Advice For Work and Careers: What’s Changed; What Hasn’t
Robbin Beauchamp joined Wentworth Institute of Technology as director of Cooperative Education and Career Development in September 2014. With more than 25 years of college career services and human resources experience, she is an expert in the job-searching and career-launching arenas. The Department of Marketing and Communications spoke to her amid the economic upheaval caused by the pandemic.
From an attitude standpoint for job seekers and career builders during the pandemic, what is your advice for staying upbeat and maintaining momentum?
We are in unprecedented times, at least during our lifetime. The unknown can cause anxiety, especially for those who need employment, be it a co-op or a full-time job. Be sure you have a support network in addition to a professional one. Your friends and family who know you well will know how to help you remain positive and motivated. Your professional network can help you navigate the landscape, alert you to openings and make important introductions for you. Everyone, student, and alumnus, needs to have a professional LinkedIn profile and actively participate. Post articles, reply to threads, use the platform to show what you know and how you can contribute.
Some things about looking for work and building a career probably never change. Can you think of some factors that remain constant even during a harsh economic downturn like the one we are facing?
The importance of networking, or being connected, will never change. According to a 2016 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Yale University, 70% jobs are found through networking. So, if you want to boost your chances of getting hired, you need to put yourself on the radar of those who can really help you land an interview. As stated above, use LinkedIn, the leading professional networking platform currently. Find Wentworth alumni and join the Wentworth Alumni and Career Group, where over 3,500 members meet to discuss their careers and share job openings. When possible, attend virtual (for now) events offered by professional associations supporting the industry you wish to enter or remain. Many associations offer reduced or free attendance for college students. If they don’t, ask if they will.
What are a few job-hunting and career building things that have changed, perhaps irrevocably, because of the pandemic?
Virtual networking events and interviews are here to stay and working from home more regularly may be the new normal, depending on the industry and tasks. We have hosted four virtual CO-OP + CAREER Fairs since August. The benefits of virtual have been: attracting employers who are geographically far from Boston, less of a time commitment for employers, ability for students to have a one-on-one conversation using video with an employer and less expense as we do not charge since we have no expenses and there is not travel involved. We may continue to host virtual Fairs, even post-COVID.
Employees need to learn how to effectively work remotely, ensuring they have the workspace and equipment to do so, manage their time, learn best practices about communication, project management and client services. At Wentworth, every student is given a laptop and access to all the software they need for their academic major, making a remote co-op a reality.
If remote work is truly embraced, we may see significant changes to our way of life. No longer will people need to live close to a city, commute long hours to buildings to be in-person. Commercial real estate could drastically change, too, if businesses no longer need their workforce to be at their location. Eventually, people can live anywhere in the world if they have access to high speed internet. Real estate prices in urban areas could decline as does demand. Pollution will decrease as more cars stay off the roads. COVID-19 could be a real game changer.
For younger people especially, why are STEM institutions like Wentworth among the best places to be now from an education, job-searching, and career-launching vantage point?
As soon as COVID-19 hit Boston, our students and faculty began working to solve problems related to it. Summer 2020, we launched “The FutureLab, a creative co-op powered by Accelerate and the Architecture Department. The FutureLab Innovation Fellows uncovered trends and drivers influencing our world across different industries to develop alternative futures post-COVID-19. The student teams produced 28 narratives” that had four themes: Food Production + Distribution, Public Transportation, Healthcare and Community. This is just one example of the collaborations our students have with faculty to solve real world issues.
At Wentworth, all students complete two co-ops as a graduation requirement. Combine hands-on learning in high-demand fields with dedicated CO-OP + CAREER Advisors sets Wentworth students up for career success.
One of the principal hallmarks of the Wentworth experience is the university’s leading co-operative education model. How has the co-ops picture changed since last spring?
Job postings at all college campus in the northeast are down by approximately 50%. COVID-19 has led to businesses going on hiatus, furloughs, layoffs and closures. People at every stage of their career have suffered job loss. At Wentworth, we anticipated very difficult summer and fall co-op semesters and prepared for it. We started planning very early to find ways we could meet the demands of the students who are scheduled to be on co-op. We collaborated with Academic Affairs, including deans and faculty, to provide numerous opportunities for students to fulfill their requirement. We also built more flexibility into the co-op program: allowing students to request prior work experience be reviewed, allowing two part-time opportunities to be counted, offering skills-based remote sessions combined with other part-time opportunities and more. Happily, two-thirds of the students landed traditional co-ops this fall, far more than we anticipated. We are sourcing more spring co-ops and plan on offering more remote interviewing events as we get closer to the spring add/drop deadline. Our employer partners seem more optimistic about co-op hiring for spring than they did for fall.