Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Indeed Live.
In case you missed our first episode,
we are going to be joining you here
week after week to connect directly
about what's happening right now in our economy
due to the COVID-19 crisis.
We know that many of you have/had
your jobs impacted by COVID-19.
And at Indeed, our mission is to help people get jobs,
and that mission has never felt more important
than it does right now.
So we're going to be checking in with you this week in the weeks
to come to answer your questions,
to listen to your concerns, and to try to share real time
information on what is happening in the job market
and around job search right now.
So here's what we are going to cover today.
I'm going to talk about how to search
for a job in this climate.
I'm going to share some tips on going through the job interview
process remotely, virtually.
We'll talk about the current state of the job market,
and I'll wrap up by pointing you to some additional Indeed
resources and by answering some frequently asked questions.
Before we do that, just a couple of things.
Quick disclaimer before we get started.
The information in this video is for informational purposes
only.
Indeed is not a career or legal advisor.
OK, so first, a little bit about me.
Welcome back.
If you were here last week, I introduced myself,
then I'll do it again.
I am Abby Carlton, and I lead our social impact work
at Indeed.
So my team focuses on addressing bias and barriers
in hiring globally through product
innovation, strategic partnerships, and work
in our communities.
And we're just really glad to have you here with us today.
Second, do not worry about taking notes.
As you can see on our Facebook page,
these videos will remain here, you
can go back to them anytime.
We'll also make these videos available on YouTube.
So within the next day or so, you
should be able to find this video there.
You can go back and check in on anything
that you want to listen to a second time.
Third, feel free to ask questions as we go.
Today, I'm going to be answering some of the questions
that you asked us last week.
Put your questions down in the comments,
we're going to have our Indeed moderators going
through answering them during the Livestream
and after the Livestream.
And just like we did last week, we're
to take some of those frequently asked questions
and answer them in next week's session.
So we really want to hear from you.
We want to know which questions are most important to you
right now.
Now, let's talk about why we are here.
We all see in the news and we know
from our own day to day experiences
that this continues to be a really challenging time.
If you are looking for a job, you
know that is not business as usual right now.
And as we'll talk about in a couple of minutes,
the job market has changed really significantly
in just a matter of weeks.
Many of us watching today have had our jobs impacted
by COVID-19 in some way.
And it's normal to feel concerned and unsure about what
to do next, Indeed is here to help.
And in particular, I wanted to start by sharing this week's
product update.
So each week, we'll be talking about updates
that we are making to our products
to make it a little bit easier for you
to find a job right now.
Last week, I talked about some of the updates
we're making around job listings for remote work,
and I gave you some tips about looking for a remote job.
So if you missed that last week and if that's
something that's really interesting to you, go back,
check out that video and you can learn more.
This week, we launched a new feature called, Ready to work.
If you are someone who is available to work immediately
due to COVID-19, you can now include this ready to work
designation on your Indeed profile.
So if you want to add this to your profile,
here's what you do.
If you go to Indeed.com and you look at the upper right hand
corner of the screen, if you're sign in and
you'll see that person icon.
Click on the person icon and then you'll
be able to click into your Indeed resume.
When you do that, you're going to see
a banner below your name that says
asks you if you want to add the hashtag ready to work
designation to your resume.
If you select that option, it's going
to appear there at the top of your resume
and where it's going to be really easy for employers
to find it.
So that's our product update for this week,
we encourage you to go, check it out,
ad ready to work if you think that's something that
will be valuable to you in your job search,
and we'll continue sharing more updates like this next week.
So on that front, let's talk a little bit more
about job search.
Many of you have asked how do you
approach searching for a job during a time like this?
Well, first thing's first, to start
searching for and applying for jobs on Indeed,
you need to make sure that you go in
and either create or update your free Indeed profile.
Once you've done that, you can browse
for jobs based on your location right there in the
what and where boxes on Indeed.
If you are somebody who needs a job right now,
we also have many employers who are
actively and urgently hiring.
Let me give you a couple examples from this week.
So the USPS is hiring mail carriers, clerk assistants,
distribution associates, and mail processing assistance.
Walgreens is hiring customer service representatives,
shift leaders, pharmacy technicians and pharmacists,
assistant store managers, and beauty consultants.
And Taco Bell is hiring shift leaders, restaurant managers,
kitchen team members, and assistant general managers.
So those are a few.
If you want to see a fuller list of who else
is urgently hiring this week at the National level,
you can go check that out at the link below.
Check in the comments, there's a link
to a list of national employers who
are urgently hiring right now.
