Nikki, a Filipino operations specialist, runs logistics for a Long Island snow-removal company from Manila, coordinating ten jobs a day across five subcontractors using Voxer. She handles scheduling, equipment sourcing on eBay, client invoicing, and subcontractor hiring, working nights to overlap with US business hours while raising five kids.
Chapters
Hi, my name is Nikki. I'm an online Filipino specialist working for a snow removal company based in Long Island, New York. During winter season, I schedule site visits with subcontractors and with our clients. For example, on December 1st, 2023, we have a job scheduled at 2 AM at USPS. The parking lot needs to be cleared by the time the trucks from different post offices comes in. After that, we have Walgreens at 5 AM, and then next we're moving on to Walmart at 9 AM. Then once on site, I talk to the subcontractors live with a walkie-talkie app called Voxer. They report to me the status of the snow in the area. During peak season, in a day we handle about 10 jobs, and those 10 jobs are given to approximately 5 subcontractors. Then during off-season, I handle the contracts of our subcontractors and look for new ones if we need to expand come next winter. Every time I'm looking for subcontractors, I use Craigslist. Then we also have an in-house team and our equipment needs maintenance. I handle that. So I buy the spare parts and talk with the mechanics. Our company owns 4 trucks, and last year one of the door frames got damaged. Took me forever to look for a specific door frame for Case 1896. So finally I found it on eBay. Then I also research if there's new equipment on the market or a new process with regards to snow removal. For the previous years, we were renting a wheel loader. Upon research, it seems that it's gonna be more cost-effective to buy one for ourselves. So I research for the specific model, and then later on I got a go signal from the CEO to buy with the company credit card. I also look for new accounts, businesses in our area that might require our services. And then with our current clients, I do the invoicing and their contracts and maintain relationships with them. I've been married for 22 years. I have 5 kids, 2 boys and 3 girls. My eldest is 21 years old and my youngest is 12 years old. When not working, during the weekends, we bake traditional Filipino desserts, and one of which is called ube biko. Hi, welcome to my kitchen, and today we're going to bake special ube biko, and here are the ingredients. Back in 2011, my father used to own a Filipino restaurant, and one of our dessert offerings is ube biko. We also have ube, and contrary to what many people think, ube is actually different from taro. The scientific name of ube is Dioscorea alata. I work from 8 PM to 5 AM Manila time. After working, I bring my kids to school and then I eat breakfast. After breakfast, I do errands, buy groceries, go to the bank, and then I sleep from 12 noon to 7 PM. My advice for employers looking to hire Filipinos is that don't look mainly at skills and knowledge. But rather look at their dedication and commitment because they need to have dedication and commitment first and then everything else will follow. Skills and knowledge can be taught, but commitment is something that you cannot teach. It's something they should try to get a feel of during an interview. This is what a serving of our ube biko looks like. I was employed locally in BPO companies for 10 years before shifting to online work for a total of 7 years now and What I would say is you can never earn as much as working online in the Philippines. So I'm very grateful to OnlineJobs.ph. I get to spend more time with my family and get my me time as well, which is going to the mall and traveling out of town with my— by myself without kids. Thank you, OnlineJobs.ph, for all the opportunities.
