Why you haven't found the best hires on OLJ

Aug 5, 2025

Article Cheat Sheet

Hack 1:

Smart ex-BPO workers have these job titles

Hack 2:

Look out for these companies on their resumes

Hack 3:

Do your ref checks the right way

Hack 4:

Their mentors matter

It's 10 PM.

Toddler's finally asleep. He's been daddy-clingy lately and I'm exhausted.

But I've got a sales call in 30 minutes. Ok, not complaining.

I do love my job as the Chief Recruiting Geek at M-Ocean and I always appreciate meeting potential customers and learning more about how we can help.

So I put on a good T-shirt. No, I'm not changing into trousers. It's hot here in the Philippines so hopefully I don't need to stand up and reveal my shorts!

Call ends. What have I learned?

Potential client hired 4 customer service agents and 4 accountants through OLJ.

So far, so good with the 4 CS agents.

Sadly, it did not work out with the accountants and none are still with them…

  • 2 happened to be moonlighting

  • 1 quit

  • 1 was let go due to a skill issue

OLJ is great. I've been using the platform for years to hire for my team and for clients. However, the candidate pool on OLJ has changed over the years and sometimes is not the best tool for finding FULL-TIME WORKERS who will commit, be loyal, and want to grow with you in the long-term.

In a nutshell, I'd recommend OLJ to find

  • Freelancers and gig workers

  • Part-timers (less than 6 hours per day of work),

  • Full-time, low-cost VAs that you can train up (e.g. not yet specialized)

  • Entry Level roles

  • Task-based workers, not strategic hires who take full ownership of a role or function

I don't think it's the best place to find

  • Highly specialized full-timers with deep experience in a certain domain or industry (it's possible, but very rare)

  • Workers who will stick with you long-term, get married to your company, vision and goals

So, why do I say this?

The problem is not with OLJ itself but with the nature of the talent pool and the type of candidates attracted to the platform. Let me make this clear: I'm not saying it's impossible to find "full-time, long-term, specialized" workers on OLJ, I'm just saying you really need to get lucky to find good ones. It would be much, much better to supplement your talent sourcing through other channels as well.

Let me break it down by analyzing the type of job seekers I've seen from years of using OLJ:

Talent Pool on OLJ breakdown:

  1. Freshies - RARE. Probably because most freshies use other platforms to search for jobs.

  2. Career Shifters - very abundant. I classify them into 4 categories:

a) Took a VA bootcamp (or PPC bootcamp or Email marketing bootcamp, etc.) – Have attention-grabbing resumes/portfolios that sometimes hide the fact that they've never had actual work accomplishments. Think of the saying, "This is what I CAN do for you" instead of the "This is what I HAVE done."

b) Ex-Outsourcing and Call Center Workers – Experienced and established Business Process Outsourcing workers (which we will call “BPO workers”) can be well-trained, professional and have decent English (don't expect close to native levels, although there are exceptions). They can be extremely hard-working and diligent but the downside is BPOs usually don't leave too much room for autonomy, empowerment and decision making. Most BPO workers need to follow a very defined process and usually will ask their supervisors and managers to solve problems that are outside their scope. Also, watch out for BPO hoppers who have half a dozen companies on their resume and can never seem to last over a year.

c) Ex-Outsourcing/BPO and Call Center Managers – Since they've been promoted to team lead or manager levels at their companies, then there's some chance they had decent training or mentorship, and have outperformed others to get a promotion (assuming it was not through politics). The problem with ex-BPO workers is that they usually work within a very defined "Box", wherein there's very little room for innovation and problem-solving outside their very defined scope. Not their fault, and not to say they will never be able to be innovative or creative. It's just that outsourcing companies need their principals (e.g. the company that hired them to outsource) to buy-in to any major process changes, tech changes, innovative ideas and the like, and thus hinders very fast-moving innovations, testing and creative solutions from happening quickly.

Hack: if you're looking for smart ex-BPO workers, be on the lookout for people with these job titles: Real-Time Analysts, Workforce Analysts or Managers, QA Specialists or Managers (are usually very analytical and good with spreadsheets). Operations Managers (usually more savvy, better communication skills, good with people, but may not be too technical, depending on their training and experience).

Hack: if you're looking for smart ex-BPO workers, be on the lookout for people with these job titles: Real-Time Analysts, Workforce Analysts or Managers, QA Specialists or Managers (are usually very analytical and good with spreadsheets) Operations Managers (usually more savvy, better communication skills, good with people, but may not be too technical, depending on their training and experience).

