RON CIRUJANO Country Manager UPWORK PHILIPPINES

Freelancing used to be synonymous with being jobless, but no more. It has become a chosen career path some and a good alternative in this changing working environment.

Upwork, the world’s largest freelance online platform, is leading this trend and setting the stage for more freelancers. Country Manager Ron Cirujano expects a livelier freelancing mode.

UPWORK

Upwork, formerly Elance, is the world’s largest freelance talent marketplace. With an increasingly connected and independent workforce goes online, knowledge work — like software, shopping and content before it — is shifting online as well.

This shift is making it faster and easier for clients to connect and work with talent in near real-time and is freeing professionals everywhere from having to work at a set time and place.

Upwork is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with offices in San Francisco and Oslo, Norway.

It operates in over 180 countries with 10 million freelancers and 4 million clients. It takes on average 3 days to hire on Upwork.

As the biggest online platform for freelancers, Upwork has $1 billion in billings in freelance earnings globally.

In the Philippines, it has 1.4 million freelancers. In 2014, Filipinos have earned more than 4 billion and growing rapidly. Filipinos are in demand especially in the customer service category. Customer service earnings per hour can vary anywhere from $3 up to $16.50 (Entry level to Expert).

With technology, Upwork can track everything about its freelancers’ progress on their work.

Ron emphasizes that the company’s main concern is on the side of its freelancers. So, the target is to help its freelancers earn.

But he also gets the chance to meet with clients to orient them on the freelancer side. This is one way to match the job seeker and the employer.

While Upwork has done very little in terms of hardcore marketing campaigns, Ron says the biggest help is the word of mouth. Ron further said Cebu and Davao have the biggest potential among the provinces. Another contender is Dumaguete City.

JOBS

Freelancing under Upwork is largely driven by jobs posting by their clients. They have multinational clients as well as small and medium enterprises in need of some people doing a variety of services like IT programming.

But the focus of Upwork is more of its freelancers. The most popular work for freelancers is customer service because call center work is not just calls but also phone chats and more.

Freelancing has become the new trend in employment because of the changing work environment. It is safer for workers to just stay and work at home where workers feel safer working in the comforts of their home. It is also one way to save time and cost.

“They have more time with family,” says Ron.

What is nice with freelancing is that workers in the provinces need not go to Manila to find a job. Some of their freelancers are from the provinces particularly Cebu, Davao and Iligan, but the hub is still in Manila.

If they want to go on vacation they can work online at the hotel where they are staying or wherever as long as there is good and reliable Internet connection.

“It is very convenient and they have the freedom in doing the job,” Ron adds.

“What is discouraging them (freelancers) is the slow Internet connection,” he adds.

HIRING

According to Ron, global clients would now prefer to hire online because it is more cost-efficient. When they hire the traditional way, they would normally interview 50 candidates. But if they hire online for customer service they can narrow it down. They don’t need to maintain an office as they only have a virtual office.

Filipinos are known for their adaptability to different cultures and their proficiency of the English language are a big edge over other freelancers in the world.

But because of the different time zones, companies have now learned to adjust operations but their websites are on 4-hour operation.

Depends of the contract, but some have fixed rates for longer term projects. For instance, someone has commissioned an e-book wherein the terms of the contract could be a fixed rate. But for customer service, the fee could be on an hourly basis.

“Filipinos are in the top 5 among freelancers in the world. It is easy to land a job, the only requirement is you must have a good Internet connection,” says Ron.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

According to Ron, freelancing has also become like an entrepreneurship platform where someone can promote his services and build a business online.

Freelancing can be very lucrative considering that some regular employes with 9 to 5 jobs still maintain freelancing.

Some freelancers are even using this work model as an entrepreneurial activity. For instance, some freelancers now become entrepreneurs by hiring other freelancers to work with them on certain projects.

“So some have 5 to 15 freelancers working for them,” he adds. These works range from customer service, admin work, virtual secretarial chores.

“For instance, a group of dentists need someone who can manage their bookings and calendars and send inputs if there are meetings and alignments of emails. These types of works appeal to Filipinos, who are service-oriented,” says Ron.

Upwork website has all the jobs posting that a registered freelancer could bid for. They will haggle for it. Normally, the rate is fixed if the job is a tedious one.

