perform excellently in a customer oriented setting— Filipinos are undoubtedly good in communicating in English while locals from India have their inclinations in technology. There is no question that these people are a good fit for customer service positions and that losing job such this is a major nosedive not just in their individual income, but in their country’s economy as a whole.  Good thing freelance bidding sites are here to rescue—these people can now continue with the kind of work that they enjoy doing.

If you are a part of this good sum of population who have lost their jobs in a snap or if you are someone gifted with the ability to talk things over, then this guide is for you. Read on.

Defining Home Based Customer Service

It is always easy to confuse this position with that of a Virtual Assistant or that of a Telemarketer because of the general nature of the job. Therefore, if your aim is to land a CSR or CCR job, then make sure to identify the differences that it has with that of the two aforementioned positions. Below are the IT IS and IT IS NOT’S of a Customer Service Representative freelance job;

WHAT A HOME BASED CUSTOMER SERVICE JOB IS NOT;

  • Very sales oriented
  • Pay is performance based
  • Outbound calls
  • Focus is on sales quota
  • Responsibilities: Calling out prospects (outbound), follow ups and documentation



WHAT A HOME BASED CUSTOMER SERVICE JOB IS NOT;

  • Absolutely no sales involved
  • Pay is on an hourly basis
  • Focus is on KPIs such as customer satisfaction and AHT (Average Handling Time)
  • Responsibilities: Taking in calls  (inbound) and documentation



This is a relatively short list to describe a home based Customer Service position. There’s a lot more to learn in order for you to enjoy the privilege of working home based while you are also able to do the things that you are good at. You just have to do your homework— by this we mean you conduct a self-initiated research that will help you exhaust all options available for you in the industry. You may opt to utilize the ‘search engine’ feature of www.donanza.com to help you find freelance jobs in this category. Alternatively, you can also visit the following links;

http://www.filcancommunications.biz/career.php

http://www.bsgclearing.com/riskmanagement/voicelogthirdpartyverification

http://www.convergys.com

http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/careers/index.jhtml

http://www.teletech.com/en-US/careers

http://www.overflowusa.com/jobs.html

Happy Freelancing!

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19 Oct

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Global Freelance Market Trends – Sep 09

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Committed to delivering valuable information that will help freelancers in their search for freelance jobs and in intelligent strategizing, www.donanza.com has once again release its monthly dose report of Global Freelance Market Trends— this time, for the month of September.

With a relatively increasing number of followers and job seekers, the Donanza Team provides detailed statistics for freelance job scopes such as Web Design, Graphic Design, Content Writing, Social Networking, SEO and Sales to keep freelancers clued up on the movement of the ever changing world of freelancing.

This month’s Donanza search engine results are based on thousands of job postings from prominent freelance bidding sites such as oDesk, Elance and Scriptlance. The figures aim to serve as a guide on how ‘new’ service providers can find job from various sources in a single webpage and on how ‘tenured’ providers can commit wise decisions with regard to their field of expertise and career direction.

Last Month’s freelance job market trends report focused on the implication of the month’s statistics on the overall movement of the freelance job and outsourcing industry. Now, the statistics will be presented as is to give freelancers an unbiased feel on how to decide for their own careers.

