Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, September eight. I'm Oscar Ramiras from the Daily
Speaker 1: Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.
Speaker 1: While the economy has suffered greatly because of the coronavirus
Speaker 1: and millions are claiming unemployment benefits, there are still some
Speaker 1: that are getting hired for new jobs. With that, there
Speaker 1: are new rules for landing a job during the pandemic.
Speaker 1: You still have to network, as many jobs are found
Speaker 1: through referrals. You also need to be flexible and be
Speaker 1: realistic about location. There are many companies worth work from
Speaker 1: home policies right now, but that is constantly changing. You
Speaker 1: must also be prepared for a completely virtual interview process.
Speaker 1: Katherine Dial, reporter at the Wall Street Journal, joins us
Speaker 1: for how to get a job in the COVID era.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, Katherine, thanks for having me. Since
Speaker 1: the pandemic hit the US, there's been millions and millions
Speaker 1: of jobs lost. The economy is not doing too well
Speaker 1: in that regard. There's just as many people on unemployment
Speaker 1: receiving unemployment benefits, but there are some industries there are
Speaker 1: people that are still hiring. And Katherine, you wrote an
Speaker 1: article about the new rules for landing a job in
Speaker 1: the COVID era. So I want to take a look
Speaker 1: at some of that, Katherine, what do we know about
Speaker 1: some new rules on how to do this? Well, we
Speaker 1: know that we're looking at a time where the playbook
Speaker 1: that job seekers look at has sort of been thrown
Speaker 1: out the window. You know, we're seeing in some ways
Speaker 1: the need to dig way into the things that we
Speaker 1: always tell job seekers. You know, networking is really important,
Speaker 1: articulating your goals, all of that has become paramount. But
Speaker 1: then beyond that, they need to be prepared for things
Speaker 1: like an entirely virtual interview and potentially on boarding process,
Speaker 1: getting ready to really slice and dice which parts of
Speaker 1: an industry they should be focusing their search on. It's
Speaker 1: a tough time for job seekers, but there are some
Speaker 1: reasons to be optimistic. Let's start picking these apart a
Speaker 1: little bit. Networking, obviously, everybody knows you should always kind
Speaker 1: of be networking, but it's more important than ever. You
Speaker 1: were talking to some people at LinkedIn and they said
Speaker 1: that more people are finding jobs through referrals now, more
Speaker 1: than ever. Applicants on their platform are three times as
Speaker 1: likely to get a job at a company where they
Speaker 1: have a connection. And you know, we see this all
Speaker 1: the time people hire people, but especially in a downturn,
Speaker 1: that really becomes the name of the game. And so
Speaker 1: for a lot of people that means rethinking your network.
Speaker 1: It means getting back in touch with people you may
Speaker 1: be worked with two jobs ago and catching up with them.
Speaker 1: For younger people or for entry level workers, it might mean,
Speaker 1: you know, thinking about who have you done volunteer work with,
Speaker 1: who have you taken classes with? You really have to
Speaker 1: look broadly across your network at who you might want
Speaker 1: to reconnect with and consider that you know, they might
Speaker 1: not be able to hire you, but getting back in
Speaker 1: touch with them and catching up might leave them. You know,
Speaker 1: it might trigger they know somebody who they've heard is
Speaker 1: looking for someone with your skill set, and so really
Speaker 1: taking a new eye to your network is going to
Speaker 1: be essential. And an important note I think that you
Speaker 1: put in your article when you are reconnecting with somebody, say,
Speaker 1: you know, just kind of putting the feelers out there.
Speaker 1: Try not to be frustrating, did and cranking impatient with
Speaker 1: those people. Like you said, they might not be able
Speaker 1: to hire you, but they can lead you somewhere. And
Speaker 1: if you just lost a job and you're frustrated, take
Speaker 1: a step back so that you don't come across the name. Definitely, definitely,
Speaker 1: you know, it's totally understandable. I mean, nobody wants to
Speaker 1: be the person reminding somebody who's just been laid off
Speaker 1: from their job. Please be patient, be calm. You know,
Speaker 1: like your bills and your rent aren't usually being patient
Speaker 1: with you. So it's totally understandable to feel this way.
Speaker 1: But you do want to think about the impression that
Speaker 1: you're giving an offense. It's just as simple as taking
Speaker 1: time to reread your messages. Take a step back, take
Speaker 1: a time and a break, come back and look at
Speaker 1: your message again. Just make sure that you're you know,
Speaker 1: you're presenting the best version of yourself that you would
Speaker 1: want somebody to come across. And also there's you know,
Speaker 1: everyone we spoke was noted an uptick and empathy right
Speaker 1: now among people hiring, among people networking. You know, everybody
Speaker 1: understands what's going on and they want to help the
Speaker 1: next one right here. Be flexible and realistic about location.
