I'm a career coach who found her first job at the end of the 2008 recession. Here's my 5-step guide for college grads looking for their first careers right now.
Alexa Shoen is a career coach for entry-level jobseekers and the author of #ENTRYLEVELBOSS: How To Get Any Job You Want.
t
For those graduating into the "coronavirus economy," it's a strange time for job searching - but while it's tempting to just sit and wait out when it's over, we don't know when that will be.
t
To get a headstart, start networking online, get creative and create your own internship, and use your social media to show what you're working on.
t
Research which companies are booming during this time, and reach out to people with similar jobs for virtual coffees - they may have more time on their hands.
t
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
It's an extremely weird time to be a college senior.
The graduating class of 2020 will go down in the history books for their FaceTime commencement ceremonies, for their online final exams, and for their (just assuming) epic virtual underground frat parties.
But, soon, it will be an extremely weird time to be a recent college graduate who's looking for their first job during a rather ... unprecedented moment in time.
While it's still too soon to know how the coronavirus pandemic is going to impact the economy in the long-term, it's probably fair to say the graduate career fairs will be few and far between this spring. There will be no in-person employer events. The campus career center might not have all the answers. Long story short, the post-grad job search is likely to feel like more of a minefield than usual this year. And it's likely to feel a lot lonelier, too.
I graduated just as the economy was getting back on its feet after the global financial crisis - and I still stumbled, rather inelegantly, into the land of grown-up employment. Scoring my first real job took months on end. Joining the working world basically felt like I was at the bottom of Everest, staring up into the clouds, unclear on how to take my first step toward the summit. I'm almost a decade past my own graduation, but I never forgot that feeling. Instead, I got obsessed with making it feel less scary for the next wave of college graduates, and wound up becoming an entry-level career coach when I was only 25 myself.
If you're about to graduate into this season of lockdowns and virtual socializing, it might feel tempting to cocoon and cross your fingers and wait until it's all over - but we don't know when exactly when "over" is coming yet. Instead, I have a couple of ideas for how to put yourself out there and stand out during these crazy times.
