Job hunting is already hard; but post- pandemic?
Entering the job market for the first time is never simple, and the coronavirus pandemic and its devastating effects on the economy are not making it any easier for college seniors. NBC News reported on March 29 that this year could be the worst job market since the 2007- 2008 financial crisis, and some Connecticut students are already feeling the strain.
“The class of 2020 and maybe beyond have gone from entering what could be described as the best job market in a very long time to the worst job market in a very long time almost overnight,” said Kevin Lembo, Connecticut state comptroller.
Students who planned to move away from home and start a career are grounded by travel bans, fear and an unstable economy worldwide.
“I’m nervous I’ll be stuck home for a while,” said Janna Marnell, a graphic design major at
Quinnipiac University in Hamden. “My original plan was to move out post graduation and be on my own. Now I have to lean on my parents more than I would like to.”
Kelvin Rutledge, director of career and professional development at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, said it is more likely that students will be delayed job offers, rather than denied them because of the virus.
“According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, of organizations that were already searching, only 2 percent of organizations are rescinding the plans to actually hire,” Rutledge said. “Organizations are still moving forward across all industries, it’s just a matter of, ‘ Can our budget handle a start date of June 15 or can we handle an Aug. 15 start date?’”
For Catherine Martin, a senior at Quinnipiac University who hopes to pursue a career in game design, her career plans are in limbo. While she hasn’t been rejected from a job, she also hasn’t been offered anything.
“All of my applications have been sent back not with rejection letters, but with ‘ recruitment has been suspended’ citing COVID- 19,” Martin said.
Lembo said it might not be as easy as delaying a start date because some industries may not recover.
“Having hundreds of thousands of newly minted grads, hundreds of thousands, millions of people whose jobs who have not only gone away, but are not coming back — what do we do to face that?” Lembo said.
James Lowe, assistant vice provost at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, said even in fields where there is high demand, some students might face obstacles. He pointed out that while nursing students are in high demand, there is a question if they will be able to complete board exams virtually.
“Are they going to be able to sit for the boards or are nursing boards testing agencies going to provide virtual options?” Lowe said. “There are a lot of dynamics in terms of how this whole thing functions.”
Lowe said that based on conversations he has had with some of Connecticut’s employers, any delays students are having in finding a job do not mean longterm financial strife. Unlike during the 2007- 2008 crisis, he said, employers plan to keep the talent pipelines open. “Once people are back out and back to work, this is not going to be a years- long kind of thing,” Lowe said. “Once people are able to go back to the workplace, they’re going to need employees to manage these companies and deliver on pent- up demand.”
Lembo said relying on the private sector to continue hiring employees as they did prior to the pandemic might not be enough. He floated the idea of some “New Deal”- like programs to get people back to work while improving society. “Something that would actually make work building infrastructure that not only puts people back to work but corrects and fixes a lot of the important areas that have been ignored for decades,” Lembo said.
Molly Rabinovitz, a sociology major at Quinnipiac, said she is approaching the next phase of her life with unease. She pointed out that as a dependent of her parents, she missed out on the stimulus check from the Trump administration. “There is an insurmountable sense of fear of diving into the unknown,” Rabinovitz said. “It’s a whole economic reset that is not looking great for new graduates. Some of us do not qualify for unemployment and also got screwed out of Trump's stimulus deal. So, what now?”
Luckily for students, some colleges and universities across Connecticut are being innovative in hopes of keeping their students engaged in the job finding process.
Marcus Paca, assistant director of employer relations at University of New Haven, said the career development team is investing in online education programs, online seminars and a new podcast on market trends for this year and years to come.
“Now is the time to think forward, and thinking forward has us in the mindset that we have to be prepared for the next potential pandemic,” Paca said. “The foundation we are building right now of a dual strategy of course planning and hoping for the best that we will be back on campus but at the same time we should also plan for the realization that this may be long term.”
Regardless of when and how the pandemic ends, Lembo said Connecticut must not return to business as usual.
“We need to lean in on the very question, ‘ What are we doing to help partner the reinvention of the economy for this new generation of workers and frankly the old generation of workers to make sure that it is retooled for today?’” Lembo said.