When the Pandemic Shrunk the Job Market, These UGA Students Got Creative

COVID-19 made the hunt for part-time jobs difficult for college students. But pluck and ingenuity helped a few young people spark opportunities.

In college towns, students struggle to find work and job experience. As COVID-19 shut down the world, college students got creative in their pursuit of employment.

Many seniors missed out on internships this past summer and struggled to find jobs for post graduation.

“My internship was canceled the summer after my junior year, which would have led to a full time job," said fourth-year student Allison Doherty. "I kind of had a lot more pressure on me going into senior year so I started my job search, pretty much right as first semester started.”

Because stores are losing business, many are no longer hiring college students to work.

Wells Maley, a fourth-year fashion merchandising major, said that her job search “was difficult, and resulted to creating my own job because of it.”

The fashion industry took a major hit during the pandemic, and internships were not offered in major cities like New York.

Maley got creative and built her own apparel and home goods business where she designs all of her prints and products.

Maley said that “due to the difficult job market, I've decided to do that full time and see where it takes me because there's been proven success thus far.”

Not every student has struggled to find a job. Fourth-year Emily Doherty’s job has looked quite different throughout the pandemic.

Doherty works as a doula supporting women throughout pregnancy and childbirth. Hospitals have seen major shifts in how they operate, and the labor and delivery units have limited visitors during delivery.

She began her job in January of 2021 and COVID-19 procedures greatly limited the experience she was able to gain before entering the hospitals.

“I'm not able to do any shadowing," Doherty said. "So the people, the doulas, that I work for, I would have been able to shadow them in the hospital, but I'm not able to do that.”

A worldwide pandemic may have changed the job market for many college seniors, but student’s creativity and work ethic has proven successful for most.