With layoffs, hiring freezes, and rescinded internships, the current job market can look discouraging to college graduates.

Jessey Allen, a counselor at CWU Career Services, hosted a workshop on April 28 called, “Top Tips for Surviving the COVID-19 Job Market.”

Allen said that while hospitality, tourism and restaurants are hit the hardest, technology companies such as Instacart and Zoom are hiring more people to meet the increase in the use of their products.

“You know, like Amazon, they need people to help them deliver packages to people they’re running behind on,” Allen said. “Other companies are shifting how they do things; some are moving jobs online. Same with internships, some people are able to do their internships remotely.”

Allen said during this pandemic, students should continue working on  professional development.

“Sometimes when difficult situations like this happen, we tend to disengage,” Allen said. “And think, ‘why bother, no one’s hiring right now, I’m not seeing as many openings, see all these laid offs,’ but you want to stay in it, stay engaged.”  

She explained that students can work on their resumes, LinkedIn profiles and do mock interviews.

“Just staying positive. The unemployment rate has gone up a lot, sure, but there’s still a lot of good out there,” Allen said. “There’s still a lot of people who are hiring, it just may not be a job that you’ve thought of before.”

Career services has been holding online workshops and counseling and is planning to run an online career fair from May 11-15. More detail can be found on their website.