COVID-19 aftermath causing job crisis? We are here to help!
The year 2020 has been rough on the entire world. No one has been spared from the crises that have resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic. A virus so lethal that it single-handedly brought the entire global economy to its knees. Due to the government imposed lockdowns taken as a safety measure during this health scare, the Indian IT industry has taken a major hit caused by their inability to be fully operational. As a result of the financial losses incurred by these companies, many of them had to defy the government’s request to not reduce costs by laying off employees or shrinking their paychecks.
Individually establishments are dealing with this crisis differently. A few organizations like CSS corp, Flipkart, Myntra, Tesco, Capgemini, BharatPe, etc have been able to retain employees, offer promotions, hike salaries and have not rescinded their job offer letters. Other big establishments like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Wipro and PwC India have not laid off or furloughed any of their employees. They have, however, decided to suspend hikes for all of them as well as withhold variable payouts. Tech companies like Cognizant, Fareportal, Ola, Oyo, Swiggy, GoIbibo, Cleartrip, Ninjacart, Instamojo, Zomato, etc have fired hundreds of their employees. These tech companies are also resorting to pay cuts, halting new hirings and withdrawing already offered job letters to cut their financial losses.
Due to a very gradual recovery of the world from COVID-19, there is a decent chance that the software industry’s economy will inevitably slide into a massive recession. If that happens, sooner or later, the job security of many more employees will be in peril. A survey on a major Indian news medium, The National Herald, projected that there will be close to 1.5–2 lakhs of employees who will lose their jobs in the IT sector within 6 months of the COVID-19 breakout in India. Though there will be some companies which will continue their hiring processes, the job market certainly will have limited job positions and numerous applicants. Undoubtedly, it will be extremely competitive.
If you had the misfortune of being amongst those who were given terminations by their employers, this article will, hopefully, provide some guidance for the next steps you should undertake to be able to gain re-entry into the employment arena.
Focus on termination formalities and documentation before the last day of work: When you are made aware of being laid off from your job, stay calm and carefully secure all your job-related documents that will be needed for your next hiring. Your offer letter / joining letter, pay slips, any commendation letters from supervisors or clients, any documentation for awards or certificates won for any professional tournaments, reference letters from your leads or supervisors and a few of your trusted peers. Make sure all formalities are completed that are related to your severance package.
Upskill yourself: Utilize your time at home to learn new skills and upgrade your knowledge by extending your domain into other aspects of business operations. This will enable you to boost your resume and add more leverage to your profile when you apply for a job. Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, Skillshare, etc are making millions of courses available online to everyone. Many of these courses are free while others are being made available at great discounts during this time of need.
Skillenza will soon be launching an initiative, SkillDojo, where you can get the best Live Courses from industry experts at affordable prices. If your domain of interest is IT but you are unsure of where to start, you can go for a new programming language or new tech skills like Advanced Robotics, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, etc, as these will enable you to be suitable for its future job market.
If you are looking for expanding your marketing skills, earn certifications of Google Ads, Google Analytics, Salesforce and other Digital Marketing Strategy tools. For a career advancement in Sales, Certified Sales Leadership Professional (CSLP), Certified Inside Sales Professional (CISP), etc are great certifications to start with. The basic idea is to research your job market and narrow down the list of qualifications that are being sought after during these times.
Seek new ventures if the existing career path isn’t working: Many professionals do not find their work interesting once they are on the job or they lose interest after doing similar tasks for months or years. While some of them might be doing great work, they might not be mentally satisfied with themselves. If you are amongst them and have been laid off during this crisis, consider this to be a great opportunity to rethink your career goals. You can pursue studies for a different field of work. Gain a new skill set and make yourself eligible for a different career option that excites you.
Maintain updation of your job search profile: As you continue to enhance your skills, simultaneously update your profile on all the job search portals like Naukri, Monster, etc and professional networking platforms like LinkedIn, that you would have created an account in. Widen your job search base by exploring trends on virtual job fairs. Reach out and connect with your university alumni who might give exposure to your profile and that might reach a potential recruiter who is active in the hiring market.
Seek help from community hiring platforms: Search for programs launched by talent hiring platforms which connect job seekers with potential recruiters. They might guide you through the hiring process helping you understand future market trends. For example, Skillenza Aide program is a job facilitating support program hosted by Skillenza. It assesses job seekers who register on their portal and based on their skill sets and experience, connects them to various hiring employers. We also conduct various coding assessments and mock challenges similar to those conducted by most recruiters during their hiring process. Another example is the AI-based HR platform named SCIKEY providing similar services. Employers have been trusting such hiring platforms as they have been providing them with very capable talent.
