COVID-19: Graduating Seniors Face Uncertainty in Job Market

|| Graphic by Jillian Cheney

At the end of last month, a record high of 6.6 million people applied for unemployment in a single week. With the count in for the last four weeks, the total unemployment is at 22 million people, the highest since the Great Depression.

Those who have lost their jobs suffer the most immediate consequences of this, but the situation shapes up to be troubling for another group of people as well: college seniors looking to enter the job market later this year. Today, King’s 101 announced they are launching Career Development as a regular feature for students and have been regularly posting advice for students “during the Coronavirus Economy.” 

“Whenever this ends, I don’t think that everything will go right back to how it was,” MCA chair Dr. Harry Bleattler told EST in an interview last week. “I think it will be sort of a slow ramp back up to what we consider normal. And for the class of 2020, this couldn’t be at a worse time.”

Many soon-to-be graduates are already starting to experience struggles that mimic the Great Recession as the economy heads towards a recession. Seniors are fearing and bracing for the worst-case scenario where they are the next class of 2009--the peak of the recession. Companies are currently conducting mass layoffs and freezing hiring processes. 

“I had strong prospects at one of the places I had interned at, but they anticipated the economic impact of COVID-19 and let me know the first week of March that hiring in the nonprofit sector was going to be extremely limited,” Annabelle Ford, a Humanities major, said. “They were unable to create a position for me but were extremely helpful and I have stayed in contact with their marketing team. I love the organization, but nonprofits across the city are having a difficult time right now and taking on a staff member seems to be too high a risk.”

Dr. Bleattler fears that small art originations will go under due to COVID-19. 

“Bigger organizations, the Mets and the MoMas, they’re going to be fine, but they’ve got big endowments,” Dr. Bleattler said. 

Many students at King’s have to work multiple jobs in order to afford housing and tuition in New York. However, as the situation worsens, students have had to quit their jobs for the time being.

“I had a nannying job for two Upper East Side doctors for a couple of weeks right up until my roommates and I left the city,” Meg Weber, a Media, Culture and the Arts major said. “I was able to go to work even after Cuomo shut down non-essential businesses because I was deemed an essential worker. The kids were great and it paid really well. But the hour-long trip on the subway was too dangerous to keep working.”

For many of these students, all plans seem to be on hold. Graduates are starting to look for other options outside of their dream jobs. Economics professor Dr. Paul Mueller notes that this is a good response and it shows you are patient and have a desire to help. Having a good work ethic during this time can help you get a new job or referral for something else. 

“In an odd way, I feel like the pressure is off to land a job at an impressive nonprofit or at a marketing firm with a high paying salary,” Ford said. “Those were the two places I saw myself and neither option really exists right now.”

Small businesses, meaning 500 or fewer employees, make up 44 percent of the U.S. economy. These small businesses and institutions are hurting due to less business coming through their doors, as Dr. Bleattler feared, an outcome affecting graduates who planned on applying for small businesses in the city. 

“It's hard to say exactly how things will play out - I think that the downturn we are going to see will hit small business disproportionately,” Dr. Mueller said. “That being said, there will also be an opportunity for an explosion of new small businesses after things open up again. You can think of this as a little bit like a forest fire. They are natural disasters, yet even though they leave a lot of devastation, they also provide fertilizer and space for a lot of new growth too.”

Both Dr. Bleattler and Dr. Mueller encourage students to use this time to learn something new, apply for positions they normally wouldn’t, and try to expand their skill sets.

“I had strong prospects at one of the places I had interned at, but they anticipated the economic impact of COVID-19 and let me know the first week of March that hiring in the nonprofit sector was going to be extremely limited.”

“I advise people to keep their eyes and ears open for any opportunity that comes up,” Dr. Mueller said. “One thing employers like to see is that people are proactive and willing to work hard at something, even if it is not their favorite activity or otherwise seems like a humble position.”

Dr. Bleattler’s advice was similar: “Learn some new software. Not to put pressure on students to do more, especially now, but if you’ve always wanted to learn how to use photoshop, use Lynda.com, which is free with the New York Public Library, to teach yourself how to do it. By creating your own projects, you could end up being able to put some new lines on your resume.”

Students have expressed to teachers, the school and friends the stress that is inevitably affecting everyone due to the uncertainty. 

“At least for me, the anxiety over everything comes in waves so I’ve been trying to battle it the best I can,” Weber said. “So far being home has been okay and I’m trying to keep it that way. That being said, I’m finishing my final semester online, I lost three jobs, and had to file for unemployment all at the age of 21. It’s a lot to deal with and I’m sure it’s something that will stick with me for a while but I’m trying to make the best of it.”

Dr. Bleattler said that this kind of response is natural but the outcome of this event will overall help people become aware of what is important to them.

The class of 2020 at Fall Retreat 2019.

“It’s totally normal to feel anxious or even fearful,” he said. “But know that we will come through this, we’ll come to the other side somehow, even if we don’t know what that will look like. I know that this has shown me those things that I hold onto in my own life that give me stability, and those things can’t give stability, because when everything falls apart, what’s left standing?”

Overall, Dr. Mueller believes students graduating should not be too worried about how the coronavirus will affect the economy in the U.S. 

“Look, you may not have a job starting May 10, or even June 10, but there will be work to do, plenty of it, as the economy opens up,” Dr. Mueller said. “And it will eventually open back up and then there will be a hiring frenzy like we've never seen before - and that may be an opportunity unlike what other classes of graduates have seen before. Remember, you don't have to land a dream job a month out of school - figure out how you can contribute where you are and build on that.”