How to find the best jobs during the Coronavirus period
Petrina Mitchell • 30 March 2020
This post provides actionable tips on what you can do during the Covid-19 restrictions to increase your chances of finding employment.
Despite the economic and health challenges being presented to us all at the moment, there are still many companies recruiting who have an immediate need to fill key roles.
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Many employees who may not be able to work from home are committed to returning to their employer when the coronavirus containment measures are lifted, however there are many more who have returned from overseas; are about to graduate from college or are unsure if their current employer will be re-opening in the near future.
I’ve worked in HR for over 20 years and have also had to look for work in the middle of recessions. Over the last two weeks, I’ve been helping clients who now need to successfully navigate their job search during this pandemic, so I’ve written some tips on how to land your job during the Covid-19 crisis.
1. Polish your cv
Many companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to initially screen candidate cv’s to manage the hiring process. This is how the HSE & NHS are managing the thousands of applications being received for their latest request for additional staff.
It’s critical that your cv gets past the ATS and is seen by a pair of human eyes. To do this, ensure your cv contains key words and phrases which are peppered throughout the job description.
Your cv should not only tell future employers what jobs you have done in the past, but how you did it. List how you excelled and performed in past roles, rather than just stating the job tasks. Your cv needs to sell your soft skills as well as your technical skills and when you do this effectively, a future employer can start to visualise how you will fit in, and excel, in their role.
Have a cv and cover letter ready to go, but customise it for each position you are applying for. And don’t forget to save the version that you submit so that you can easily refer to it when you get called for more information or interview. It’s much easier than scrambling through your ‘Sent Items’ folder to find out which version of your cv was sent for that job.
2. Build your professional network
If you already have a LinkedIn profile, update it to more accurately reflect your career and skills. Ensure your profile is optimised so that recruiters can find you and set up alerts so that you are can easily find jobs that would interest you.
Be active on professional social media sites (for some industries, Instagram or Facebook may be more appropriate). Connect with people in your preferred industry and target companies. Join industry groups and become proactive online by regularly commenting on posts that interest you.
Many people are working from home or not actively working at present, so now is a great time to reach out to them and ask them for an Informational Interview to learn more about the industry, potential opportunities and what you can do to position yourself better for when roles arise.
I also encourage clients to do some gentle hustling i.e. inform your contacts that you are searching for opportunities and ask if they know of any roles that are, or will be arising in the near future.
Even in periods of low unemployment, up to 60% of roles in Ireland were hired through word of mouth and referrals.
3. Set up online job alerts
There is a myriad of job boards online so I recommend reviewing some and highlighting the key ones that will work best for you. Most sites now have job alerts services so you can get immediate notification of roles that match your criteria.
Check out jobs.ie, irishjobs.ie, and Indeed. If you are focusing on jobs within the public and civil sector, be sure to register with publicjobs.ie. If you are soon to graduate, or have graduated within the last two years, check out gradireland.ie
Don’t forget to keep an eye on the local newspapers and search directly on career pages on your preferred target companies’ website.
4. Be proactive and patient
As many teams are now operating remotely, it’s important to be patient during the hiring process. Some decisions may be a little slower than usual and at times, HR may need to stall a process due to changing business demands.
Always respond to emails, no matter what the message. Even a simple ‘thank you’ lets the recruiter know that you still engaged. Empathise with the sender if they inform you that they won’t be proceeding at this time and highlight that you are still interested in hearing from them should they have other opportunities. From my experience, during times of great business uncertainty, employers can reverse decisions within a few days.
Despite this, as a job hunter you must be very responsive. If the company is looking for extra resources during this time, they want people that are reliable and quick to respond.
Monitor your email a few times a day, and get back to recruiters or hiring managers immediately. They won’t hang around too long for you to get in touch with them. From chatting to a few recruiters who are busily trying to find new hires for stretched teams, they are ready to hire within a few hours if they can find someone with the right skillset.
5. Keep an open mind
By applying for a job, you aren’t committing to anything. You aren’t deciding if you want to take the job, just if you want to meet the hiring team and find out more about the job.
Although you may ideally be looking for a permanent, full time position; consider fixed term roles if the position matches your job search criteria. Freelance or self-employed options should also be considered which can be found via LinkedIn, Fiverr, Upwork, etc. Many of these situations may ultimately lead to the offer of a longer term offer of employment.
Many companies are now working remotely due to coronavirus but equally, there are also many companies that do not have a physical office in Ireland and have people permanently working remotely e.g. Shopify, Scrapinghub, etc.
Other companies may be based in New York or California, or elsewhere in the world and want to expand their talent base so are open to hiring staff anywhere in the world. Check out this open source document
for an up to date list of remote jobs.
If you get refused for a position, be sure to thank the recruiter for their time and most importantly, ask for feedback on your application. The most successful way to get feedback is to ask for a phone call with the recruiter and while you are talking with them, you can also ask about other opportunities that may potentially arise and the hot-skills required within the company and industry.
As an in-house recruiter for many years, I always gave much more constructive feedback verbally rather than in writing. A candidates’ request for feedback always highlighted their true passion and interest in the job and the company. So inevitably, if another role opened up which was much more suited to them; we would just call them and discuss it with them to determine if they were interested, often before incurring additional advertising costs.
6. Be ready for video interviews
Due to the physical / social distancing measures, be prepared to jump on video conferencing interviews with little notice during the day. These can be Live Interviews or Recorded Interviews, where you are asked to record yourself answering a few questions and these video’s are then shared with the key hiring managers.