Hack: if you're looking for smart ex-BPO workers, be on the lookout for people with these job titles: Real-Time Analysts, Workforce Analysts or Managers, QA Specialists or Managers (are usually very analytical and good with spreadsheets) Operations Managers (usually more savvy, better communication skills, good with people, but may not be too technical, depending on their training and experience).

Hack: if you're looking for smart ex-BPO workers, be on the lookout for people with these job titles: Real-Time Analysts, Workforce Analysts or Managers, QA Specialists or Managers (are usually very analytical and good with spreadsheets) Operations Managers (usually more savvy, better communication skills, good with people, but may not be too technical, depending on their training and experience).

Here’s my list of top BPO companies where you’ll have a better chance of finding highly trained remote workers:

  1. Accenture

  2. Teletech

  3. TaskUs

  4. IBM

  5. Acquire BPO

d) Ex-Local Companies - They worked at local Philippine companies and are trying to break into the remote work scene. Local companies tend to have a very different culture from Western companies - very hierarchical, political, un-meritocratic, slow-paced, traditional rather than innovation-focused. Of course, there are exceptions, but again, you would need to be quite lucky to find the gems from this pool.

Here’s my list of top BPO companies where you’ll have a better chance of finding highly trained remote workers:

  1. Accenture

  2. Teletech

  3. TaskUs

  4. IBM

  5. Acquire BPO

d) Ex-Local Companies - They worked at local Philippine companies and are trying to break into the remote work scene. Local companies tend to have a very different culture from Western companies - very hierarchical, political, un-meritocratic, slow-paced, traditional rather than innovation-focused. Of course, there are exceptions, but again, you would need to be quite lucky to find the gems from this pool.

Here’s my list of top BPO companies where you’ll have a better chance of finding highly trained remote workers:

  1. Accenture

  2. Teletech

  3. TaskUs

  4. IBM

  5. Acquire BPO

d) Ex-Local Companies - They worked at local Philippine companies and are trying to break into the remote work scene. Local companies tend to have a very different culture from Western companies - very hierarchical, political, un-meritocratic, slow-paced, traditional rather than innovation-focused. Of course, there are exceptions, but again, you would need to be quite lucky to find the gems from this pool.

Here’s my list of top BPO companies where you’ll have a better chance of finding highly trained remote workers:

  1. Accenture

  2. Teletech

  3. TaskUs

  4. IBM

  5. Acquire BPO

d) Ex-Local Companies - They worked at local Philippine companies and are trying to break into the remote work scene. Local companies tend to have a very different culture from Western companies - very hierarchical, political, un-meritocratic, slow-paced, traditional rather than innovation-focused. Of course, there are exceptions, but again, you would need to be quite lucky to find the gems from this pool.

Hack: Be on the lookout for people who've come from these companies where there's a better chance of great training, mentorship and innovation:

  • Multinational Corporations or MNCs (Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Nestle, L’Oreal, Shell, DHL)

  • Financial Services & Firms (Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, JPMorgan)

  • Tech, Digital Giants (Google, Amazon, Salesforce)

  • Retail (Uniqlo, Marks & Spencer, Rustan’s, SM Retail, IKEA)

  • E-Comm Platforms (Zalora, Lazada, Shopee)

Hack: Be on the lookout for people who've come from these companies where there's a better chance of great training, mentorship and innovation:

  • Multinational Corporations or MNCs (Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Nestle, L’Oreal, Shell, DHL)

  • Financial Services & Firms (Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, JPMorgan)

  • Tech, Digital Giants (Google, Amazon, Salesforce)

  • Retail (Uniqlo, Marks & Spencer, Rustan’s, SM Retail, IKEA)

  • E-Comm Platforms (Zalora, Lazada, Shopee)

Hack: Be on the lookout for people who've come from these companies where there's a better chance of great training, mentorship and innovation:

  • Multinational Corporations or MNCs (Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Nestle, L’Oreal, Shell, DHL)

  • Financial Services & Firms (Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, JPMorgan)

  • Tech, Digital Giants (Google, Amazon, Salesforce)

  • Retail (Uniqlo, Marks & Spencer, Rustan’s, SM Retail, IKEA)

  • E-Comm Platforms (Zalora, Lazada, Shopee)

Hack: Be on the lookout for people who've come from these companies where there's a better chance of great training, mentorship and innovation:

  • Multinational Corporations or MNCs (Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Nestle, L’Oreal, Shell, DHL)

  • Financial Services & Firms (Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, JPMorgan)

  • Tech, Digital Giants (Google, Amazon, Salesforce)

  • Retail (Uniqlo, Marks & Spencer, Rustan’s, SM Retail, IKEA)

  • E-Comm Platforms (Zalora, Lazada, Shopee)

  1. Freelancers – very abundant.

a) Full-time Job Stackers (e.g. have 2 or more full-time jobs at the same time) – they're at a certain stage in their career or life journey where they either need the money really badly OR think they can handle more than one full-time job at a time. As you can imagine, this is not really sustainable. Here are some scenarios:

"Candidate A" stacked jobs for a couple of years. Was going well. Burned out. Quit or was fired. Took more jobs and found one. Took another after some time. Quit or was fired. Never able to fully focus on one employer. Misses meetings, deadlines, and accountability. Does the minimum.

