Pursuing Data Entry As a Career? Here’s Everything You Should Know

A career in data entry offers a great deal of flexibility and a low barrier to entry in the role. Depending on which industry you work in, data entry roles can be done remotely; however, some require a presence to input and absorb information such as a manual court transcriber.

Before you dive into any data entry job, you should understand what to expect and the most critical skills utilised in this profession. In this article, we will explore everything you need to know about pursuing a career in data entry.

Data entry operators copy, transcribe or transfer information into a company system using alphabetic, numeric, or symbolic. As a data entry operator, you will be will also be required to perform several tasks and duties, such as:

• Preparing and sorting files ready for data entry
• Keying in data to databases or spreadsheets
• Checking, editing, and verifying information based on data
• Finding new ways to improve the data entry process
• File management and data flow management
• Creating data backups

People who perform data entry jobs include admin assistant, data entry administrator, administration officer, and support officer. The majority of these roles can be done in an office or remotely from home; however, the tasks themselves may vary considerably.

New jobs in data entry require different data entry methodologies or computing systems; therefore, it is also essential to keep up to date with these data entry technology platforms.

For the most part, entry-level data entry roles maintain no specific education or certification required to become a data entry officer. However, there are specific computer or business courses that may assist you the develop the needed skills and qualifications. Consider a Certificate III in Business Administration, or a short course in Data Science & Analytics through a Registered Training Organisation (RTO). Having strong administrative skills can be the key to success; however, most employees can be typically trained on the job.

As a data entry officer, there are several valuable skills sought after by employers. Employers value data entry clerks with previous experience and relevant skills as they can provide accurate and quick data entry, minimise administration costs and ensure everything is carefully edited, verified, and reviewed.

If you are new to data entry, here are relevant sought after skills according to data entry employers:

• Organisational skills
• Time management skills
• Typing and computer skills
• Excellent written and communications skills
• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Basic software knowledge (namely Microsoft Excel)

In addition to these skills, industry-specific knowledge and terminology may also be beneficial to data entry clerks such as working in a healthcare or legal environment.

In Australia, data entry is a large occupation, employing over 39,000 people. The job vacancies for data entry officers working for businesses are more concentrated in the metropolitan areas of Victoria, NSW, and Queensland. The highest employer of data entry clerks is in NSW, with approximately 30% share of workers. The primary industries that hire data entry professionals are healthcare, social assistance, public administration, and the legal sector.

Source: JobOutlook website (LMIP government statistics).

In Australia, the most common salary for a Data Entry Operator is between $40K and $50K. Most office support roles such as data entry officers are employed on a part-time or full-time basis with independent contract work done on a casual basis. Data entry roles are most prominent in metropolitan cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth.

In general, data entry can be done for specific jobs for a small fee or data entry workers may work for traditional data entry companies where they are paid an hourly or per word rate.

Data entry jobs in Australia can be paid in a number of ways, per piece, per hourly wage, keystrokes per minute, or per word. Most of the work is dependent on the speed and accuracy of data entry. If data entry work is done via an independent contractor, the pay is typically lower for those working in an office environment as employers are not subject to specific wage laws or do not have to provide benefits such as bonuses or annual leave.

Working as a data entry officer can be a challenging role at first given the high volume of data entry and traffic needing to be sorted, inputted, and organised. Obtaining a business degree or undertaking an administrative course can assist you in your job application.

Improving your data entry skills over time, the job type can become present many great opportunities for new career prospects or a higher salary.