4 Essential Qualities of a Data Entry Professional

When it comes to hiring a data entry professional, you want to make sure you are getting a quality addition to your team.

This is why many businesses now look to outsourcing data processing roles. Because through outsourcing, they are able to take advantage of global talent to manage the increasing volume of data in their organisations and minimise overheads.

However, this role requires far more than its title of ‘data entry’. The perfect data entry professional will have an excellent combination of skills and attitude to get the job done. When it comes to hiring a data entry professional, there are four essential qualifications to look out for.

1. Knowledge of Basic Software Applications

A data entry operator must be well-versed with the necessary software applications including word processors, spreadsheets, databases, and CRM software. Familiarity across multiple applications and being confidently able to share data and information across these applications is vital for success in the role.

The ability to adapt and learn new applications and software is also recommended. For most specialists in this area, strong knowledge in a suite of applications will result in the ability to pick up new software. It’s important for you to gauge the technical abilities through the interviewing process to ensure your candidate is at a level that will suit your role and requirements.  

Keep in mind that accounting and payroll systems are common, but processes will vary for each organization. So be prepared for onboarding and specific training to cover how your business would like specific tasks to be completed.

Don’t be afraid to look for data entry professionals with specific industry training or education. This can be a skill or attribute that is “highly regarded” but is non-essential in the interviewing process.

2. Excellent Written and Verbal Skills

Being an exceptional data encoder involves strong skills in both written and verbal communication across internal and external departments. Accuracy and attention to detail is a vital element in ensuring data is correctly entered, transferred, or communicated.

When hiring a data entry professional globally, it’s important to do a basic communication test to ensure that your potential team member is at a level your team requires. This test could involve simple written and verbal tasks to be completed. For example, writing a short story, correcting grammatical errors on a document, or correctly naming and filing a document by following simple instructions.

Excellent communication also means observance of confidentiality. In fact, it’s not uncommon for clients to suggest a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for team members in this role. A data encoder knows when and with whom to talk to about crucial information, so trust and secrecy are critical values in this type of work. Adhering to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) is imperative.

The right person for this role must also be confident in communicating with those he/she needs to in order to achieve their task. They need to be able to ask questions, suggest improvements in process and procedures, and be able to document these processes where required.  

3. High Typing Speed and Accuracy

To process volume of data, data entry professionals are typically fast typists and are familiar with shortcut keys for speedier data entry.

Speed tests are an additional test you could conduct when looking for a data operator.  The required speed depends on the nature of the business with a 30 – 40 words per minute (wpm) being the average acceptable speed.

However, data entry accuracy is as important as the typing speed. An 80-wpm speed is useless when the output is full of errors therefore attention to detail is an important attribute.

4. Has Exceptional Work Ethics

In most roles, skills can be taught, but attitude cannot be. The same goes for the data encoder you will be hiring. This person will need to be a personality fit for your team.

In order for you to match them, you will need to ask the situational questions that will help you determine if this candidate is a culture fit for your business. This will also help you gauge how they will handle specific scenarios. Some examples of questions you can ask include:

• Tell me about a situation where you were faced with an overwhelming amount of tasks to complete.
• What did you do to ensure that you completed the right tasks first?
• If you found an error on a document that the CEO had sent you, how would you handle advising them of the error?
• Give me an example of a time you improved a process to make it more efficient?

Apart from this, when hiring offshore team members, it’s important to have a communication plan in place. Your offshore team must be open to communicating with you, so you can be updated of any progress or issues that should be raised.

This is something an experienced outsourcing partner like Cybalink Solutions can guarantee you. We’ve nailed our process down pat so that clients can have peace of mind.

So if you have been thinking about hiring a Data Entry Professional, we can craft a solution just for you. With our years of experience and expertise, there’s no one remotely like us.