50 Most Required Skills


DoNanza’s Index Skills Trends – September 2009
#Rank Skill #Rank Skill
#1 PHP (-) #26 Content Writing (-7)
#2 Website Design (-) #27 Advertising (-3)
#3 Graphic Design (-) #28 Link Building (9)
#4 SEO (+1) #29 XML (+1)
#5 MySQL (-1) #30 Script Installation (+4)
#6 Flash (-) #31 Craigslist (N/A)
#7 CSS (+1) #32 Research (-)
#8 Data Entry (-1) #33 Illustrator (-7)
#9 Copywriting (-) #34 Article writing (-9)
#10 WordPress (+1) #35 Data Processing (-4)
#11 HTML (-1) #36 iPhone (-)
#12 Javascript (-) #37 Excel (-4)
#13 Photoshop (-) #38 Sales (-3)
#14 Joomla (+1) #39 Technical Writing (+2)
#15 AJAX (+1) #40 ASP (-)
#16 Marketing (+1) #41 e-Marketing (N/A)
#17 Logo Design (-3) #42 Video Service (-)
#18 e-Commerce (+21) #43 Proofreading (-5)
#19 .NET (-1) #44 Drupal (+1)
#20 JAVA (+3) #45 Bulk Marketing (N/A)
#21 Social Networking (+1) #46 Ghostwriting (+29)
#22 C/C++ (+6) #47 Multimedia (+17)
#23 SQL (-3) #48 Facebook (-4)
#24 XHTML (+3) #49 C# (+1)
#25 Blog (+4) #50 Linux (-7)

This report covers 50 skills (considered most required) with rankings based on the number of jobs posted under each skill in the month of September. Our top 3 skills seem immovable from their spots. Freelancers from India will surely be most delighted on this result as news from softpedia specified India as the next largest PHP development source on the internet— with United States as its nearest competition.

SEO, however, which is currently in the fourth spot of our top 5, appears to be moving in ups and downs from top 4 last July to top 5 last August and now on top 4 again. MYSQL completes our top 5 with CSS and Data Entry always in an attempt to replace it in its spot.

The biggest rise in the list as of the month of September is Ghostwriting. The biggest dive out of the list, on the other hand is article writing with 9 steps behind its former slot. Finally, the Market Trend’s most impressive growth was recorded by Ghostwriting which is now 28 slots up from its former position in the top 100. Ironically, other skills under the category of content development recorded tremendous losses this month.

10 Most Popular Searches

10 Most Popular Searches
#1 Graphic Design
#2 Software Dev.
#3 Writing
#4 Web Dev.
#5 Translation
#6 Admin Support
#7 PHP
#8 Illustration
#9 Java
#10 Web Design

In demand trends or what we refer to as our 10 Most Popular Searches are Graphic Design, Software Development, Writing, Web Development, Translation, Admin Support, PHP, Illustration, Java and Web Design. The list has not gone through much change this month except for the fact that SEO, Multimedia and iPhone are already nowhere to be found in the top 10.

As advised earlier, this report is now simply a representation of the statistics based on collected facts. It will be helpful if you will check out our online freelance job market trends for the month of July and August for a better look on the status of your field of expertise and the demands (opportunities) that it generates for you.

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15 Sep

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Global Freelance Market Trends – Aug 09

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If you are to consult a fortune teller just to be able to tell the future of freelancers, she will surely give you one ‘predictable’ answer— there shouldn’t be any worries at all on these home based workers’ end as earning opportunities through freelance jobs are here to stay. We suppose you remember this exact line from last month’s Global Freelance Market Trends – July 09′ post— well, we are surely not in a lost of words. We are just simply trying to put emphasis on an important fact: Freelance Jobs are a great source of stable income provided that you know where to get projects when you want them. Below are the lists of Top Demanded Skills and Top Searches for the month of August that will help you determine where your freelance career SHOULD be heading now.

50 Most Required Skills

There has been a sudden turn of events for Data Entry as it was replaced by MySQL on its spot on Donanza’s last month’s Top Demanded Skills. MySQL proved to be a rising freelance job as it moved from the sixth spot to the fourth on our current list. SEO also gave way to it by moving from the fourth spot to the fifth. Indeed, freelancers who are skilled on database management, particularly on a system such as MySQL, are undeniably in for some more freelance job opportunities in the coming months.

The movement in the trend is not that drastic at all that it is best to refer to it as a shuffle. This only implies one thing: If your skill is on a high-demand now, it is highly recommended that you continue to hone it in order to be a better value provider for the freelance jobs available for your skill rather than to consider a shift to a different skill that you find interesting at the moment. This is of course just an intelligent suggestion to a freelancer who wants a constant stream of work and income. However, if you do freelance jobs for the sake of being able to use your skills and to self-gratify, this piece of advice won’t really be for you.

