The Best Data Entry Jobs in Malaysia
You’ve probably heard of data entry jobs before. You should have, as it’s in high demand, not only in Malaysia, but also in the rest of the world. Above all, it’s one of the most popular entry level positions in the job market and, as such, could be your stepping stone into a long and successful career.
In this post, we’ll look at data entry in more detail, consider the qualifications and skills you need for the job, and we’ll look at some of the types of data entry jobs in Malaysia that are available. More importantly, if you decide that a data entry job is for you, we’ll also show you some of the best places where you can look for these jobs.
What is Data Entry?
As the name implies, data entry is when you add, input, verify, or edit any type of electronic data. This can include everything from transcribing meetings to entering figures into spreadsheets and entering data into online tools and systems.
Data entry is quite versatile as a job. For example, you can do it remotely, on-site, part-time, full-time, and even as a freelancer. You’ll also be paid in several different ways including payment per page, for your time, or even for the number of words you’ve entered.
Is Data Entry in Demand?
We’ve now seen what data entry is, so the next question is: Is data entry in demand? And here, the answer is a resounding yes. More and more businesses use data for several purposes from making better business decisions to deciding what marketing works best for their customers and even offering better customer experiences. However, to do this, businesses typically use several different tools and need the data to move from one tool to the next. This is where data entry specialists come in.
What Qualifications Do You Need For Data Entry Jobs in Malaysia?
One of the major benefits of data entry as a job is that you don’t need any special qualifications or credentials. However, despite this, you do need some hard and soft skills.
1. Hard Skills
Hard skills are those technical skills you need to do a job. When it comes to data entry, you’ll need the following hard skills:
- Typing speed. How well you do your job as a data entry specialist, depends on two things. One of these things is speed. This means, that to excel in this position, you’ll need to type fast. To determine if you’re typing speed is up to scratch, you could use one of the typing speed calculators online to find out if you can type about 60 words per minute.
- Accuracy. The other thing you need to excel in this position is accuracy. So, apart from being able to enter data at speed, you should also be able to do so accurately. This means you will typically need to perform better than a certain percentage on a grading system. Different companies use different grading systems, but no matter what system they use, you’ll have to be extremely accurate.
- Computer proficiency. Obviously, if you want to do work as a data entry specialist, you’ll need to be proficient on computers. This means, you’ll need to have some basic hardware skills, as well as know how common software packages like Microsoft Office work.
- Administrative skills. In addition to entering data, you might be required to perform certain administrative tasks as well. For this reason, you’ll need some administrative skills. Besides, you will be better organized if you have these skills.
- Comprehension skills. You’ll also need some comprehension skills. These skills are necessary because, in a sense, you won’t just enter data and you’ll need to understand it as well. With this understanding, you’ll be less likely to make mistakes.
- Writing skills. When entering data, you’ll often find data that is incorrect or has spelling or grammatical errors. For this reason, you’ll need some writing skills so that you can correct any grammar or spelling errors as you work.
- General technical skills. Apart from being proficient with computers, you’ll need some basic technical skills as well. This is more important when you’re working on site at an office. Here, you’ll need to know how equipment like copiers, printers, and scanners work.
Fortunately, if you don’t have these skills, they’re quite easy to come by nowadays, as there are a ton of resources available online. With these resources, you can learn and improve everything from your typing to your language skills, accuracy, writing, and more.
2. Soft Skills
In contrast to hard skills, soft skills are not technical in nature. Rather, they’re the attributes that define who you are and how you approach your work. When it comes to data entry, you will need the following soft skills:
- Dedication. As a data entry specialist, you’ll often need to work long hours and on weekends. This, in turn, requires dedication.
- Communication. You’ll also need excellent communication skills. This is because you’ll need to provide feedback on data, inform others of any problems you find, and ask any questions if you need to.
- Focus. As we’ve mentioned earlier, as a data entry specialist, you’ll need to work fast but also enter data accurately. This requires a high level of concentration and focus. Without these, you’ll make more mistakes. To determine if you are able to maintain high levels of concentration necessary for a job as a data entry, you should look at if you can maintain your focus for at least 60 minutes.
- Trustworthiness. Finally, employers will trust you with valuable and sensitive data. This means you need to be trustworthy enough to work with this data on behalf of the employer. Moreover, they’ll trust you to deliver all your work quickly and accurately. If you don’t and you breach their trust, it could be quite costly for them.
