Six pieces of career advice for new graduates:

1 “Learning how to virtually network and position themselves through LinkedIn and other connections — those are the people who are going to find the jobs.” — Kathleen Lindenmayer, director of career success center at Western Connecticut State University

1 “The biggest thing we are hearing from employers is that they want candidates to focus on what they can control. They can control having a really good resume and cover letter, they can control and make sure they have the technology to engage, but you can’t control whether an organization can open up magically on June 15.” — Kelvin Rutledge, director of career and professional development at Southern Connecticut State University

1 “You don’t have to wait until this is over. There are actions that students can take now in terms of connecting with a career adviser now in a virtual format, in terms of getting their resume out to employers who are still hiring.” — James Lowe, assistant vice provost at the University of Connecticut

1 At an interview, discuss “how did you respond to the impact of COVID-19? A student could have an opportunity in that story to talk about how they quickly adapted to remote learning or how they changed their plans to originally study language in one country and now they have a chance to tell a story about how they used their ability to be flexible, to pivot, to explain how they approached this unprecedented time in history.” — Persephone Hall, Hale family senior director at the Hale Center for Career Development at Connecticut College

1 “Students are not alone. They should feel the need to do a lot of self-reflection, a lot of documentation, look at all the accomplishments and achievements they have been allowed to do and I would definitely say to begin networking.” — Scott Dranka, director of the career center at Springfield College

1 “Research companies that you’re interested in. Maybe even reach out to past employers or professors to get information from them. Even things like learning a second language would be a very positive thing to add to the resume. Volunteer, even virtually, for some kind of opportunity. There’s lots and lots of things that students can be doing during this difficult time.” — Deirdre Bennett, manager of employer development at Fairfield University