3 Tips for Covid Job Hunting IRL
By: Megahn Carter Chun
Tags: Job Interview, Job Search, Job Hunting, Jobs, Covid Diaries

Eleven days ago, my fiance and I arrived at Honolulu International Airport towing two heaping trolleys of luggage jammed with the life we had built over the last year in Abu Dhabi. With our time there coming to an end and no desire to return to New York, we decided to give life to our fantasy of living in Honolulu. Settling into the space we would call home over the next fourteen days of mandatory quarantine, I realized I was faced once again with the task of navigating big, sweeping transformation.

I used “the pause” in Abu Dhabi to rebrand or at least redirect my path from a one dimensional retail centric professional into a storyteller that helps small brands share powerful stories and design meaningful experiences for their audiences. In renewing creative confidence, I launched this website and built enough internal trust to launch two blogs. I was generating minimal income in partnering with a few startups in realizing their brands, but in transitioning back to the US, it was time to start earning.

There’s always been a price to pay for living in paradise, there’s even something called the Paradise Tax, which is why so many leave the islands for more affordable options such as Las Vegas or even Minnesota. We just happened to choose the moment in which the world is experiencing an economic collapse caused by the covid pandemic. We also chose a state whose economy is almost entirely dependent on tourism, and with the quarantine in place, has led Hawaii to hold the nation’s highest rate of unemployment benefit claims. And since my family moved from Hawaii when I was 15, I didn’t develop a professional network. Despite these three sizable barriers to making a life in Hawaii, I outlined an action plan with the goal of landing a paid job that fit the following criteria: serves the community, supports me in putting my interests into practice and allows me to further develop the skills I already have. How would I even begin? As always, the first step begins where you are, right now.

Tip 1: Attack LinkedIn.

The first thing I did was scroll through existing contacts and message those that were either recruiters or working for brands I admired. I included information about what I was looking for and an invitation to connect via Zoom or phone over the next week. In my case, I let them know that I was looking for opportunities that were either based in Honolulu, remote capable or with travel to the west coast as needed. In discovering companies that resonated with my values through my favorite news outlets or industry newsletters, I found Hiring Managers or those leading teams I wanted to be a part of, again introducing myself and asking to speak in the near future. Over the last 11 days, I casted a pretty wide net messaging dozens of people. The worst response read “I hate to be a buzzkill but now is probably not the best time to inquire. The world is a little to unstable at the moment…understatement of the century.” The best were open to helping and took the time to speak, even asking for my CV and connecting me to their professional network.

Tip 2: Prepare questions to find out more.

The point of the informational interview is to gather enough information to decide if a specific company or role is right for you. Let’s start at the macro level in considering “the company”. Company websites will give you some information, but not everything, especially in this global moment of transformation. So find out more about what kind of work the company is doing and how they’re doing it. Ways of working and what success looks like to them are also key indicators in deciding if the company is right for you. In speaking about a specific role, find out more about the hard skills required to perform the job well and if you don’t already have them, is that part of the training process or is that something you might need to invest in? The most important lesson of the informational interview is that this skill takes practice. Your first might be comparable to a bad first date and like dating, it takes a few to get it right. This means pausing after each interview and reflecting on what you might do better next time, identifying missed opportunities and maybe even questions you didn’t know how to answer. ALWAYS follow up with a thank you email and be bold enough to ask for feedback, this is a rich resource for development.

Tip 3: Answering the dreaded question: What are you looking for?

I hate this question, only because I haven’t quite figured out how to answer it in a way that feels authentic and fits a job description. I know my goal is to find a paid role that serves the community, supports me in putting my interests into practice and allows me to further develop the skills I already have. I’d also like to put to work my newly earned Master’s in Social & Consumer Psychology from NYU. In essence, I’m aspiring to Ikigai, the cross section between what you love, what you’re good at, what you can be paid for and what the world needs. If you’re like me and struggle to talk about the things you’re good at, consult those around you, including your colleagues past and present in constructing a better understanding of your skills. If you’re struggling to connect to something you love, think back to what excited you as a child. Did you love nature walks? What about nature walks? How did you feel when you found yourself in nature? Reconnecting to the things that sparked the purest form of excitement will lead you to finding what you love.

As so many of us journey together on this path of transformation, I leave you with this illustration from artist Morgan Harper Nichols. She encourages us all to be mindful of our growth, even when we don’t see or feel it.