The Different Types of Data Entry Jobs in Malaysia
We’ve now seen what data entry is and what skills you need to land a data entry job, so let’s now look at the different types of data entry jobs in Malaysia.
As the name implies, data entry clerks get data from a company and then enter it into an appropriate file system, spreadsheet, or database. During this process, they might also correct any incorrect data, replace outdated data, or edit information where necessary. As mentioned earlier, to excel in a role as a data entry clerk, you’ll need to work fast and accurately.
Typists also perform a certain category of data entry work. However, unlike data entry clerks, they don’t transfer data from a data source to another system or platform. Instead, they transfer data from one or more sources into a format that’s readable. This would, for example, be the case where a typist takes data from spreadsheets, dashboards, or other sources to compile and write a report.
Transcriptionists have a similar task compared to typists. However, their main focus is to convert audio content or files into text. This audio can come from either audio recordings like meetings or podcasts, or can include video content like TV shows, webinars, video presentations, and interviews. Transcriptionists often work with highly confidential information and, as such, should be extremely trustworthy.
Medical coders are a type of data entry specialist in the medical field. They typically work in the billing department of healthcare companies or providers. They assign codes to medical records and bills. In turn, these codes are used to classify every service. Based on this, insurance companies can then pay out these medical expenses. Considering the above, medical coders play a vital role in the efficiency of the healthcare system.
Data cleaning jobs are not primarily concerned with transferring data from one data source to another system or platform. Instead, they’re focused on cleaning the data. In other words, they will typically remove partial records, edit any errors, check for consistency, or supplement the data we are necessary.
Just like typical data entry clerks, when you do an online data entry job, you will be provided with data that you enter into a system that’s online. For example, your employer might provide you with a spreadsheet of customer information that you will then need to enter into an online form.
With captioning jobs, you’ll need to write short captions for pieces of text, audio, or video. One of the best examples for this is when you’re hired to watch videos and then provide captions for every video. Companies will typically do this to train machine learning algorithms to identify a video’s content. These algorithms are then typically used in recommendation systems.
Unlike typical data entry jobs, data formatting and editing jobs focus more on the format and quality of data that’s already been entered into a system or platform. For example, a typist might have prepared a report in a Word document. As a data formatter, you’ll then be required to make sure the formatting is correct and consistent across all the pages.
Likewise, when a data entry clerk has entered data into a spreadsheet, you might be required to ensure that all the information entered is correct.
Finally, as a data entry specialist, you can also be requested to do email processing. To do this, you’ll work through vast number of emails, read their content, and then categorize them based on their content. You’ll then prepare a spreadsheet which contains the information about the emails and their categories.
Keep in mind, though, that these are just some examples of data entry jobs available and there are many others. Also, it’s also very possible that not all of these jobs might not be available at any given time. So, your best bet would be to check what’s available when you’re ready to apply.
Where to Find Data Entry Jobs in Malaysia?
And speaking of applying, the next question is: Where can you find data entry jobs in Malaysia? Well, there are actually a few options, with some of the most popular being:
- Job sites. Your first option to find data entry jobs in Malaysia will probably be a job website. This is simply because these sites offer the widest variety of jobs available. Also, job sites attract many well-known and trusted employers, so you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your employment will be legit and secure. Combined, this means you have a larger choice and more options. Some examples of job sites you can consider include GrabJobs, Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, and others.
- Social media. An alternative to job sites is social media platforms. As you know, social media sites attract millions of users around the world and have become quite popular for companies to advertise their available jobs. You can consider all the popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. As a dedicated professional networking site, LinkedIn is the social media site with the highest quality job ads.
- Classifieds. Finally, you can also look at classifieds to find data entry jobs in Malaysia. However, when you do, you should be mindful of possible scams. This is even more so when you consider that, unlike job sites, classifieds don’t typically have many safeguards and measures in place to protect job seekers.
Find the Best Data Entry Jobs in Malaysia Now
There you go. Now you have a broad overview of what data entry is, what types of data entry jobs you will get, and where you can find data entry jobs in Malaysia. The only thing left to do now is to get started. So, head over to GrabJobs. We have the widest selection of data entry jobs available, from full-time to part-time, and even remote jobs available. And with our range of tools, finding and applying for the right job only takes a few seconds.