And in general, I would say that if you are looking to find work
immediately, look into some of those essential services roles.
Those are going to be the ones that
are hiring the most quickly because demand is so high.
After you have identified job opportunities,
keep on applying to those jobs.
And like we talked about last week,
make sure that you are tailoring your resume and your cover
letter to those specific opportunities
that you're applying for.
It's also a good idea to set up Indeed job alerts,
so you can be aware right away about new opportunities that
are coming online.
If you set up alerts, you can then
start to receive notifications anytime there are new jobs
and you can control those in terms of the frequency
and when you stop and start them.
So those are a couple of tips around job search.
If you have specific questions, again please put them
in the chat, let us know and we can really
go into in more detail on any of the topics
here that are most important to you.
If you want to talk about the application process
in greater detail, how to create a resume, and how to better use
filters to really tailor your job search.
Let us know and we'll come back with more
on that in the upcoming weeks.
OK, and this brings me to our tip of the week.
So as we all know, the job search piece
is only one portion of the broader hiring process.
And the whole process really feel as different right now,
it's not just job search.
And many of you have asked, what can I
expect after I apply for a job?
What does it feel like to go through a hiring process right
now?
Some of you are concerned about whether employers can and will
interview and onboard you during this time.
And it makes sense to feel uncertain because this
is new territory for all of us.
But even with the constraints of social distancing,
employers on Indeed are still interviewing
and they are still hiring.
The process might just look a little bit different.
We are seeing a lot of employers who
are choosing to conduct interviews virtually right
now, even for essential services positions.
And that brings me to our tip of the week, which
is be prepared to be interviewed by phone or video chat.
So I'll give you a couple of tips on how you can prepare.
I would recommend that you dress for that interview
as you would if you were interviewing in person.
You can look online and try to get a sense of the company's
culture, their dress code.
If you're unsure, business casual is usually a safe route
to go, and you can also just reach out to the HR manager,
to the HR department that you've been talking to
and ask them about their company dress code.
Another tip is to test your audio and video
before the call.
If you are someone who maybe you've
never used video conferencing software before,
I would recommend that well, in advance of your interview,
go online, download the software, play around with it,
make sure you understand the features
and that you just really get comfortable with it
before that interview.
If you can, ask a friend to do a test call with you.
And that way, you can work through some
of those potential technical kinks ahead of time.
Many of you may be doing these virtual interviews from home.
And because you're doing that, it
can be tempting to write down a script for your answers
so that you'll have exactly what you want to say in front of you
when the question is asked.
I would really encourage you to try not to do that.
Instead, practice your answers of ahead of time,
become familiar and sort of comfortable with them
in your mind, and maybe you can jot down
just a couple of key words or phrases
that are going to help trigger what you want to say.
But it's going to feel much more conversational and natural
if you don't have a script in front of you.
And finally, try to find a quiet space
with minimal distractions.
Again, this one can be tough right now, where many of us
are home, I am talking to you from home right now.
And if you have family there, it can
be difficult to find that quiet space.
But as best you can, just try to arrange
ahead of time with your housemates, with your family
so that you can have a couple of minutes
of quiet uninterrupted time for your interview.
Beyond those remote tips, you can really
prepare as you would for any regular interview
that you would go on.
And let me give you just a couple of specific interview
prep tips.
First, research your potential employer.
Indeed Company Pages is a great place to start for that.
If you haven't checked out Company Pages before,
go to Indeed.com.
If you look in the upper left hand side,
you'll see a tab for company reviews.
You can click on that, search for the name of the employer
that you are going to be interviewing with
and that's going to take you to a lot of cases,
a bunch of information about that employer.
One of the things that you can find for example
is commonly asked interview questions
for that particular employer.
So it's a great source of information
as you're starting to do your homework.
You can also check out there the companies website,
their social media posts, and recent press releases.
Also if you know anyone who works for that company
or maybe they work in the same industry,
they can be a great source of information for you as well.
Make it a point to understand the company's goals
as you're doing this research, and that will allow you
during the interview to speak to the ways
that you can really help support those goals in your new role.
So a second interview tip, prepare questions
to ask the interviewer.
So often, we think about being prepared for the questions
that the interviewer is going to ask us
and that's a great thing to do.
But many people often forget to do the reverse of that, which
is to be ready with a couple of questions
that you can ask the interviewer when
they create that opportunity for you to do so.
It is a great way to show your interest,
to show your analytical capabilities,
and just to show that you've done your homework.
