Working towards the light at the end of the Coronavirus tunnel
By Julie Russell, Marketing and Communication Specialist
For the job-market at least, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel. A recent July report from APSCo notes ‘glimmers of positivity in the UK market’, and that ‘we are at last beginning to work our way out of this crisis’. As Joe McGuire, Global Sales Director at cube19, affirms, ‘Vacancies, jobs and sales are all up from May…. With more industries opening back up and lockdown easing, we hope to see this upward trend continue on the same trajectory’. Yet optimism must be tempered; indeed, how can we feel anything other than pessimism when job losses and store closures are now reported daily like weather forecasts? John Lewis is just one of the latest retailers to announce big cuts, putting 1300 jobs at risk as flagship outlets in Birmingham and Watford have been permanently closed.
The Jewish community, in particular, has been hit hard on the job front; the percentage of self-employed Jews was recorded as two times as large (30.5%) as the general population back in 2001 with recent reports repeatedly confirming this. The self-employed have been one of the worst affected groups during the pandemic, with the ONS report finding that full-time self-employed men have seen record quarterly decreases. Further, the self-employed often find themselves ‘falling through the cracks’, as a Jewish employment organisation suggested, without sufficient government support especially for those who set up as self-employed after the cut-off date of April 2019. For those who have retained their jobs, normality within those jobs has not been retained; the July ONS report shows the ‘largest annual decrease in total actual weekly hours on record’. Boardrooms have been replaced by bedrooms; colleagues by cohabitants; canteens by kitchens.
So where are the signs of recovery amidst the doom and gloom? What sectors remain (relatively) unscathed? For those just leaving university, 28 per cent of job offers have been rescinded or the start date delayed; yet as Stephen Isherwood, chief executive of the Institute for Student Employers, notes, ‘There are some bright spots, including tech companies… where graduate numbers are strong for 2020’. Adaptability is the new name of the game for graduates, as internships, apprenticeships and general work experience have either been cancelled or transferred to remote schemes. Clifford Chance, the magic circle law firm, for example is now offering an online summer vacation programme. Non-permanent work such as tutoring is also seen as useful way to earn money for qualified students and graduates to deal with the increasing demand as a result of school-closures; tutor-site MyTutor, for instance, is so ‘overwhelmed by recent interest’ that one can no longer sign up: “We’re full (for now)” its website explains.
General trends also look somewhat positive. The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) have been tracking job postings during the pandemic; the number of listed vacancies has risen significantly since May, with an estimated rise of around 100,000 listed jobs across all sectors around the UK. In particular, programmers and software developers are in demand, with small (yet encouraging) growth in sales and retail assistants as lockdown measures are gradually reduced. The Online Recruitment Resource, Onrec, has documented even more promising figures, detailing that ‘sales and education vacancies rise 26%’ in the early weeks of July.
What does seem clear is that methods of working (as well as job-searching) will change for many sectors, even when the virus has ultimately been defeated. TechUK’s deputy chief executive, Anthony Walker, explains: “A lot of business leaders we’ve been talking to, and survey data, shows that digital will be more important to their business, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic”. Aside from the rise in demand for highly specialized IT experts, a base level computer proficiency is also becoming ever more important, as more and more work can now be done digitally- indeed an estimated 51% of employees are currently working remotely, and one in three office-workers wish to continue working from home, the Telegraph reports. With new locations for work and new methods for working, additional necessary skills such as advanced IT have to be learned. Free services such as Resource, the non-profit organisation that provides unemployed members of the Jewish community with the tools to find and obtain work, says its data suggest clients lack confidence and competence in Office based programs, with Excel being particularly unknown and unused.’. In terms of job searching and networking, Resource have further documented a lack of proficiency in utilising the networking and recruitment site LinkedIn, with over half of their clients not using the service: as one client affirms,
“My computer skill sets have had to improve dramatically as I had no choice but to take calendars, excel spreadsheets and zoom meeting set ups on board”.
In order to adapt to the post-Covid job-market it is important for employees to develop their skills in these areas. Many free online resources are available, with Google offering online courses with certifications awarded upon completion, in areas such as ‘Fundamentals of digital marketing’ and ‘Fundamentals of Graphic Design’. One cannot underestimate the importance of making use of any time that the pandemic has (for better or for worse) provided them.
About the author: Julie Russell is an experienced marketing and communications specialist, and has worked in a variety of roles including top London advertising agencies, one of the largest telecommunications companies, and in a small local business.