Insights

COVID-19 has upended the job search process, especially for those who are newest to the workforce: college students and recent graduates. In April, RippleMatch released a survey of 2,210 college students to learn how COVID-19 has affected their search for full-time jobs and summer internships. It turns out that even in the middle of a pandemic and record levels of unemployment, most college students are not deterred from pursuing their professional plans.

It’s a stressful time to be a college student. Halfway through the spring semester, most colleges transitioned to remote instruction and canceled major events such as graduation ceremonies. College seniors also have the added stress of finding their first full-time job in the middle of a global pandemic. Last month, RippleMatch conducted a survey of 2,210 college students across 367 universities to learn more about the biggest challenges that college students are facing in their job search during COVID-19. For most students, the biggest job search challenges are not knowing which companies are hiring and not hearing back from employers after submitting an application.

Due to the unexpected circumstances of COVID-19, some employers have had to cancel or alter their internship programs for this summer. Especially when an internship is designed as a recruitment pipeline program, there can be longer-term consequences for employers which are attempting to plan ahead for future hiring. Rescinding an offer—including an internship offer—can damage your company’s brand in students’ views. It can also have tangible, negative consequences for students, including loss of income, loss of the opportunity to build essential work experience, and in cases where students are required to complete an internship for their degree program, even a delay in graduation dates and extended college costs. How can you mitigate this damage and engage your top candidates—those who would have otherwise gone through your internship program this summer and potentially have been converted to new hires—if you have had to cancel your internship?

Even in uncertain times like these, starting a new job is exciting. This is especially true for entry-level employees who have spent their college careers working toward this milestone. However, transitioning into a full-time role – especially with added complications from things like remote work – can be overwhelming for new employees and eventually lead to burnout, defined as emotional & mental exhaustion from periods of prolonged stress.

Recruiting neurodiverse workers is a growing trend in hiring, especially within companies that are spearheading Autism at Work initiatives. Hiring neurodiverse teams has competitive advantages – after Microsoft began Autism at Work, numerous Fortune 500 companies followed suit, and a neurodiverse software testing group in Australia was found to be 30% more productive than their neurotypical colleagues.

For most college students, landing that first job or coveted internship is a stressful, but exciting, rite of passage. But the unfolding global health crisis has made taking that first step into a professional career significantly harder for millions of college students.

For some college recruiters, especially those with limited travel budgets and a national reach, recruiting via webinars is nothing new. Some companies have utilized webinars, videos, social media, and virtual recruiting technology for years. But for those whose recruitment efforts have focused primarily on in-person, on-campus presentations, COVID-19 presents a new challenge – and a new opportunity – to engage with prospective candidates virtually. But how do you choose the right technology?

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, many companies are finding themselves switching to remote recruiting to fill their entry-level roles or internships. Campus career centers are cancelling in-person events and companies are temporarily closing their offices, which makes face-to-face interaction – and personalization in the hiring process – more difficult to manage.

As the number of cases of the novel coronavirus continue to increase in the U.S., colleges and universities such as Harvard University, Columbia University, Rice University, University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University are switching to online classes, suspending events, and asking students to vacate campus for the remainder of the semester to mitigate risk.