Let me share with you here a couple of questions
that you might consider asking an interviewer in an interview.
You could ask, how would you describe
the characteristics of someone who would succeed in this role?
What is the biggest challenge to success in this role?
Or you might ask, how will my performance be measured?
Remember, you are interviewing the company
at the same time they are interviewing you.
So you really want to think about which questions
will help you decide if this role is the right fit for you.
But I would say with all of this, most of all,
just use the interview as a chance
to show your interviewer who you are
and help them understand why you believe that you would
be the best fit for that role.
So we have talked about applying for jobs,
we have talked about interviewing for jobs.
Let's take a step back and look at the broader
economic picture.
Many of you are asking how is COVID-19
impacting the job market.
And to answer that question, I thought
I would share a quote from another one
of our Indeed economists, Daniel Culbertson.
So Daniel says, there remains an incredible amount
of uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 crisis,
and this uncertainty extends to the economy.
What little economic data we've seen so far has been dire.
We know that in the three weeks ending April 4th,
over 16 million workers filed for unemployment
benefits in the United States.
And in March, the unemployment rate climbed to 4.4%.
While this unemployment rate is certainly out of date,
as it only covers the middle of March
through the middle of March.
The increase was still the largest month
over month jump since the 1950s.
These data obvious are obviously troubling and unprecedented
in all the wrong ways, but gave economists
a sense of just how fast the labor market is changing.
So one of the things that Daniel highlights here,
is that the data and the actual state of the labor market
are not necessarily in sync right now.
Things are changing so quickly that the data is
likely to trail behind the actual economic situation
until we have some level of stabilization in the market.
This is I think one of those factors that is really
making it difficult for us all to get the clear answers
that we want right now.
We're all figuring this out together as it develops,
and we're going to be here each week to share updates
and resources as we learn more.
That being said, I think that this week's update from Daniel
reveals some hard facts.
We are experiencing a significant level
of unemployment in the United States right
now, as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
And that has left many of us with big questions
about our lives and our livelihoods.
However, this crisis has affected you,
please know that you are not alone.
Indeed is here to help.
And to that end, I thought I would wrap up
by answering a few more of your questions.
And please if you haven't already, do go ahead
and put those questions down in the comments below.
So one question that we got last week.
Someone asked, I lost my job in the food industry.
This person was a pastry chef.
How do I find another job?
Obviously, this depends on the specifics of what you
are looking for in a new job.
But assuming that you are looking for a new job
right now, I would think about the skills that you have
and how those might map to some of these open roles
in essential services.
Look into bakeries near you, perhaps they're
still doing takeout delivery business
and are looking for help.
Another one you might think about as well as supermarkets.
I mentioned that list of national employers
who are urgently hiring, one of the employers on that list
is the supermarket Food Lion.
And they have positions listed, they are urgently
looking for bakery managers.
So that might be an area to explore whether that's
with Food Lion if they're local to you
or with other supermarkets.
We hope that helps.
Next question, how do I find work from home jobs on Indeed?
So we talked about this a little bit last week.
This is an area where there is some good news.
If we look at Indeed over the course of the last year,
we have seen a steady increase in the number of jobs
that have been posted as remote or work from home,
and that has continued to increase over the last month
as things have started to change so drastically in the labor
market.
If you want to find work from home jobs
on Indeed, what you can do to narrow down your search
is to enter in remote in that location bar
in that way or bar when you go to Indeed.com.
That way, you're only going to see the listings that
allow you to work from home.
And remember, that you can also filter by other categories that
might be important to you as you're navigating
your remote job search, things like part time,
full time experience level and things along those lines.
And also remember, that employers can now
indicate in their job posting whether a job is fully remote
or whether it is temporarily remote due to COVID-19.
That was actually the product update
that I shared with you last week.
This week we talked about that ready for work designation
that you can now add to your Indeed profile.
And next week, we're going to come back
with another update on how we continue
to adapt our products to help people find jobs
during this crisis.
In the meantime, don't forget to check out our resource hub,
www.
Indeed.com/heretohelp.
That's Indeed.com/heretohelp.
You can find that in the description of this event,
you can find it in the comments below.
That is going to be a great resource for you
to get more information on all the topics we talked about
today, and a range of other topics
that will be relevant if you're looking for a job right now.
And with that, that is it for today's live stream.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
We hope you'll come back again next week.
We are going to give you another update on what
is happening in the job market, we will provide more job search
advice based on the questions that you are asking us,
and we will answer more of your questions.
So we hope to see you soon.