Then, decides – "OK I will stop this madness, I will stick with one job only."

OR

"Yeah I can keep getting away with this! – I need to work the system. I'm gonna change my Linkedin and resume name into my maiden name instead of my married name (so that employers will have a harder time validating my identity). I may even have multiple Linkedin profiles. In some cases (yes we've come across this) I've created FAKE CHARACTER REFERENCES complete with fake company domains (eg previousboss@companyname.com) which is not too hard to create. I just need to buy a domain name. It's totally worth it."

OR

"Yeah this is getting exhausting BUT I can hire my brother, cousin, nephew to be my personal VAs. My employer doesn't need to know!" – Yup, very clever.

I've seen a lot of candidates who have a resume that conveniently omits the fact that they operate a VA agency (which they did not remove from their Linkedin profile since they had to promote themselves). Some freelancers go through interviews to get in the door but they just want more business for their VA agency. A lot of these agencies aren't even registered businesses.

  1. Freelancers – very abundant.

a) Full-time Job Stackers (e.g. have 2 or more full-time jobs at the same time) – they're at a certain stage in their career or life journey where they either need the money really badly OR think they can handle more than one full-time job at a time. As you can imagine, this is not really sustainable. Here are some scenarios:

"Candidate A" stacked jobs for a couple of years. Was going well. Burned out. Quit or was fired. Took more jobs and found one. Took another after some time. Quit or was fired. Never able to fully focus on one employer. Misses meetings, deadlines, and accountability. Does the minimum.

Then, decides – "OK I will stop this madness, I will stick with one job only."

OR

"Yeah I can keep getting away with this! – I need to work the system. I'm gonna change my Linkedin and resume name into my maiden name instead of my married name (so that employers will have a harder time validating my identity). I may even have multiple Linkedin profiles. In some cases (yes we've come across this) I've created FAKE CHARACTER REFERENCES complete with fake company domains (eg previousboss@companyname.com) which is not too hard to create. I just need to buy a domain name. It's totally worth it."

OR

"Yeah this is getting exhausting BUT I can hire my brother, cousin, nephew to be my personal VAs. My employer doesn't need to know!" – Yup, very clever.

I've seen a lot of candidates who have a resume that conveniently omits the fact that they operate a VA agency (which they did not remove from their Linkedin profile since they had to promote themselves). Some freelancers go through interviews to get in the door but they just want more business for their VA agency. A lot of these agencies aren't even registered businesses.

Hack: make sure to ask for references but make sure they are:

  1. Very recent managers or employers based on their resumes.

  2. Make sure to validate with references how long they worked with your applicants to cross-check against claims on the resume. (Yes, we've caught some dishonest folks claiming to have worked at a company for years, but were uncovered through a reference that it was only for a few weeks or months)

  3. Make sure to cross check their resumes against their Linkedin pages. If you see any discrepancies, you can skip or ask them to clarify.

Hack: make sure to ask for references but make sure they are:

  1. Very recent managers or employers based on their resumes.

  2. Make sure to validate with references how long they worked with your applicants to cross-check against claims on the resume. (Yes, we've caught some dishonest folks claiming to have worked at a company for years, but were uncovered through a reference that it was only for a few weeks or months)

  3. Make sure to cross check their resumes against their Linkedin pages. If you see any discrepancies, you can skip or ask them to clarify.

Hack: make sure to ask for references but make sure they are:

  1. Very recent managers or employers based on their resumes.

  2. Make sure to validate with references how long they worked with your applicants to cross-check against claims on the resume. (Yes, we've caught some dishonest folks claiming to have worked at a company for years, but were uncovered through a reference that it was only for a few weeks or months)

  3. Make sure to cross check their resumes against their Linkedin pages. If you see any discrepancies, you can skip or ask them to clarify.

