Will I Get a Job After the COVID-19 Pandemic?

These current trends will continue even after we defeat the outbreak. Here is where the jobs are and where they will be in the future.

The coronavirus pandemic has bought a lot of changes in the way we live and behave; everything has changed around us and is expected to change or evolve further. People are sitting at home and are mostly under lockdown. Businesses all around the world have been impacted due to this outbreak. The trade relations are deteriorating between some nations; economies have been affected, a slowdown is expected, prices are crashing, a recession is being talked about, job losses are increasing, pay cuts are being observed more widely. Many big companies are even on the verge of collapsing financially.

Worst Affected Sectors

Coronavirus has impacted the whole economy of nations, and it has forced people not to leave their homes, so the worst affected jobs include:

• Construction based jobs — due to the lockdown taking place as a measure to curb the spread of the virus, most of the construction workers have lost their jobs.
• The entertainment industry — entertainment industries and production houses need to deal with a high amount of human to human interaction, which clearly violates social distancing. The shooting for new films and serials has stopped, which lead to job loss for the crew and other people related. Even the theatres are running in loss.
• Malls and other amusement zones — malls and other places where there is a large gathering of people to avail the services are shut down, which have led to the loss of jobs of many people related like shop owners, cleaners, parking assistants, security, etc.
• Tourism — one of the most affected businesses is tourism, which has sharply declined due to the restricted movement of people, it has caused 1.2 million direct job losses.
• The airline industry — the worst affected industry all across the globe is the airline industry, after nations taking significant steps on curbing the movement on the general public the airlines have been in constant loss. Most of the services all across the globe have been shut. There have been massive layoffs and pay cuts among the employees.

Image Credit: Bloomberg

The Winners

The big winners will be the online companies that don’t rely upon brick-and-mortar locations, healthcare providers, supermarket chains — especially those with a robust online presence — pharmaceutical companies working on cures for diseases, technology companies, and services, such as Zoom, that cater to people working from home.

Image Credit: Sony

• E-sports — Since the schools are closed and everyone from elementary school to college is stuck at home, they are turning to online video games. Kids, as well as some adults, are playing games in record numbers to keep entertained, especially with the absence of sporting events. It’s also a way to interact with friends and family to maintain social relations while also practicing self-distancing. As long as this trend continues, jobs in this space are safe and will increase to meet the demand.
• Tech companies — according to the financial times, “Tech companies are still hiring rapidly as they move to take advantage of a world shifting increasingly to digital as a result of the coronavirus, despite mass layoffs elsewhere and growing concerns over plummeting global markets.”
• Video streaming companies — companies like Netflix, amazon prime, and other video streaming companies are gaining due to the large number of people staying at their homes as a part of social distancing.
• App Development — people are resorting more and more towards dating apps, online dating apps are seeing a rapid rise in users; in these days of personal isolation. Followed by these people are now trying out different apps. Most of the apps, like zoom video conferencing, are mostly used.
• Online stores — As people are bound inside their homes, they need more of the goods and supplies to be delivered to their homes, and the big giants like Amazon are fulfilling this need of people by hiring more people to meet the demand of the customers.

The graph shows amazon’s revenue and net income during the time of the coronavirus. Image Credit: CNBC

Will You Be Able to Get a Job After the Pandemic?

Well, it might be challenging to say whether someone can get a job or not, the clear thing is that if someone is skilled in the field of employment-related to “the winners” section might be able to get a job. But people less experienced and less skilled might have to struggle to an extent to gain a secure job.

But as the focus of countries having manufacturing in China may shift to India post lockdown, there may be an ample amount of job opportunities in different sectors in the country. Moreover, India is also planning to ease the procedures and help the companies to shift their bases to the country.

Skills to Improve on During the Lockdown

Even though the lockdown may be detrimental to the economy, it might be the best time to improve your skills.

• You might work upon your coding skills with online classes.
• You may want to learn by reading more number of books.
• You might work upon learning web designing.
• You may learn a new language.
• You may learn video editing.
• You should work on your public speaking skills.