This year’s college graduates face the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as they enter the workforce. Potential employers still struggle to recover from the pandemic and unemployment nationally hovers at 6% after peaking a year ago at nearly 15%.
What must a graduate do to get a job now?
Experts at career centers from Queens University of Charlotte, UNC Charlotte, and NC State University offered five key recommendations for 2021 graduates.
1. Network as Much as You Can
College students learn about the importance of networking the moment they set foot on campus. Connections have become even more crucial during the pandemic as job opportunities have declined within many industries.
“Something that we’ve always stressed, regardless of pandemic or not, is just networking,” said D. R. Ingram, Jr., associate director at NC State’s Career Development Center. “Just making sure that they establish and build on their network.”
Those connections are especially important when opportunities are scarce. Many organizations hire new employees without publicly posting a job. They simply consider people already on their radar.
“About 75% of jobs are not posted anywhere, so a lot of jobs are hidden and to find those jobs you have to get to know people who are in leadership positions, who have the power to provide those opportunities,” said Suzanne Voigt, career coach and associate director of career branding at UNC Charlotte, “And that takes networking, that takes connecting with people who you may not know.”
2. Broaden Your Horizons
“You have to think of yourself not as a major, but as a person with lots of different skill sets, Voigt said. “I’m trying to help students understand that they may not get their dream job immediately, but to think about the complimentary, parallel kind of paths that they could take to still continue to build their skill set.
“If you diversify what you’re looking at, there’s a much greater opportunity there, and you can always switch back into the other field that you’re really interested in once you have a couple years of experience.”
Ingram also thinks that looking for a variety of roles is important when job searching, especially during the pandemic. He encouraged students to look “at any positions that still can fall under the umbrella of what they’re looking for.”
3. Be Flexible
Flexibility is key throughout the job-searching process. The effects of the pandemic can make things unpredictable and subject to sudden changes, even now.
“Stay nimble,” said Angela Tsuei-Strause, executive director of the Vandiver Center for Career Development at Queens University of Charlotte. “And by nimble, I mean keep your options wide open, understand what’s happening in the workforce, and allow yourself to be somewhat flexible in following those trends.”
Voigt suggested not only making connections with professionals in your field of interest but also taking advantage of various online platforms such as LinkedIn to stay updated.
4. Be Patient
Graduates may experience disruptions in the pace of the hiring process. In many cases, companies had to downsize their recruitment teams, making the application process longer.
Last October, Queen’s Vandiver Center joined forces with UNC Charlotte and Davidson College to host a virtual career fair. “By doing that we helped the employers out,” Tsuei-Strause said. “They are also struggling throughout this time…so we wanted to meet them where they’re at.”
Graduates should also think about what they can be doing while waiting to land their desired job. “There’s going to be a lot of jobs that they’re not going to want to do, it’s going to be a lot of retail, a lot of restaurants, a lot of hospitality,” Voight said. “Just use patience and just think creatively about how to make money in other ways, even if it’s like freelance-type stuff.”
Allen Jake “AJ” Curtiss graduated from Queens University of Charlotte last May with a degree in sports management. “I had a job lined up, but it was put on pause for what they thought would be a month or two, and actually turned into 11 months,” he said. “I was lost without a sense of direction.”
Due to the sudden change in plans, AJ took advantage of an opportunity to stay enrolled and play another year of lacrosse at Queens after his senior season was cut short due to COVID-19. He recently began a full-time job as a sales trainee with United Rentals, the job he had interviewed for last year.
“You’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to fail, and plans are going to change,” AJ said. “Don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to do or have a job lined up.”
5. Dont Give Up
Ingram, of NC State’s Career Development Center, said, “It’s normal for there to be a number of ‘No’s’ but it just takes that one ‘Yes,’ that one right yes, to turn things around.”
“No matter what the job market might be, stay encouraged, and things will work out. It’s just a matter of timing,” he added.
Kaitlyn Kime struggled to find work after she graduated from NC State University in December of 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. “A lot of the jobs I wanted to (apply for) or did apply for wanted all this experience that I just wasn’t able to get during the pandemic,” she said. Kime is currently working in sales at Woof Gang Bakery and Grooming in Raleigh.
“Understand that it’s okay to not have a job lined up, under normal circumstances, and especially during the pandemic. It’s okay to not have a plan right now when we don’t know what next week or even tomorrow will look like.”
Kime recently accepted a position with TravelBud, a specialist teach-abroad organization. In September she starts teaching English in Thailand. “Continue working towards your goals but don’t stress if they aren’t happening instantly or on your original timeline,” Kime said.
Queens University News Service
