Job Hunting In The Time Of Covid-19

In October, I left what may have been the worst job I’ve ever had. I knew it was bound to happen, so I saved up every spare penny I had. After leaving, I filed and was approved for unemployment, which isn’t enough to cover the standard person’s bills. I had intended to start my job search before I left my previous job but working full time limited the amount of time I had to do so.

As much as I hated my job, I was grateful for the income it provided. I had heard scary things about the lack of jobs during the era of Covid-19. Business were closing, and the ones that were hiring were only doing so temporarily. I did my initial job search on indeed, but I was disappointed to see just how small the job market had gotten. There were only around two pages of retail jobs listed, and most of those were the company posting multiple job listings. The companies that were featured prevalently didn’t pay much. It was clear that I had left at the worst possible time, when there were more seasonal jobs than permanent ones.

I had more luck searching on Facebook, but most of the jobs listed would bring me to a separate website. I got my first interview by Thursday of that week, and it was awkward. Neither one of us was used to the new measures put in place by Covid-19. We interviewed outside and kept far apart. We didn’t shake hands when the interview was over, like I’d done prior to covid-19. I left that interview knowing that job wasn’t for me, so I kept searching. I was determined to get a job, so I spent hours applying. I ended up getting a fair number of interviews.

Some of those interviews took place over the phone, or via video chat, but a fair bit of them still occurred in person. I had always preferred to interview face to face, but these new interviews were different. Some of these interviews even came with special instructions, telling me where to meet the manager and how to interact with the people who currently worked at that location. I was instructed to wear a mask during the interviews, and my interviewer did as well. Wearing a mask to an interview made me nervous, after all, who would want to hire someone when they can’t see half of their face?

Speaking of my face, there were also measure I took to ensure my makeup looked professional. I had always taken special care to make sure my makeup looked natural during my pre-covid interviews, but now I took it to another level. I wanted to make sure my eyes weren’t too bold, as they were the only thing the interviewer would see. My foundation had to look like skin, and that my eyebrows couldn’t be too bold. I also skipped the perfume in favor of a light lotion that smelled like grapefruit.

During the interviews we couldn’t do things like shake hands, and I wasn’t asked to bring my resume to any of the interviews. The biggest difference I noticed was during a group interview. We sat in salon chairs that were spaced at least six feet apart and the manager sat across from us. There was no table in front of us, and it was odd being so far apart from everyone else. I had taken special care to google this company before the interview, but I still hadn’t expected it to take place within a group setting.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t long before I received my first job offers. I received one of them in person, and one of them in an email. I accepted the one I received via email, despite it only being a seasonal opening. It paid decently, and I didn’t want my old job to be the last thing on my resume. I enjoy the job, but I know it’s only temporary and I need to keep searching. I never stopped searching, but sometimes I feel hopeless. There are days when I feel as if I won’t find a job or that the job I do find will be as miserable as the one I left, but there are also days when I hold out hope.