First Aid Kit For Job Seekers To Navigate Through Corona Virus Time

It is Sunday evening as I am writing this. 22nd of March 2020. I just got back home. After spending so much time inside, I just had an urge to have a drive through the city to see how it is doing. I do that often because that is a way how I fall in love with Frankfurt even more. This time it was much different. Uncertain. Sunday's are usually very calm and you can feel city resting before the start of the new week, but this time it was different. There will be no morning rush on Monday and not on Tuesday. There will not be that much liveliness for a while. That gives me a strange feeling.

I guess I am not the only one feeling like this currently. Even after Face-timing my 13 year old brother who could tell the exact number of Latvians infected with Covid-19, I could see him being perplexed by the ability to know this much about latest news.

This has become a number one topic when starting every conversation and I dislike it. It feels like a thing that we can blame everything on, however, have kind of zero influence upon.

By this said I want you to stay brave and follow the goals you have set without going crazy about everything becoming more digitalized. This is a tough time, but exactly in times like this the best ideas got invented. For all of you who are looking for new positions, I want to remind you that companies are hiring. It might not be the best time to become a world class football player, pilot, hotel manager or open a hairdresser salon, however, industries like e-commerce, e-learning, delivery services, IT, federal institutions (its tax time, baby!), telecommunications, pharma, post, medicine, marketing, advertising, distribution centers and many more are hiring & leasing each other colleagues like never before.

McDonalds employees are helping Aldi Nord / Süd discounter shops by offering their employees to help keeping up with rising demands.

Amazon is opening 100,000 new full and part-time positions in their fulfillment centers and delivery network to meet the surge in demand from people relying on Amazon’s service during this stressful time.

What to do if you are affected by any job changes this time?

• Go home & go online because this is where everyone is at right now. As simple as that. Work on your LinkedIn, Xing profile and build MEANINGFUL relationships. Reach out to your connections and ask how they are doing, if you can help anyhow. Even though, I dislike corona topic, it might be a good ice-breaker for some if used correctly. DO not send sales pitches in first message. Just don’t. It is not what you do in general when first meeting new people and you should not do it in current situation either. You never know what the person can be going through and things can go bad before even starting. Especially this week, I noticed a wave of many more pitch messages landing in my inbox. Sometimes I really think that there is a chatbot sitting on the other side instead of a real person.
• If your business / position was offering services and had to shut down, take your presence online and start talking about it in form of photos, posts, videos, GIFs etc. Use this time to build your online brand. You never know what might come out of that. Chinese beauty company had to close all its stores and took their business online turning all their sales assistants into beauty influencers filming videos with companies beauty products. Their online sales sky rocketed.
• Reach out to companies before applying on LinkedIn, Xing and ask if they are hiring. That way you will be speaking with direct decision makers and letting know you exist and are showing trust in them as a company that you would like to work for during these times.
• Online application process is getting more competitive because more candidates are applying so work on your CV / motivation letter. Sending out 30 applications / day will not get you a job. It is all about quality, adjusting your CV to each and every position you are applying for and personalizing your application. Want professional help - reach out to job coaches.
• Be prepared for video interviews that have just become the new hiring process at almost every company. Think about your environment, background, noises and impression you want to leave. Make sure you are dressed properly and technic is working.
• Brush up your skills - LinkedIn learning just announced FREE courses that will help you navigate through this time. 13 hours worth training. Try it out!

For companies there are few things that I would like to point out:

• over-communicate. Talk to your candidates and manage their expectations when it comes to the interview process in this period of time. Inform them about what to expect, time scale, who they will be talking to, how their first day will look like if they start and will it take place online. If processes will take time, let them know how long and explain why. That way you build trust and give candidates a feeling that they are taken care of and know what to expect.
• build your online presence. Come up with hashtags, challenges for your company to use/do when doing home office to give applicants an insight on what it is like to work for your company. #EmployeeExperienceAtItsBest Inform everyone on your company's page about current happenings. If you are still hiring - let everybody know about it as so many people are job searching currently.
• show that you care. To your employees, candidates. A friend of mine received an email from chef telling that they all will get a salary cut of 20%. However, their jobs are secure and company will do everything to keep everyone on board. They will support each other as much as possible to get through this time to celebrate bigger wins afterwards. She was sad about the pay cut, but happy to know that everyone in the company is being treated like a family.

Do not let these times scare you from getting where you want to get. This time will pass and you will be happy that you did not give up and carried on. So many good changes will take place and bring us brighter future. I cannot wait to drive through Frankfurt again on a Sunday night and know that Monday morning traffic will be inevitable because we will be back in our routine.

What changes would you like the new time to bring?