It is widely known that the most in-demand and lucrative work in the Philippines for the past few years is working in call centers. The job offers are high and sometimes a good candidate would even have options in choosing one from several offers made. That's cool. However, we also find a lot of people falling by the sideways leaving their call center work because lets face it, this type f work is not for everybody. I'd have to agree that sometimes, the work gets boring without proper guidance.
Here's something most of you probably don't know. If you have an little bit of I.T. back ground, if you're internet savvy-ness is well above average with a little background in programming, you might want to brush up on your basics because there's a more lucrative career for you outside of call centering.
I've been chatting with a H.R. manager friend of mine and I found out from her that the most in-demand and highly paid work these days are Search Engine Marketing Professionals. She says that compared to call center professionals, Search Engine Marketers are harder to find and command a bigger asking price for their premium skills. A good SEM is knowledgeable in Internet technology, Search Engines and Marketing.
In plain simple words, a SEM's job is to enhance websites for readers and search engine to increase internet sales conversions. It has been listed in Yahoo Careers as the top 5 highest paying careers not requiring post-graduate courses like an MBA. According to this Yahoo news article, SEMs starting salary is $40,000 in the U.S. but a proven SEM can earn in the six figures. My friend, the HR manager, says this is exactly why Internet Marketing pros are hard to come by in the Philippines and if they do find a few, these SEMs ask too much for their salaries. No kidding with their talent and today's internet technology, they could be earning at least $40,000 per project! So if you have a tinsy tiny knowledge in copywriting, search engine marketing, html and php and web designing, this job may be your good alternative right now.
There are a few companies looking for them already, some would pay a very good premium for their skills. The big problem here is the Philippines doesn't have a big pool of SEM talent. Unlike, call center entry level requirements, SEM jobs require specific skills mentioned above. But for the right skills there is a big payday waiting.
Additional: As per request of David, one of our friends here who was nice enough to leave us a comment, check out these most recent SEM/SEO job opening in Jobstreet. All published just within in the week! Anyone interested, may just click and follow the link to read the qualifications and apply. Good luck!
1. Search Engine Optimizer
2. SEM/SEO Specialists
3. SEO Specialists
4. SEO Specialists
5. All SEM/SEO jobs in jobstreet
9 comments here!:
What an interesting career, I'd never heard of it before. Thanks for the heads up!
whats the qualification of a SEM?
Hi Hazel,
SEM's need to have knowledge in HTML, search engine algorithms and mechanics, they should know how to optimize a web page by creating keyword-rich content and link-building among others.
Morever, one of the main objectives of SEM's is to create/optimize webpages that can make sales conversions.
maybe a good example is how our friends at our paid to blog sites aka advertisers do this type of work right?
they ask us to create reviews of their sites with keywords/keyphrases which directs traffic to their site... am I correct?
Yes, that's correct. Paying bloggers to write about their websites is a part of doing SEM for two reasons. Number 1 is to drive viewer traffic to their website. Number 2 is to having as many relevant blogs/websites linking to their blog.
This is the first time I ever heard of this job.
Anyway, lilihis lang ng konti. I'm just wondering, by those times that call centers are not yet here, I always hear so many friends and people are always on the hunt because they have no job ever since they graduated. Then when the call centers came, those "friends" are now in call centers. What would happen if there are no or just a few call centers here in the Philippines? Where will those "graduates" with no job go?
Bigla lang pumasok sa isip ko.
practice what they studied for in college I guess? :)
OK, thanks for the heads up. However I was actually planning on staying here in the call center where I'm currently working in. Now that I've read about this post though, I'm kinda lured back into my original plan which is to make it by being an online professional. Either by blogging, writing, or search engine marketing (I'm fairly knowledgeable of all three). I wish you'd included more links to actual SEM job openings though... Well, thanks anyway!
Hi there David,
I appended this post to include SEO/SEM job posting from jobstreet.com. I hope you get to read it again. Thanks.
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