Current State Of The Job Market
The coronavirus outbreak has, so far, had dramatic consequences for the job market. Almost overnight, social distancing and stay-at-home orders limited job search options and increased competition for the positions that remain open, thereby minimizing the chances of job search success [1]. Yet some companies — especially those categorized as “essential” and which are involved in healthcare and online sales/service provision — are experiencing immense increases in sales [2]. These firms have responded by creating thousands of new job openings in order to meet demand, flooding the job market with open calls for even entry-level candidates.
Remote Work Opportunities During The COVID-19 Outbreak:
Companies that already were or have been able to quickly shift to offering all-online services are in desperate need of additional all-online staff to support increased demand [3]. For example, these industries (companies) include:
- Online banking (like Citizens Bank and Supporting Strategies)
- Online education (like Great Minds and K12)
- Remote IT/computer support (like LiveArea, Red Hat, and Oracle)
Grocery Chains Hiring During The Coronavirus Outbreak:
As an essential business category, grocery stores have remained open and are experiencing incredible increases in product demand, making their need for retail and service employees, inventory management, and stockists significant [4]. Moreover, grocery chains are almost all investing in online-ordering and fulfillment (as well as home delivery) service options. Therefore, the job market for non-customer-facing positions like distribution center and delivery workers is growing.
- Grocery chains are hiring (for both retail and distribution center employees), including Walmart, Loblaws, and Sobey (find out more here)
- Outside of national and international grocery chains, many locally-owned and operated supermarkets are benefitting from booming demand; applicants should not limit their job search to just big-name and franchise stores [5].
Health & Pharmacy Companies Hiring During COVID-19:
Healthcare and healthcare-adjacent industries are both essential and thriving during the coronavirus outbreak; consequently, the job market for positions in the healthcare field is more promising than it has been in years [6]. For example:
- Pharmaceutical companies like Shoppers Drugs Mart (in Canada) and CVS (in the U.S.) are both hiring thousands of new employees.
- Telehealth service providers are seeing a boom in job search opportunities, as UnitedHealth Group, Netsmart, Teledoc, Doctor on Demand, and even niche/specialty service providers like teledentistry, teletherapy, and teledermatology firms seek to keep up with new online demand [7, 8, 9, 10].
- In Canada, Dialogue Technologies are specifically looking for telehealth service providers, including nurse clinicians and practitioners, clinical psychologists, and social workers (find out more here).
Tech Companies Hiring During The Coronavirus Outbreak:
Tech companies that facilitate online communications and remote workforce operations are experiencing especially significant increases in demand, as are firms providing online at-home leisure activities (like streaming TV and gaming services).
- Amazon is buoying the job market across the country, with nearly 1500 new positions open at the time of this writing in Canada, alone (find out more here).
- Slack (the online communication firm) is currently hiring both sales and software engineers, with positions available in-person and for remote work (find out more here).
- Online and mobile game developers, like Zynga, are also seeing a dramatic increase in consumer sales and support tickets, and are consequently looking to hire additional employees, especially software engineers (find out more here).
- CSC Global — the world’s largest provider of digital brand and online business services — is currently looking for a wide variety of new hires (find out more here).
About the Author
Ivy Chen is the founder and CEO of Alba Inc. She facilitated educational program cooperation between universities in British Columbia, Alberta, and southwestern China. In 2017, Ivy founded Alba and initiated over 26 cooperative projects with various institutions like the Canadian Embassy. Alba’s leading program (the Enterprise Immersion Program), enables candidates to work with career advisors and guarantee a position within 90 days.
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