5 Tips for graduates entering the Workforce during COVID-19.

Are you graduating this year and do you feel uncertain about your future? Then you are not alone! This crisis has a huge impact on the world economy as never seen before. The economy in Belgium will fall back by approximately 10,5%. That is the biggest fallback since the Second World War. Luckily not all sectors and companies will be hit equally hard. I want to share some tips with you that will hopefully empower you to make the right decisions about your future in this difficult time.

1) Define your career path:

Before you start applying to jobs ask yourself the question: what do I really want to do? What is my dream job and why? Always start with why (you should read the book of Simon Sinek if you don’t know that concept)!

Use this pandemic to reevaluate your plans.

Do you want a job for prestige, money or is it because you internally feel that this is your destiny? Don’t let your environment pressure you when it comes to your dream job. You are the one that will need to practice this job day in day out so choose carefully.

The best thing to do is finding a skill that you will be able to master and that is valued by the market. Then you can start to work towards the career and life you want. The basic question should be in which position do you see yourself working, evolving and learning about every day for the rest of your career. Of course, realize that over time you can change career paths.

The average person will change careers 5-7 times during their working life according to career change statistics.

With an ever-increasing number of career choices, 30% of the workforce will now change careers or jobs every 12 months. By the age of 42 you may already have had about 10 jobs. So with that in mind relax and take a deep breath because the choice you make today will not necessarily ruin your future.

2) What type of contract?

Once you’ve decided which career you would like to pursue, you’ll need to ask yourself which type of employment you prefer. Do you want to become an employee? If yes, do you want to work for one company or do you want to work for several companies as a consultant? Note that due to Covid-19 restrictions some consulting companies will be postponing the start dates of their graduates this year.

What about freelancing immediately after graduating? However, keep in mind that consultancy is a safer option for graduates because you are an employee with a fixed salary every month. As a freelancer you have your own company and you are responsible for your own salary. Also popular these days is entrepreneurship. Just be careful when choosing this option, the why behind it must be strong. Don’t blindly believe the claims of startup founders that entrepreneurship is the best thing ever. Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur and I believe that you don’t choose entrepreneurship, it chooses you. Some people are just not cut out to work for a boss and have no other options.

Beside that you can also become an intrapreneur. This is an employee inside a company with the mission to develop an innovative idea or project that will enhance the company's future. You will have autonomy almost like an entrepreneur without the risks that are involved with being an entrepreneur. You will be backed by a company with enough resources and qualified people to help you.

3) Research jobs & employers:

• Create a list of the sectors you would like to work in. Think strategically and research which sectors have a future and are preferably recession proof. Also think about companies that do well in times of pandemics like we have right now. When you are ready with your list of sectors start with listing the companies you would like to work for. Read reviews about the companies on Glassdoor to find out what it really is like working for those companies. Also try to talk with current employees of these companies, you can find them via LinkedIn.
• Look for jobs via online job platforms like: Indeed, Stepstone, Jobat, VDAB (there are many more) and of course via LinkedIn. Don’t limit your search to titles like ‘graduates’, ‘trainees’… but also look for ‘junior’ and other related titles. Avoid applying to more experienced positions because the chance of you landing that job is rather slim. In general jobs that allow remote/home working are less impacted by Covid-19.
• Once you’ve decided for which companies and position you would like to apply, you need to think about the people in your network that might possibly be working there. Can they refer you to their company and help you? A referral is always more powerful than applying yourself. As a graduate you will be applying for graduate/junior positions, but you will have (a lot of) competition. Applying directly without knowing anyone in the company (especially if it is a very popular employer/vacancy) is a little bit like gambling. You don’t know whether the outcome will be positive or not.

If you really don’t know anyone working for that company connect with the recruiters of that company via LinkedIn. Make sure you have a very strong LinkedIn profile, personal branding is very critical these days! Engage with these recruiters and ask them to help you in your application. It really depends on the recruiter whether they will/can help you or not. But at least you will be on their mind because not everyone reaches out to recruiters via LinkedIn.

