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#JobSearch : The COVID Effect on the Job Market. A MUst REad for All!

June 12, 2020/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

As I write this blog article, the United States economy just moved past the 80^th calendar day since the international pandemic (Corona-Virus 19) in which the quarantine sent everyone scurrying behind locked doors and face masks. Companies who relied mostly on technology were mostly insulated from business losses during the quarantine. Other companies moved to ‘curb-side’ service, online meetings (using Zoom, Adobe, and Google meeting cloud platforms).

Some businesses (online shopping, health care, e-commerce) were able to still perform ‘as usual’ – especially if already providing services and products ‘virtually’ (employees moved from offices to homes to work via telecom technology. Those companies most impacted, e.g., non-essential retail, restaurants, hotels, travel, and entertainment are still struggling and many are facing bankruptcy.

What does this mean for workers or those looking for new jobs and careers?

1- Job seekers will have more competition for the job they would normally have been a ‘shoo-in’ pre-pandemic; in this economy, it’s now an employer’s market for hiring. Expect to be rejected more often as an applicant. The company may have a hiring freeze or slow-down, but there also may be jobs not advertised. Keep on posting your resume into the ATS on the recruiting system for the company(ies) you are targeting.

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Article continued …

2- Sharpen or add technology skills on the career resume for the job search. If you have the skill sets that enable to you to work from any location – job site, in the field, or from home, this will showcase your adaptability. Have you worked from home during the quarantine? Are you able to adjust to a personal work schedule and reliability? Mention that in your resume to showcase capabilities. Jobs ‘on-site’ in the past may be virtual go forward.

3- Job seekers need to update and ensure their computer has with telecom capabilities – camera, speakers, and access to Internet for online meetings; and it’s important to realize the vital need for updating one’s resume and LinkedIn profile for recruiters to more easily find you online. Test your meeting software and equipment with friends and family member (virtual dinner party, anyone?).

4- Review the field or industry – you may need to move to new careers. Job seekers need to target industries for ‘core business industries’ e.g., advertising, tech, delivery companies [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][packages, food], tax assistance, video communications, instruction and teaching platforms [e.g., universities, colleges, tutoring], essential businesses [pharmacies], healthcare services, and/or cleaning and sanitation [janitorial]. The companies to avoid targeting for job searches are those related to travel – hotels, airlines, sports, and automotive. My husband takes Viagra for a couple of years now. I always wondered if it could help me become better in bed, so I decided to take a pill. Well, I can’t say that I felt anything different, but the sensations during intercourse were definitely better. I suppose it was due to better lubrication, which, I suppose, was the result of my experiment.

5- Refresh your resume on the big boards (e.g., Monster, CareerBuilder, Indeed) – the older resumes float to the bottom of the resume pool; even if you add a dot or space, those ATS platforms categorize the resume as a ‘new’ (refreshed) resume.

6- Be prepared for ‘more’ online virtual meetings, interviews, and panel discussions (hiring committees) versus driving to the location for the meeting (this is good – saves gas, and you can wear a nice shirt and jacket over your pajama bottoms).

7- Be prepared to do more email and online networking – the face-to-face networking is ‘out’ with social distancing in place (likely for the next 6-18 months). Do continue to make phone calls to friend, peers, past co-workers and bosses to let them know you are available for work. Who do they know is looking to hire?

8- Recruiters won’t be able to rely on ‘body language’ in virtual interviews, so it’s important for job candidates to look sharp, act like they are paying attention during the online cloud meetings, and to ensure the dog or cat won’t interrupt the meeting. The interview candidate may have to project more to demonstrate a positive attitude and don’t forget to clean up the area behind your computer to look like a more professional work environment.

9- In the past, recruiters may have been able to make a job offer and have a candidate in the seat in two weeks. The pandemic has slowed the process down to ‘whenever it is safe to physically come to work.’ Expect delays in the hiring process – some college grads who were extended job offers aren’t able to work for their new employers until as late as July or August while the company struggles to determine health and safety protocols. There will be a slow-down in the decision-making. Companies may take a while before business picks up again to justify the hire and bringing the candidate onboard with a start date.

10- Job seekers who have lost their jobs need to be aware the extended benefits from the Payroll Protection Act are for a small and finite period. If your employer laid you off and you refuse to come back to work – you will lose your unemployment benefits. Even if you get paid more in the PPA, it is vital for you to get back to work so you have a job after the benefits run out.

11- Do not lose hope. If you have a ‘side’ job, you may need ramp up the sales and services to bridge the financial gap between the last job and the new post-Covid career move.

FSC Career Author: Ms.Dawn Boyer, Ph.D., is a FSC Career Coach & owner of D. Boyer Consulting – provides resume writing, editing, and publishing (print-on-demand) consulting. Reach her at: Dawn.Boyer@me.com or visit her website at www.dboyerconsulting.com.

FSC Career Blog | June 12, 2020

Bio: Dawn D. Boyer, Ph.D., has been an entrepreneur and business owner for 20+ years, with a successful business and consulting firm (CEO) in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Richmond, VA. Her background experience is 24+ years in the Human Resources field, of which 12+ years are within the Federal & Defense Contracting industry. She is the author of 812+ books on the topics of business, human resources research, career search practice, women and gender study, genealogy and family lineages, quotes for motivation and self-improvement, and Adult Coloring Books. Her books can be found on Amazon.com under her author’s page for Dawn D. Boyer, Ph.D.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

#Leadership : 7 Beneficial Tips for Managing Your Virtual Work Team…Add These Tips to your Work Routine and your Team Will Run Like a Well-Oiled Engine.

