Getting A Job During Covid-19 Means Narrowing Your Sights
When I started working with Jenny, a 26-year old social media strategist, at the beginning of the year, we had no idea how much and how quickly the world would change. Post-graduation, Jenny had had two jobs using her social media skills, one volunteer and one for a non-profit, and she was eager to find a more steady and better-paying role. The job market in January had started with a roar, and I encouraged her to push outside her immediate skill set while leveraging what she did well. We were both optimistic about her prospects. Then the bottom fell out.
Today my message to Jenny, and others who are actively searching for a job, is very different. This is not the time to try for your stretch role. It’s instead the time to look for roles in industries that are growing, or haven’t been hammered, during the pandemic, and that use the exact skills you have, both in terms of function and sector.
So for a social media strategist like Jenny, my advice has been to find an associate or coordinator-level role in social media marketing in the healthcare industry, where she has experience. Healthcare is one of the industries that is of course growing right now, along with tech platforms that enable people to work remotely, fitness companies that are built for remote exercise, companies that facilitate online shopping...you get the idea.
Usually I suggest that clients choose job descriptions that align with 70-80% of work they have already done, leaving 20-30% of the responsibilities that require a stretch. But not right now. If you need a job now, you should look for roles that exactly match the work you’ve already done. If you are lucky enough to have a job, even if you’re currently working part-time or are furloughed, you may want to wait 6 to 12 months before trying to make a move. With so many people out of a job right now, job security of any kind right now is a gift.
To get more specific, here’s a list of organizations that are hiring right now that I update regularly. These are examples of both categories and companies that are actively hiring, to give you some ideas.
And hot off the press, I was just featured in a piece about recession-proof degrees from Business Insider. (Annoyingly you have to sign up for BI, but you can do it for $1 and then cancel.)
Health Tech/Pharma
Oscar Health
GSK
CVS
Health Insurers
Healthfirst
United Health Group
AdTech
Integral AdScience
MediaMath
Consumer Products
Unilever
Clorox
Grocery/Online Shopping
Instacart
Walmart
Krogers
Publix
BounceX
Ibotta
Big Tech & Tech Support
Squarespace
Intuit
Support.com
Cybersecurity
VMWare/Carbon Black
TrustWave
Video Conferencing/Remote Work
Zoom
Slack
Citrix
Asana
Broadband & Streaming
Spectrum
Netflix
Peacock
Disney Streaming Services
Roku
Hulu
Software and Digital Marketing
Clearlink
Marketo
LiveRamp
FinTech
Broadridge
Expensify
ETrade
Paypal
Square
Funding Circle
Intuit
EdTech
McGraw-Hill
2U
Cengage
Fitness
Peloton
Mirror
Social/Gaming/Video Uploads
Zynga
Vimeo
Urban Farming
Bowery Farming
Wines and Spirits
Pernod Ricard
Gallo
Anheuser-Busch
Diageo
Healthy Snacks
KIND
Clif Bar & Company