WP2 DRAFT

With the influence of COVID-19 since the spring of 2020, most people around the world have already been through two years of remote working/study or even more. I still remember in that period of time, everything removes online. My parents and I were sitting in front of the three laptops and working separately. Undoubtedly, remote working saved time on commuting and ineffective social networking, so we can use those time to do a lot of things we wanted to do before the pandemic but we did not have time to do. During this fortunate family time, my parents’ view of work had changed. They would like to spend more time on family rather than work all day. The change of people’s views of jobs happened in lots of people in the U.S, which make the Great Resignation. Some people believed that the Great Resignation is a short-term situation, however, I argue that people’s relation to work will be changed forever. More and more people will quit their jobs and spend their time doing something they like or some valuable things, and the pandemic gives them time to finish their achievements.

First of all, this global pandemic let everyone realizes the shortness and value of life. People do not want to waste their time doing some useless, repeatable work they dislike before. During this global pandemic, over one hundred and fifty thousand deaths were linked to covid and more people were infected by covid. In this situation, the perishable of life make people even young people started to think about the arrangement of time– what kind of things are they want to invest time in the limited life. So some people quit their job and decided to go back to the family or enjoy their life, some others decided to pursue their dreams. In an article by CBS News, Karin Kimbrough, an interviewer points a view that the pandemic bought people a reflection and changed their hierarchy of life and work. The idea was “People have been living to work for a very long time. And I think the pandemic brought that moment of reflection for everyone. ‘What do I wanna do? What makes my heart sing?’ And people are thinking, ‘If not now, then when?’”. She talked about the change in people’s view of jobs after the effect of the pandemic. People started to think about the rewards of jobs and compare them with the sacrifice they made for their jobs. For most people, the rewards they want to gain from jobs are usually about the improvement of their life. As a result, people should work to live rather than live for work. People should choose some jobs they like and enjoy their job as a part of their life.

Here some may object not everyone has a target dream job they desperately want to do. Actually, most people work only for salary to support their daily spending, especially in the pandemic time. The pandemic time undoubtedly increases their risk of health which means everyone should keep extra money to prepare for the hospital and medicine fee. People started to save money systemically. Having a stable job is the main source of income. In an article of TIME, the author said workers dare not to quit their job during the first stressful months of quarantine even they had a high risk of exposure. “During the first stressful months of quarantine, job turnover plunged; people were just hoping to hang on to what they had, even if they hated their jobs. For many more millions of essential workers, there was never a choice but to keep showing up at stores, on deliveries, and in factories, often at great risk to themselves, with food and agricultural workers facing a higher chance of death on the job.” This phenomenon may appear in the first months, but with the continuation of the pandemic, more and more people started to reconsider the relation of work for a long-term situation.

Fortunately, the pandemic also gives people time to explore a new field, which may help them to find important work paths for them. Lots of people started to try something new when they were quarantined at home. It is difficult for people to start an interest randomly. So most attempts are about their previous major in college and some may be the new interests they want to explore or work in the future. The exploration during quarantine let people consider the most valuable job for them and help them make a new priority of life. In a TIME article, Keri, a woman quit jobs she did not like and opened a landscape business with her husband, which also has relationships with her college major–environmental science. She said “I did some soul searching. During the time I was home, I was gardening and really loving life.” In other words, she reconsiders what kind of job she really wants to do in the future in the pandemic time. I support her decision to pursue her own interest. In fact, those explorations not only let people find something new to do in the future, but they also build connections between their old interests or major to the jobs they want to do right now.

Admittedly, some people may say it is hard for people to suddenly get the strategy they need for their “dream job”. Usually, people need time to be familiar with any job whether is highly professional or not. People cannot get familiar with anything without training and practice. Therefore, it is hard for people who want to find jobs in their new interest, unfamiliar area.

However, I think people will have essential skills for their new interesting field because the pandemic gives people time to learn something new to fulfill their knowledge and skills about the field they are interested in. Because of some isolations rules and shut down policy of most restaurants and entertainment places, people have to spend more time at home. This gives them time to learn what they want to do especially when they also have the enthusiasm to do it. Nowadays, we have more and more online resources which covered almost every profession. People have enough time to apply for online courses and learn relative knowledge. Also, lots of jobs have connections to each other, they can use the skills in their previous jobs and fit them into a new field.

As a huge variation around the world, the pandemic has changed people’s lives in so many ways. The Great Resignation will continue even after the pandemic. More and more people will decide to follow their hearts and choose their one way of life.