Another good strategy is working with reputable recruitment agencies. They can also introduce you to their clients and help you land the job. Since they will be paid a % of your yearly salary as a fee, they will be motivated to find you a job. Be careful with agencies that are too aggressive/pushy and who don’t really care about your career but only about their fee. Choose wisely with which agencies you would like to work. It is also important to mention that most companies rather work via agencies for more experienced profiles. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t willing to pay for graduates, but it all depends on your major. IT, engineering, sales and accounting majors for example are very high in demand (in Belgium).

4) The interview:

If you finally get invited for the interview prepare yourself as good as possible. Keep in mind that the interviews will likely be held online due to Covid-19 measures via MS teams, Skype, Zoom or other online meeting platforms. Please check before the interview whether your login works, whether you have reliable internet connection and last but not least whether your sound and camera work. This are things easily forgotten by candidates, but they are very important since you only get one chance to make a first impression.

You will lose credits and valuable time if your system doesn’t’ work correctly during the interview. I have days as a recruiter where in my 1 hour scheduled interviews, I lose 5 to 15 minutes because the candidate forgot to check his mic and camera or is having other issues. I had a candidate that forgot his charger and his battery died during the interview, we’ve lost more than 30 minutes since he couldn’t find his charger quickly enough. It’s not always the fault of the candidate of course, some technical issues seem to popup out of nowhere. But some issues can be avoided by preparing yourself and trying out whether you have access to the platform and whether everything works already (check your configuration etc.).

Remember that an online interview is also less convenient for us as recruiters as it is for you as candidate.

You won’t have the chance to see the company, it’s employees, the atmosphere and we won’t be able to spot your body language and other non-verbal cues. We have successfully recruited many candidates during this pandemic without ever meeting each other in real life. But please have patience the process can take a little bit longer and the onboarding can also be not as smooth as the we and you hope for.

5) An offer you can’t refuse or can you?

Assuming you’ve aced your interviews and received a few job offers you will now have to choose your future employer. As mentioned before a lot of people switch careers and jobs several times during their working life but still your first job can launch you into bigger things. That’s why it’s very important to choose wisely. For me there are 3 important criteria in choosing your future employer and not necessarily in this order:

1) The job itself:

It’s tempting to look at the salary as the first criteria but as a graduate that’s not a good idea. The job itself should be important criteria for you, since it will help you launch your career. Do you have the potential to become very good in this profession? It’s not the best idea choosing a profession where your talents won’t come in play. If these are 3 similar jobs than also look at the company. Does it provide a lot of growth opportunities? Do they promote a lot of their own employees or do they fill the vacancies with external candidates? Are your values aligned with those of the company? These are some of the most important questions to ask.

2) The location:

Especially in Belgium relocating to another city for work is not a common practice, although for graduates who don’t own a house or don’t have a family, this would be easier to do. Still this doesn’t happen that often since you will also have to leave your social life behind. That’s why the location really matters. Time is more precious than money and choosing a slightly higher pay but with a significant amount of more travel time is not beneficial in the long term. A lot of people that want to change jobs indicate to me that they are fed up with the traffic jams.

3) The salary:

Last but certainly not least, the salary and the fringe benefits do play a vital role. Most of us work because we need the money so I’m not going to claim that this isn’t an important one. However, you can’t put a price tag on time and happiness at work. You need to feel happy at the company you will be working for. You must recognize yourself in the company culture, a company that lets you thrive is a company you want to work for. A lot of young people decide to make the salary as their priority number one. You should think about the long-term when making these decisions. Since an average person must work for 40-45 years you will have plenty of opportunities of negotiating a higher salary in the future.

Bonus:

If you live in Belgium you should also immediately subscribe yourself after graduating on VDAB (Flanders), Actiris (Brussels) or Forem (Wallonia) in order to let your beroepsinschakelingstijd to start. This is a 1 year period that you need to sit through in order to receive unemployment benefits. This will give you comfort should you not be able to find a job after 1 year.

Final thoughts:

To quote Winston Churchill: A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Be proud that you’ve graduated in this extraordinary time. Use this crisis to reevaluate your career plans, if you are unable to find a job consider studying for an additional degree? Try to use your time to develop new skills, try new things and discover who you truly are.

This pandemic is also an opportunity and like they say never waste a good crisis!

You will overcome the obstacles in the end and hopefully you stay healthy during these scary times. Remember, when the going gets tough the tough get going! I’m here to help, reach out to me if you have more questions! Soon I will be publishing more articles to help you even more!