Spend some time using Zoom, Google Hangouts and Skype to ensure that you are clear on how they work on your laptop or device. It’s great to have a home office area that looks clutter and distraction free. And ensure your laptop or camera captures your face in the centre of the screen.
If using a mobile device, ensure that you can prop it up on books or a stand, rather than holding it in your hand, especially if you are nervous. It will make you even more nervous if you can see your phone shaking in your hand.
And definitely avoid sitting on a sofa as it will feel much too casual. You don’t want to feel as if you are chatting with your best buddy during an interview for your dream job.
7. Accept a job, if offered
If you are starting in your career or pivoting into a new career field, I recommend that if you are offered a job, to take it. During periods of high unemployment, if you are in a job and have strong references; your next job will be much easier to land.
Taking a job during the pandemic will enable you to get real life experience and you can build out your cv further. Especially if you are in your twenties, most employers don’t expect you to spend much longer than 2 years in your first job out of college.
So even if you wait just six months in a role that you got hired in during the pandemic; employers will not hold it against you if you can clearly explain the benefits of switching to a new employer after just a few months.
Be prepared to work from home initially. If it’s a mid to larger size employer, it’s likely that most of their onboarding programmes will be completed online and in the comfort of your home. So during interviews, now more than ever, it’s worth highlighting how comfortable you are working independently yet are comfortable asking for help if unsure of how to proceed on assigned tasks.
8. Continue up-skilling
Check out the latest software in use in your career field. This period of downtime will give you an opportunity to learn the latest tools of the trade and if you are considering remote work opportunities, check out Google Hangouts, Slack, Trello, etc.
There is oodles of free training on Coursera, Masterclass, etc., so it’s worth tackling some courses. Not only will you be honing your skills but you will be able to weave these into your interviews and add to your cv, which will show future employers that you take initiative, are passionate about learning and are clued into the skills needed for future success in the workplace.
Brush up on your tech skills too such as Data Analytics, Advanced Excel and take some of the Google Digital Certifications to become certified in PPC, SEO, etc. Or perhaps you need to focus on Business Writing skills.
If you are currently based in Ireland and considering longer term up-skilling programmes, check out the courses available through Springboard.
The key is not to waste this time, and even doing two hours a day on up-skilling will reap its rewards for you in the months to come.
Finally, it’s easy to get your hopes up when you see a promising job but focusing too much on one job can result in you putting the brakes on pursuing other opportunities. Job searching is a numbers game so aim to have at least five to ten applications in the pipeline at any time.
Mind your mental health, there will be good days and bad days during any job search, so take breaks and get out (Skype or Zoom) and talk to people. The more you engage with others, the more success you will have in your search.
If you are baffled about what you should do in your career and need help to figure out your next step, we offer career consulting services (via Zoom currently). By working with us, our clients avoid the stress, pain and confusion in uncovering their next career step so that they can start earning much quicker than they would on their own.
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Over the years, in my role as an in-house Recruiter and HR Director, I’ve seen way too many cv’s generically written. If you cv doesn’t tell an external recruiter or employer what you do, how you do it and what you want to do next; then they will possibly throw your cv to the ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ pile. Many recruiters make their ‘yes - no – maybe’ decision within 10-15 seconds of reading a cv . If you find you are getting calls for interviews to the same type of job year in, year out, or not getting called to interviews at all; then check out the first twenty words on your cv. These first words need to tell recruiters and hiring managers that you are simply, a great match for the job and they need to find out more about you. If you provided these first twenty words to a friend or colleague (without any other detail); would they know it’s you? Can they paraphrase back to you what you do, how you do it and what you want to do next? CV’s need to be clear, succinct, memorable and packed full of enthusiasm. They need to convey your personality too so that you get remembered amongst a sea of applicants. If you want to get your cv taken seriously, here are some cv hacks that will help you redesign your cv and land on the ‘yes’ pile? - Put your personal details, out-of-date qualifications and job information to the end of the cv. Don’t waste their time with this detail at the outset. - Frame your experiences in a way that demonstrates how you meet the qualifications and skills required in the job posting. - When outlining your employment history; start with your most recent job. State your job title, company and then employment dates. Keep the most important information first and put the strongest information / bullet point at the top of each list. - Ensure your dates of employment and education align and if there are significant gaps, address them on the cv or be ready to talk about them at interview. - Know what words and / or phrases pack a punch in your industry and ensure you use them cleverly. Keep your sentences, short, focused and ensure that they capture attention of the reader. - Provide facts, figures and metrics where you can, as these bring more credibility to your achievements. - Write your profile after you have compiled the rest of the cv. A well written profile statement should tell any reader: Who YOU are WHAT you offer in terms of unique skills, knowledge and ability, and What’s NEXT, which can be a target job statement or what your next job / company will look like. - Your profile statement is your elevator pitch so practice speaking it out loud so that it becomes more concise and natural. - Ensure there is plenty of white space and the text is big enough to read quickly. - Check for typos, grammar and use the Read Aloud feature on MS Word to find any incomplete sentences or phrasing. - Share your cv, cover letter and job posting with a friend and ask them for feedback on how you match the job you are applying for. - Save in PDF and format the file name as 'Last Name_First Name_Job Posting' so that it is makes life easier for the recruiter to download and save. Finally, if you need help getting your message right, so that you can stand out from the crowd and get to the ‘yes’ pile, let’s talk so that we can schedule a 90-minute Career Boost session to fire up your job search.