It was February 2020. After three years of working as a lecturer, I was looking to transition into higher ed administration—a field where I felt I could support students more holistically than I was able to do in the classroom. My job search was going reasonably well: I’d had two interviews so far, and my teaching contract wasn’t up until May. Plenty of time to secure a position. Then COVID hit, and the rest, as they say, was history. Universities across the country issued immediate hiring freezes. The jobs I’d been interviewing for paused their searches indefinitely. And, to add insult to injury, I wasn’t able to renew my existing contract.
Many people faced unprecedented employment challenges in the wake of COVID shutdowns, and my story is hardly the most dramatic of them. But it does illustrate the importance of creativity and agility in your professional life. The fact is: most career paths are non-linear, and the average person goes through 5-7 career changes in their lifetime. So, hitting a snag in your job search doesn’t have to be the end of the road.
Here are some steps I took to navigate the job market in a moment of reduced opportunities and increased uncertainty—steps that you, too, can follow if you’re facing a competitive market:
1. Take the time to fully evaluate your skills, interests, values, and experiences
Some students unwittingly limit their career options by taking a narrow view of their qualifications. Consider the full range of skills you’re bringing to the table—not just what you studied in school or what you did in previous jobs, but skills you cultivated through extracurricular activities, volunteer work, or even hobbies. Ask people in your network which skills and qualities they associate you with; you may be surprised by the results. Next, do some research to identify all the places those skills might be valued. I often talk to alumni who ended up in jobs they didn’t even know existed when they were a student.
At the same time, don’t apply for absolutely everything. When you’re feeling anxious and need a job quickly, it can be tempting to cast as wide a net as possible. However, research shows that an unfocused job search is rarely successful. Fit is a major consideration in the hiring process, so you want to be thinking about how your interests and values align with the employer’s mission and culture. Keep in mind that employers can usually sense if you’re not excited about an opportunity, and they probably won’t want to bring that energy into their organization.
If you’re ready to start evaluating your skills, interests, and values and connecting them with specific career opportunities, check out the tools on the Career Services website. ImaginePhD offers multiple assessments and links the results to different job families (and you don’t have to be a PhD student to use it). myIDP is a useful assessment tool for STEM students. And CareerExplorer helps you identify core strengths and test your compatibility with over 800 careers.
2. Don’t ignore the little opportunities; they can yield big results
While full-time employment is obviously most job seekers’ goal, don’t neglect the chance to gain new skills and experiences through part-time work (including freelance or contract work), volunteer experiences, extracurriculars, or self-directed learning.
In order to earn a bit of income and try to upskill while I was job searching during COVID, I took a variety of part-time jobs: I graded AP exams, I taught a summer course, and I did some freelance editing work—blog posts, resumes, novels, whatever I could get my hands on. Not only did these experiences help me stay busy (and pay the bills) while I considered next steps, but the last one—editing—ended up turning into a full-time career. The professional experiences I gained and relationships I cultivated through a handful of smaller editing projects opened the door to new, longer-term opportunities. And I’m not the only one: I’ve spoken with alumni who taught themselves a new skill entirely through YouTube tutorials and were able to translate that into a full-time role.
Handshake is a great starting point for finding part-time jobs, internships, and other experiential learning opportunities, like employer treks. The Graduate Student Center is a centralized hub for resources and programs supporting all facets of graduate student life, including skill development. But the best way to find opportunities is just to talk to people (also known by that dreaded term… networking). Reach out to peers, professors, and alumni to learn which opportunities might be most helpful for the career fields you’re interested in. And if the thought of networking makes you anxious, check out our Guide to Informational Interviews for tips on how to get started.
3. Take advantage of all available resources
Job searching can be overwhelming even at the best of times, and even more so at a moment of economic uncertainty. The important thing to know is that you’re not alone. As a Penn student, you have access to countless resources to support your academic, professional, and personal wellness.
If you’re feeling anxious about your job search, here are three easy steps you can take now to prepare for a more strategic and successful search:
- Schedule a one-on-one appointment with a career advisor through Handshake. We can help you explore career options, refine your job materials, prep for interviews, and negotiate offers. We can also help you plan for a career pivot by discussing how to reframe your skills and experiences for a new field.
- Explore our online resources. Beyond Graduate School (for master’s students) and the PhD Career Training Platform (for PhDs/postdocs) offer detailed guidance on how to identify potential career paths and plan out your job search. Check out the Career Services website for resume guides/templates, networking tips, interview advice, and more. Finally, the Career Services YouTube channel features webinars and workshops on every imaginable topic, from preparing for career fairs, to navigating the job market as a first-gen or international student, to answering the dreaded “What’s your greatest weakness?” question in interviews.
- Attend Career Services programs. We host programs year-round to help students connect with alumni in career fields of interest, develop their career-readiness competencies, and increase their confidence in navigating the job market. Visit the Career Services website for a full list of upcoming events.
For example, if you’re interested in careers in higher ed administration, join us next week (March 24-26) for our Career Insights Series. Over the course of three days, you’ll have the chance to learn more about the hiring process in higher ed, including what happens to your resume after you click submit, who evaluates your application, and what they’re looking for in candidates; how to gain relevant experience now to successfully transition into areas like admissions, advising, or leadership development; and how to navigate the higher ed job market amidst funding challenges and hiring freezes.
This is just a taste of the many resources available to Penn students, postdocs, and alumni. As a Penn alum myself, I was immensely grateful to have access to high-quality career development tools and professional career advisors during my daunting COVID job search.
Thankfully, my story has a happy ending: I did finally get that job in higher ed administration, as an advisor at Penn Career Services. I now have the opportunity to pay it forward as I help others navigate their sometimes surprising, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately fulfilling career paths.
