What’s your job about?
I used to be a content moderator at TaskUs PH, a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company that provides a variety of digital services for other client companies. I’ll start by saying that this job is not for everyone. As a content moderator, you are required to deal with adult and graphic content that could be sexual, violent, or triggering in other ways.
This job requires you to go through hundreds of posts daily to check if they are against the policies set by the client. More often than not, it’s very mundane stuff - sometimes people report content that does not need to be reported. However, there are times that you have to remove content that’s gory or sensitive in some way. It may not be a traditional job, but it is one that is needed.
What are the career opportunities at TaskUs?
TaskUs PH offered different options for promotions. As a “teammate”, which is the entry position in the company, I went up several different tiers. The next tier which I was aiming for at that time was QSA or the Quality Analyst position. This job is another tier-up that could be considered the “expert level” of my position at that time.
If my job is to remove posts according to the client’s guidelines, Quality Analysts come up with recommendations for carrying out those guidelines and then make sure teammates carry them out properly.
What’s your background?
While I grew up in Antipolo, I started elementary school at Marist in Marikina. My parents, who wanted to give us a better education, transferred us to Ateneo de Manila where I studied for most of my school year. For college, I chose De La Salle University, where I graduated in 2018 with a degree in Development Studies. During my college years, I was part of two organizations - a volunteer organization and the Dragon Boat organization at DLSU. I was active for four years in the Dragon Boat org, from 2010 to 2014.
At the end of 2014, I was introduced by one of my teammates to the British Council Philippines where I began working part-time as an exam proctor for tests such as the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) all over Metro Manila and even outside of the area. As it is a contractual job, I am not required to be onsite seven days a week and this flexibility allows me to continue working with the British Council today while also working in my current company.
In 2019, I was still working at my first official job and looking for other opportunities when I heard that TaskUs was opening a new location in Antipolo. During my first application, I made it to the final interview but got rejected. I parked the idea for that time but, when I resigned from my job in April 2020, I took another try at applying for TaskUs and finally passed the final interview. However, it's worth noting that I am no longer with TaskUs, having moved on from that role.
How was the transition from college to your first job to your current job?
Because I was already working in college, it wasn’t a toll on me - at least, when it came to shifting schedules. At the time, I was already used to the morning shift or at least the shifting schedules of the British Council. This helped me with the shifting schedules of my first company where I worked as a tax analyst.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Very much so. This position is not limited to specific people or backgrounds - anyone who is willing to help others and is capable of handling graphic content can do the work.
Of course, when you are in college, you want to find jobs related to your course; however, jobs in my course required applicants who had two to three years of experience. This came as a shock to me: I was made to believe that, when you are a graduate of a top university, you would have a high chance to pass job interviews. But that’s not really the case because companies look for people with experience and fresh graduates aren’t eligible for positions that belong to the higher spectrum of jobs in companies.
Luckily, my part-time job in college helped me break out of this mindset. My work with the British Council is not related to my course so it gave me confidence that I could do more and that I wasn’t stuck in my field of developmental studies.
It also gave me the push that I needed to pursue other careers and to work for BPOs in the first place. While the college community - especially those who came from top universities like La Salle - has a negative perspective on BPO companies, I learned they were more diverse than I initially thought. I eventually realized that it is not where you graduated from, but what you have done in your time in college that would get you started in your first job.
What was it like to work a job that is unrelated to your college degree?
My first job was working as a tax analyst - which is way out of my field. There is training, of course, but you also have to show that you are willing to work on the tasks specified in the job description. While the experience was stressful and demotivating at times, this experience taught me and showed my employers that: “Yes, I don’t have experience but I am willing to learn.”
What was the coolest thing about your job?
The coolest thing for me is knowing that there is an impact in what I do. We have this tool that shows us all the things that we removed – hate speech, nudity, gore, and mental health triggers – and the number of times we removed each of these types of violating content
These numbers provide an overview of the number of people that did not have to accidentally see – or be triggered –by those kinds of posts. When I see these numbers, I’m reminded that I can indirectly help people – especially these days when they are glued to their phones with social media.
Were there any limitations to your job?
As a content moderator, you have to be as unbiased as possible. While you still have your personal values and beliefs, being a content moderator means that you have to be indifferent to the things you see. If you can’t be objective, you might be tempted to delete content simply because it is against your own values.
Another limitation of this job is that you should be willing to handle the shifting schedules. In TaskUs, the schedules shift every quarter. You may work the morning shift where you start at around 4-5 am for a few months but be shifted to a different schedule in the next quarter, like the afternoon shift where you would have to work around 1-3 pm or even the graduate shift where you would have to work from 11 pm-3 am.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student …
First, explore. Do not limit yourself to your safety bubble. In my time in college, I was a part of two organizations: the Dragon Boat organization and a volunteer org.
The second would be to build your foundation of beliefs, because this will help you follow in the steps of other people who share the same principles.
And third is to always be hungry for knowledge.