December 14, 2016/in First Sun Blog/by First Sun Team

When I began doing most of my work online as the head of a virtual team, I realized that the first problem I needed to resolve was a personal one — and kind of an embarrassing one: I would lounge around on the sofa with my laptop perched on my knees, as I drifted between work and sleep. And I always shuddered at the thought that my virtual team was doing the same.

Having a virtual office isn’t different from having a physical one, or at least it shouldn’t be, if you want any semblance of success. So, it should make no difference that you’re online.

But there are differences. Consider the issue of security: You don’t leave your office unlocked, and in the same way, you don’t leave your virtual office unguarded. My first piece of advice, then, is that if you are going to make or receive online payments, you’ll want to invest in a virtual private network (VPN); if you can’t afford the big boys, choose a cheap VPN service and stay protected. This is vital.

Next, if you’re working at home, create a special space where you can focus on work. Better yet, set up a workspace away from home. Once you, as the manager, have created some order at your end, you’ll have the moral high ground to demand the same from your virtual staff.

A virtual staff is understandably more difficult to handle for obvious reasons: no direct supervision, no structured workplace, different geographical locations which may cut across nations and time zones. Given those constraints, the following tips will help you manage your virtual work team better in spite of the constraints.

1. Be specific and detailed in your demands.

I kept getting such a variety of quality in delivered jobs that I would often fight off a migraine just trying to harmonize them. Using emails to correct errors didn’t seem to work, because often a different kind of error would then crop up.

I soon realized that the problem started with me, so I took time to put together a detailed guideline covering all aspects of the business, from minor to major. I accompanied this with a proper sample of what I expected.

This move dramatically improved the quality of the work that the staff did in a short time. If you expect a clear outcome, then give a clear example. The aim is to set professional standards, because setting professional standards contributes to being efficient and puts people into the right mindset. The devil is always in the details.

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2. Specialize your team.

Talk about trying hard to fit round pegs into square holes! In fact, that is exactly what many virtual team managers try to do, and it is usually nearly impossible to make things work this way.

The virtual nature of your staff leaves little room for close supervision and teaching your team how to do particular kinds of jobs.

After working a while with my team members, I began recognizing their individual weaknesses and strengths and the kinds of jobs that each of them did with ease. According to those observations, I switched up positions and started delivering specialized jobs. This yielded a noticeable rise in the quality of the work done and reduced my stress considerably.

The advantages of such specialization are numerous, Team members enjoy their work, and I have less need to stock Aspirin.

3. Create a virtual meeting place.

Emails are a good way of communicating and receiving instructions and job orders, but are a poor means for proper discussions. To get around this, I created a group on WhatsApp, where I added all my team members. Other options are available, and the choice will vary from manager to manager, since online platforms, social media and instant messaging apps abound.

Investing in video conferencing may be another very reasonable option if your budget can manage it. The idea is to remove the impersonal feeling that email gives, and instead bring some personality to your communications.

For me, creating a virtual meeting place was a life saver, as it seemed to revitalize my virtual workspace. There is a strange power in seeing someone’s face for the first time; happily, the internet now allows for that too.

4. Utilize the overlap in working hours.

It is often a struggle when your virtual team works in different time zones; it’s difficult to make demands that are binding on all team members. It is also difficult to fix meetings or get urgent communications responded to quickly.

I had to study the time zones for all staff and determine the time of my day that overlapped with their work hours. We mutually agreed to always be online at a certain period of the day because it was generally convenient. You should do the same and utilize those few hours, fix regular meetings and send urgent correspondence across.

5. Set up reward systems to motivate your team.

I began paying slightly higher when I made a greater demand, like a demand that required a job to be done in much shorter time. I would also give extra stipends and encouragements to team members who showed consistent quality work. Trust me, people don’t want to sit before their computer for hours on end, but they will if you give them a reason to.

Setting up a kind of meritocracy is a good idea. It worked for me.

6. Give more jobs to the best of your team.

The good thing about virtual teams is that oftentimes only you are aware of how much work you give each team member and how much each is paid, so there is little room for the rancor and jealousy that may brew in a regular office workspace.

There is no need to be masochistic, so reduce your headache quotient by giving a greater volume of jobs to the people who show consistent quality.

7. Establish some order in your personal work systems,

Working with documents on your computer can get messy; you need to create proper systems and arrange jobs for different clients and team members in different and properly named folders. You also need to avoid the mess that emails can bring. So, explore the various ways you can manage your emails for greater productivity. Tools like Hiver can help you keep a sane email box.

Also, set up reminders for jobs so you can send reminders and alerts to your team and avoid failing a client or forgetting the time demands on your team members. This saved me a lot of stress and made the job much easier. It’s like having a efficient file cabinet.

Add these tips to your work routine and your team will run like a well-oiled engine.

Entrepreneur.com | December 14, 2016 | Chidike Samuelson