DoNanza’s Index Skills Trends – August 2009
#Rank Skill #Rank Skill
#1 PHP (-) #26 Illustrator (+4)
#2 Website Design (-) #27 XHTML (+8)
#3 Graphic Design (-) #28 C/C++ (-3)
#4 MySQL (+2) #29 Blog (-2)
#5 SEO (-1) #30 XML (+2)
#6 Flash (+1) #31 Data Processing (-9)
#7 Data Entry (-2) #32 Research (-4)
#8 CSS (-) #33 Excel (-)
#9 Copywriting (-) #34 Script Installation (-3)
#10 HTML (+1) #35 Sales (-6)
#11 WordPress (+1) #36 iPhone (+1)
#12 Javascript (-2) #37 Link Building (-14)
#13 Photoshop (+1) #38 Proofreading (-2)
#14 Logo Design (+2) #39 e-Commerce (+3)
#15 Joomla (-) #40 ASP (-2)
#16 AJAX (+1) #41 Technical Writing (+35)
#17 Marketing (-4) #42 Video Service (+2)
#18 .NET (+1) #43 Linux (-4)
#19 Content Writing (+7) #44 Facebook (-1)
#20 SQL (-) #45 Drupal (+8)
#21 Web Promotion (-3) #46 Lead Generation (+5)
#22 Social Networking (-1) #47 Telemarketing (+1)
#23 JAVA (+1) #48 Internet Marketing (-7)
#24 Advertising (+23) #49 Animation (+23)
#25 Article writing (+9) #50 C# (+34)

You may be wondering what the green and red numbers across each skills are for. These numbers are the movement determinants. Through them, you will be able to tell which skills made tremendous leaps on freelance job demands (the green ones) and which ones failed to maintain a good standing on clients’ needs. Amongst those who have made noticeable improvements are technical writing, c#, advertising and animation which number climbed up our list by 35, 34 and 23 slots respectively. Temporary poor performers for this month, however, surprisingly include link building, data processing, internet marketing and sales which demand dropped from our list from the relatively high number of 14 down to 6. This should be no cause for any apprehension though because as it was already mentioned; freelance jobs are here to stay. A favorable trend or a sudden decline on a demand for a skill is perfectly normal— what’s not is you taking it against your own career. No matter how limited your skill has to offer, you are still the manager of your profession. Look for work; they won’t look for you.

10 Most Popular Searches

10 Most Popular Searches
#1 Graphic Design
#2 Writing
#3 Software Dev.
#4 Web Dev.
#5 PHP
#6 Translation
#7 Web Design
#8 iPhone
#9 SEO
#10 Multimedia

Now, we’ve come to the moment of truth. What do you think is the best way to determine if your skill has its appeal to clients? Check our month’s Top Searches! Similar to Donanza’s August Top Demanded Skills list, our Top Searches list has not had much movement. It has just been literally shuffled. It is, however, notable that admin support has been replaced by multimedia on our top ten, but this does pose any possible source of worry to admin support freelancers at all. This simply appears to be a ‘seasonal’ movement to be expected from time to time. After all, freelance jobs never promised stability.

Constant stream of work and earnings are still highly dependent on the freelancer’s competitiveness and resourcefulness. Needless to say, no matter where your skill is on Donanza’s Top Demanded Skills and Top Searches list, it is still entirely up to you to be able to find and ‘bag’ freelance jobs and gigs for yourself. Therefore, equip yourself with the knowledge and proficiency your career field requires— and explore bidding sites such as www.donanza.com which collectively gives you all the opportunities available across the web— and you are surely going to be staying the world of freelancing for a long time while loving it.

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03 Aug

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Global Freelance Market Trends – July 09

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Freelancing Industry is indeed here to stay— this is what Donanza’s Search Engine Results and Rankings imply. If you are in doubt that this is for real, check out these three categories which can show you how the virtual home based scene has evolved from an unemployment option into a fulltime home based position.