Hack: make sure to ask for references but make sure they are:

  1. Very recent managers or employers based on their resumes.

  2. Make sure to validate with references how long they worked with your applicants to cross-check against claims on the resume. (Yes, we've caught some dishonest folks claiming to have worked at a company for years, but were uncovered through a reference that it was only for a few weeks or months)

  3. Make sure to cross check their resumes against their Linkedin pages. If you see any discrepancies, you can skip or ask them to clarify.

b) Classic Freelancers with multiple part-time gigs – very abundant.

They prefer the flexibility and freedom of not having full-time jobs and being able to be more selective with clients. It works for them since they can test out clients the same way employers test out their employees. If the vibe isn't right, they say goodbye (or sometimes don't say goodbye) and move on to the next client. They also fear having just one full-time job and losing the job for whatever reason, and hence prefer multiple sources of income, so if one client lets them go, then there are still back-ups.

While some of you may need this type (and so have I), most of my clients (and myself when I hire for my team) look to hire long-term, loyal workers who can really offer their 100% to the cause. The "tell" on their resumes or portfolio is that they usually present themselves as a business and offer "services" to clients. If you need someone on less than a full-time basis OR if you need someone for a project that won't last indefinitely, then by all means, these are what you need. I've hired these folks before, either because I could not afford full-timers or I needed work done for a 1-month project or the like. However, never expect full loyalty. Never expect them to go the extra mile beyond the job's scope. Never expect them to commit towards your vision and mission.

It’s easier to show visually what I mean. Here are a couple of examples.

c) Long-Term Remote Workers – not abundant to rare depending on skill-set.

I've seen 2 types:

  1. Used to be a professional from local corporate. Perhaps a Supply Chain or Operations Specialist at a multinational company, an accountant at EY or Deloitte or a marketer at a respected online brand or e-comm platform like Lazada and so on. Then, for some reason, they shifted into remote work.

They could have either:

  • Started freelancing, job stacking for a while, then took a more stable path lasting 2 years plus in each company.

OR

  • After corporate, they found a remote job where they thrived for several years. No side hustles. Or maybe very minimal side hustles like 4-hour-per-week projects or a 2-month project that they could not turn down since they were tapped by a previous boss.

  1. Started their career in freelancing and not in corporate. Was hired and mentored by talented and respectable Western CEOs or managers.

Hack: Ask applicants who their mentors were and what they've learned from them. We've validated time and time again that when candidates are heavily mentored by US or other Western managers, there's a higher chance of them being rock stars. Also, remember, some of these Western mentors could have been working at Philippine multinational companies (yes, a lot of Westerners are either based in the Philippines or manage teams remotely).

Hack: Ask applicants who their mentors were and what they've learned from them. We've validated time and time again that when candidates are heavily mentored by US or other Western managers, there's a higher chance of them being rock stars. Also, remember, some of these Western mentors could have been working at Philippine multinational companies (yes, a lot of Westerners are either based in the Philippines or manage teams remotely).

Hack: Ask applicants who their mentors were and what they've learned from them. We've validated time and time again that when candidates are heavily mentored by US or other Western managers, there's a higher chance of them being rock stars. Also, remember, some of these Western mentors could have been working at Philippine multinational companies (yes, a lot of Westerners are either based in the Philippines or manage teams remotely).

Hack: Ask applicants who their mentors were and what they've learned from them. We've validated time and time again that when candidates are heavily mentored by US or other Western managers, there's a higher chance of them being rock stars. Also, remember, some of these Western mentors could have been working at Philippine multinational companies (yes, a lot of Westerners are either based in the Philippines or manage teams remotely).

These are what we typically want. They picked up great habits, skills and experience. They're overall just more professional in terms of communication and behavior. They don't quit easily because they don't have an easy-come, easy-go mindset. They've been able to talk through challenges with colleagues and managers. They've gone through a lot in the past, and they know that no company is perfect. They understand that great things usually require time to build.

I hope that helps answer the question.

Again, OLJ can be a good tool, but make sure it's not the only tool in your kit.

So the next question is - what other tools should you be using?

Over the years, about 80% of our "superstars" have come from LinkedIn targeted search.

I'd recommend either Recruiter Lite, which would have search functions where you can filter by job titles, current or previous companies, skill tags, open text keywords, years of experience and more.

We also use Apollo (candidate data is mostly from LinkedIn but also some native Apollo profiles) since it offers ways to target companies coming from specific industries (e.g., consumer goods, law firms, real estate, and the like).

If you’re interested, you can check out my best practices and hacks on targeted sourcing in this video.

15 Years of LinkedIn Recruiter Lite Experience in 20 Minutes.


All this is possible to do on your own, but if you don't have the time or team to pull it off, companies like ours can offer help. You can chat with me, and I'd be happy to let you know how it works and see how we can help.

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