A customer service job could fetch $3 an hour up to $16 to $17 depending on the expertise of the freelancer. Upwork has two kinds of memberships, one is paid, the other is free. For Filipinos, it is free but the company takes 10 percent of every transaction closed.

“You get paid in dollars like everyone else’s,” adds Ron.

“If you get a freelance job five days a week the remuneration could be higher than most people with the regular job,” says Ron.

Under previous Elance, Filipino earnings reached $100 million in 2014. The Upwork website also provides its own skills test for free to prove one’s ability and capability. But Ron says it also pays if one has some certification from certifying bodies like TESDA.

“But on our platform we can prove your experience and the employer and the freelancer can do a video call,” says Ron.

To encourage freelancing, Ron conducts some get together among freelancers. As the point person, Ron keeps tracks of his freelancers. Ron arranges parties for top performers and small gathering during Christmas just to get their feedback.

While there have been successful Filipino freelancers, Ron says that the challenge among the local is the ability to sell themselves.

Aside from the Internet challenge, Ron says that Filipino freelancers should be able to present a comprehensive resume.

“Freelancers should overcome their inhibitions to bid and win certain projects. I am here to help them in terms of setting their hourly rate and preparing their resumes. So, if they have their profiles set and photos and portfolio, a freelancer can land a job in just one to 2 days to a week,” he adds.

So, Ron conducts trainings to freelancers on how to win jobs and how to tweak their profiles to make it more attractive and easier for the employers to understand.

FULFILLMENT “It is very fulfilling than a regular 9 to 5 job,” says Ron, who has been in the freelance industry for three years. Aside from having a convenient way of working and managing his own time, Ron welcomes the opportunity to be part in changing the lives of some Filipinos and their growth as professionals.

“I don’t think I missed something from my previous job,” says Ron.

“Since I am home-based I practically watch my child grow because next year he will be going to school so that is very important to me,” says Ron.

“It pays well also, salary is good,” he adds.

Because Upwork is based in the US, there is a wide time difference. “So I have to wait until 12 midnight if we have a teleconference,” says Ron, who usually works until 6 in the evening.

Upwork is a very competitive company based in Silicon Valley, which is a melting pot of technology, which is now the focus because it enables companies to grow.

“When I went to Silicon Valley, I saw everyone there being involved in technology, which is the focus among companies for it enables innovations and growth,” he adds.

“But it is also challenging because I have to help freelancers how to manage their clients and address issues. So, even at 12 midnight, I cannot stop working because I am trying to build up my freelancers,” he adds.

LESSONS LEARNED

According to Ron, freelancing is one way to fulfill that inclusive growth goal of the government.

“We’ve always talked about inclusive growth but how do we achieve that? With online, people in the provinces are given equal opportunities to land good jobs and remain there,” he adds. PWDs can also tap this employment model. People with health restrictions could fit in this working condition.

“Freelancing also fits very well to the service-oriented culture of Filipinos,” he adds.

In the case of Ron, he did not see him himself working in the freelance industry because he only knew corporate job. When he started working with Elance, he found out how liberating this job has been. Most of all, it shielded him from office politics. He holds office at home in a noise-free environment.

Ron has been very grateful for Elance and Upwork for giving the biggest break in his career, whose first job was as salesman for construction information.

Ron joined Upwork as country manager in March 2013 and is responsible for Upwork’s activities within the country. He has more than ten years of experience in marketing, both online and offline. Prior to joining Upwork, Ron was the marketing head of an international company that operates in Philippines; he handled their global online campaigns with a focus on social media, pay per click, and search engine optimization. He holds a BSC in Business Management and Entrepreneurship from San Beda College, in Manila.

He worked in an international company based in Ortigas, while running the marketing operations – his boss at the time, who owns the company was really a big fan of Upwork (Elance at that time). He used it to hire a freelancer to build and run their Google Ads campaign and to also design artworks for the marketing operations.

According to Ron, online work is a perfect fit for Filipinos. Talent is equally distributed globally but opportunity is not.

The Philippines has some of the most talented and skilled people but they often go abroad for better opportunities – with online work, they no longer have to leave the country, they could even stay at home and earn.

At Upwork, everyone is included. The opportunities to earn is boundless.