50 Most Required Skills

Together with Donanza’s mission to expose all the freelance jobs available over the web comes a need to monitor market trends, provide statistics and present these data in an organized and unbiased manner. This category, together with the rest that will appear in this post, are going to be a constant content of this page as Donanza continually gives you a bird’s eye view of the freelancing industry’s movements. Below are the 50 Most Required Skills based on all the freelance websites’ job posts collected and tabulated.

DoNanza’s Index Skills Trends – July 2009
#Rank Skill #Rank Skill
#1 PHP #26 Link Building
#2 Website Design #27 Sales
#3 Graphic Design #28 Script Installation
#4 SEO #29 C/C++
#5 Data Entry #30 Illustrator
#6 MySQL #31 Excel
#7 Flash #32 Proofreading
#8 Copywriting #33 Research
#9 CSS #34 XML
#10 Javascript #35 XHTML
#11 Photoshop #36 Blog
#12 HTML #37 Article writing
#13 WordPress #38 iPhone
#14 Logo Design #39 Translation
#15 AJAX #40 ASP
#16 Joomla #41 Telemarketing
#17 Web Promotion #42 Market Research
#18 .NET #43 e-Commerce
#19 Social Networking #44 Linux
#20 Data Processing #45 Video Service
#21 SQL #46 Shopping Cart
#22 English #47 Visual Basic
#23 Content Writing #48 Admin Assistant
#24 JAVA #49 Internet Marketing
#25 Marketing #50 Facebook

Topping our 50 Most Required Skills chart are Php, Website Design, Graphic Design, SEO and Data Entry— all of which happen to be working together as a team to come up with an ‘attractive’ webpage. By attractive, we mean pleasing to the eye and search engine friendly.
An increasing trend on content-related skills (Copywriting, HTML, WordPress, Content Writing, Link Building, Blog and Article Writing) is also notable. This is obviously brought about by the increasing number of businesses with online presence which requires regular content updates for marketing purposes. Needless to say, content is a critical part of any webpage which may even determine a page’s affectivity over internet browsers and site visitors.

15 Most Popular Searches

10 Most Popular Searches
#1 Writing
#2 Software Dev.
#3 Graphic Design
#4 Web Dev.
#5 Admin Support
#6 Translation
#7 PHP
#8 SEO
#9 iPhone
#10 Web Design
#11 Java
#12 .NET
#13 Logo Design
#14 Android
#15 Paython

The best part of reading this is that you get to know which amongst the 50 Most Required Skills are consistently on every prospect clients’ watch list. Here is a table showcasing the top performers in Donanza’s search engine.
Landing the top spot is writing, which is a common freelance job, outsourced by clients from around the globe. Admin Support also finds its place in our list’s Top 5 as more and more people are already outsourcing administrative freelance jobs which includes (but are not limited to); web research, e-mail correspondence, diary management, blog posting, article submission to directories and business call handling.
Our Top 5 Most Required Skills also made it in our 15 Most Popular Searches. A common factor simply implies that there is more to come for these industries for a long period of time. Therefore, if you have the gift of gab or competitive programming skills, you are surely going to be in for some great freelance job appointments!

Funniest/Weirdest/Most Romantic Freelance Job Post

The last, but surely not the least category will be Donanza’s Funniest/Weirdest/Most Romantic Freelance Job Post. Let us cut out some slack and entertain ourselves with a job post which will have you wonder how a future bride would feel if she knew that her future groom’s efforts to make his marriage proposal to her extra special has even made its way to the virtual freelancing world!

image

This is a proof of how limitless freelance job opportunities can be. This is not unique at all. Sure it is separable from the lot, but if you’ll care to browse some more, you will know that almost anyone can go on freelancing through the use of their valuable skills and a little self promotion.

Watch out for next month’s Search Engine Results, Rankings and Market Statistics, and continually make use of these data to be able to properly strategize and demand-proof your freelance career goals.

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