Be proactive on your lookout for jobs: Check websites of companies where you think you might fit in. Once you have listed your target companies, send in your resumes to their recruitment teams or HR personnel so that they might get in touch with you if they have requirements for employees with your skills and experience. Skillenza has various work opportunities which you can learn about on its website. If companies have halted their hiring process completely during the epidemic, they will consider your profile if it is good and might put you on waiting lists to send an offer letter as soon as recovery and rehiring begins.
Make yourself aware of virtual hiring practices: Since, almost every company has resorted to virtual hiring methods as a practice for social distancing that has been observed during the COVID-19 crisis, it is appropriate to make yourself acquainted with the associated rules and be prepared in case you manage to secure an interview with a recruiter. You can refer to some of our guiding tips compiled here.
Prepare to make adjustments on roles and salary: Finances of software companies have taken huge hits during the lockdowns imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a huge recession. Whenever recovery begins, even if companies resume hiring, the job market scenario will not be the same. Salaries might not be the same or employers might hire you for positions that were below the last role that you have experience of. If the situation does not seem to get better, keep an open mind to any opportunity available for you and do not outright reject considering a smaller role or paycheck. Focus on regaining foothold in the industry.
Contribute through freelancing projects: Even at the cost of layoffs and cost reductions, companies have to still run their ongoing projects with the remaining manpower. As a result, freelancing roles are on a rise, as they allow employers to compensate freelancers for parts of project work done by them over a period of time limited by the terms of the contract signed by both parties instead of paying complete salaries to full time employers. Accepting this kind of work allows you to be in control of the amount of work you do.
In case of salary cuts as well, freelancing can assist you with extra income. The more you work, the more you get paid. A varied range of work from coding to documenting can be available through freelancing. This work will add value to your resume in the post COVID-19 job market. Another advantage of such a contribution to an organization is that, depending on the usefulness of your project work and your competence and productivity, they might offer you a permanent position when the crisis is over.
Work on pet-projects: You can use the COVID-19 crisis and the consequent effects on society to your advantage, by selecting a real-life problem and creating a solution in the form of a pet-project. Participate in hackathons which provide an excellent platform to show your software engineering skills as well as expose your work to potential recruiters. Draw inspiration from your previous work experiences or follow online tutorials on project development to build working prototypes or applications or services which provide unique and creative solutions to an existing problem in these troubled times. A well-made and sturdy project adds value to your CV emphasizing your efficiency and capabilities.
Start earning through coaching: If you have considerable work experience and are good at transferring and sharing knowledge, you can look for options to work as an instructor in various online learning platforms. To cite examples, Udemy, Coursera, Codecademy, etc invite talented and eloquent professionals to build courses and impart knowledge on platforms accessible to students and professionals all across the globe. We, at Skillenza, are also looking for such mentors for our soon-to-be launched initiative SkillDojo, a Live courses program. There are ways to monetize your courses following which you can get access to a decent income, while your search for a more permanent employment continues.
Be wise with your finances: Being cast into unemployment during an unprecedented crisis, you will need to manage your finances with a lot of planning and optimizing. First and foremost, you will have to differentiate between essential and luxury commodities. Use your savings and emergency funds only for the things you need. Make adjustments to your daily budget by being conscious of your expenses throughout the day. If you are invested in various forms of cash flows into savings plans, it is advisable to get in contact with the associated company and check if there is any approach available to lower the deposits or delay for a few months.
Prepare a robust CV/resume: Make sure your application and CV/resume highlight your skills, experiences and achievements well. Prepare well structured, unique and engaging applications to stand out amongst the crowd. Be cautious about semantic errors in your CV. If you are not confident about doing a great job at that by yourself, you can seek professional assistance in creating one. There are many tools available online like Zety, VisualCV, EnhanCV, etc where you can access templates or keywords to create an improved CV/resume.
Take care of your physical and mental wellbeing: Losing your job during a global disaster can be disturbingly scary. The task of finding a new job at a time when companies are increasing their measures to lower staff costs by laying off employees can be extremely daunting. The most important thing to do at this time, is to not lose focus and hope, however hard it might seem to be. Engage yourself in activities like yoga, meditation etc., to keep anxiety and panic at bay. Yoga will help in maintaining your physical well-being while meditation will sharpen and strengthen your memory, concentration and will-power.
Final Thoughts:
It might be hard to believe, but organizations are trying their best to retain their employees. Laying off employees and sending them termination notices within a short period is occurring due to huge revenue losses suffered during the lockdown period imposed by the Indian government as a safety guideline during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Just like history has shown us, this too shall pass. However, to make the most productive and efficient usage of this period, whilst quarantined in unemployment, implement these profile boosting pointers explained in this article. These will help you stay focused and provide you with the best possible advantage when you put yourself back in the market after the economic slowdown is over.