Speaker 1: There's been a ton of increases in jobs that you
Speaker 1: can do remotely. Um, they're not always on remote jobs.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you know, there's a percentage that you might start
Speaker 1: remotely and then as this as things get better with
Speaker 1: the pandemic, you'll go back to work. But that's important
Speaker 1: to take into account because you know you can't live
Speaker 1: a hundred miles away from your job if you're eventually
Speaker 1: going to have to go back, right The key here
Speaker 1: is just to be really really clear. We are seeing
Speaker 1: companies who are hiring showing really increased flexibility around us.
Speaker 1: You know, they need talent now, and that talent might
Speaker 1: they know that that talent might need to move to
Speaker 1: where you know, a family member can provide childcare, or
Speaker 1: where a partner is going to have an easier time
Speaker 1: finding work. Like, we are seeing some more flexibility from companies,
Speaker 1: but you are going to want to be really up front.
Speaker 1: You know, just because you're a hundred percent remote right
Speaker 1: now and for the foreseeable future, you still need to
Speaker 1: guarantee that that job is a hundred percent remote and
Speaker 1: that they won't expect you to be in Santa Fe
Speaker 1: on a given day when you move to Maine. This
Speaker 1: next one might be the most important thing to be
Speaker 1: prepared for a one virtual interview process. You know you
Speaker 1: can't step foot in the door until you've gone through
Speaker 1: this step, and you know, you have to do a
Speaker 1: lot of things to be prepared to stand out. Maybe
Speaker 1: do a test call to make sure you look the
Speaker 1: best you possibly can. Definitely, you know, make sure your
Speaker 1: tech is working certainly, you know, prepas maybe with a
Speaker 1: friend the day before your interview. You know, we recommend
Speaker 1: dress as you would dress to go to an in
Speaker 1: person interview. You know, now is not the time just
Speaker 1: because you're in your living room, maybe to wear a
Speaker 1: sweatshirt to the interview. But then also you need to
Speaker 1: be cognizant of things like you have to bring a
Speaker 1: higher level of energy to a zoom interview than you
Speaker 1: would if you were in the room with somebody and
Speaker 1: picking up on lots of subtle cues. And we also
Speaker 1: had somebody who actually was laid off and landed a
Speaker 1: job again earlier the summer mentioned that he had gone
Speaker 1: through his resume and figured out he had teed up
Speaker 1: some anecdotes like that illustrated experiences he had had so
Speaker 1: that he wasn't just on this video interview like going
Speaker 1: through the bullets of his resume, he had a way
Speaker 1: of really bringing his experiences to life for the people
Speaker 1: on the other end. You got to stand out more
Speaker 1: than ever on these And the last question for this is,
Speaker 1: you know, you have to zero in on who is hiring.
Speaker 1: Obviously there's all sorts of industries are up and down
Speaker 1: right now, but where are people hiring the most. We
Speaker 1: are seeing that healthcare, retail, and food service are the
Speaker 1: ones that had the most job openings in the US
Speaker 1: at the beginning of August. Finance, insurance, construction, and real
Speaker 1: estate business services not as much. But an important thing
Speaker 1: to really think about is that there's a great deal
Speaker 1: of variation of performance even within an industry. So in tech,
Speaker 1: for example, which is doing better than a lot of
Speaker 1: other industries, if you are a company that's a startup
Speaker 1: focused on business travel, you're probably having a really tough
Speaker 1: time right now. But if you're a company that's focused
Speaker 1: on e commerce delivery a lot of those services, you're
Speaker 1: probably really hiring a lot and struggling to even meet capacity.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of variation even within industries, and
Speaker 1: some experts recommend that it's actually just better to make
Speaker 1: yourself a list of companies that are doing really well
Speaker 1: and focus on them well. The good news is that
Speaker 1: some are hiring. You just gotta work a little harder
Speaker 1: at it to land that job. There's a few more
Speaker 1: tips and tricks in Catherine's article, so I suggest everybody
Speaker 1: go out and take a look at it. Katherine Dill,
Speaker 1: reporter at the Wall Street Journal, thank you very much
Speaker 1: for joining us. Thanks for having me. I'm Oscar Ramirez
Speaker 1: and this has been reopening America. Don't forget effort today's
Speaker 1: big news stories. You can check me out on the
Speaker 1: Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So follow us
Speaker 1: on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast.