Career Advice

With the economic turbulence caused by COVID-19, many job seekers, including college students, are wondering where to look for potential new opportunities. While the job market is greatly in flux and hard to predict, savvy job seekers may think about how the pandemic is shaping society to attempt to predict where the jobs might be in the future. By looking ahead, they can build connections with the strongest employers and prepare themselves for new opportunities which might emerge.

If you have been invited for a final round interview, congratulations! It means you have presented yourself well so far and the company thinks you may be a great fit for the role. You should commend yourself for making it this far, but don’t get overconfident. At this stage, you will be up against the strongest competition.

Community leaders have the power to connect people around an idea or an activity. In the business world, that means creating a community of digital marketers, aspiring fashion designers, or thought leaders on inclusion in the workplace. No matter the topic, the person behind the scenes of a live event has the initiative to transform an idea into a community-building moment. The skills that community leaders demonstrate when organizing events are the same skills that lead to successful careers.

There’s no doubt that 2020 is one of the most challenging years to be a college student in recent history: Classes have switched to online, graduations are now virtual, some internship programs have been canceled, and unemployment is at an all-time high. Luckily, some companies are stepping in to offer free or discounted services—from coding classes to WiFi—to current college students or recent grads struggling with remote learning and a tumultuous job market. Here’s a sampling of what’s out there.

As you would expect, recruiters and hiring managers receive an overwhelming amount of cover letters after posting a job. To make sure they're choosing the very best candidates to move on to the next round, they need to be picky — so picky in fact, that they can reject an entire application for one simple phrase that doesn't just sit right with them. It's harsh, but it's true.

While summer internships are an important part of many professional paths, not having one won’t make or break your career. Future employers will be understanding if there’s no internship listed on your resume for this summer. That said, your professional development doesn’t have to grind to a halt this summer just because you don't have a formal internship. In fact, there are several ways you can stay productive, continue learning, and gain professional experience that don’t require a formal internship. Here are eight ideas:

With conferences cancelled, informal gatherings postponed and other events in limbo, face-to-face networking isn’t an option. If networking was a major part of your job search strategy, this complicates things. But don’t despair. Just because you can’t attend a meeting in person doesn’t mean your opportunity to maintain current relationships or develop new ones must be put on hold. You can still be proactive in making connections while practicing social distancing – here are four tips to get you started.

Traditionally, making a good first impression during your first job meant dressing appropriately, showing up to the workplace on time, and demonstrating your work ethic early on. But as more jobs transfer to a remote setting, there’s a good chance that your first job could also be an entirely remote one for the foreseeable future. Making a good first impression is just as important in this case, but it comes with some challenges, too. When you start your first remote job, there are several things to consider on your first day and the weeks following.

The novel coronavirus has interrupted many aspects of student life, and job hunting is no exception. As companies transition to remote recruiting for the last few months of the academic year, entry-level candidates are likely to become more familiar with a video interview tool called “HireVue.” Some companies that recruit on RippleMatch already use HireVue at some point in the hiring process. However, a lot of candidates have never used it before or aren’t sure how it fits into recruitment overall. If a potential employer contacts you with a request for a HireVue interview, consider this your primer to understanding the platform and how you can best position yourself for success when using it.