Top 5 Industries which added jobs amid Covid-19 (5 min)

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every aspect of our lives. The sudden unforeseen emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic is a severe blow to the state economies, businesses and workers. It has led to a lot of drastic market changes: The amount of salaried class people who have lost their jobs amid the COVID-19 pandemic has now touched 18.9 million, with about 5 million jobs lost in July alone according to CMIE. Most of the employment in India is in informal jobs--they are daily wage earners, agricultural labourers, small shopkeepers, small business people and farmers. There is a lot of mobility in these people: When there is a shock, they immediately lose their jobs. This mass overnight unemployment, triggered a largescale exodus of migrant workers from various major cities across the country. The young people’s (25 and older) employment prospects in Asia and the Pacific are severely challenged due to the pandemic & are at stakes. In such a scenario, Job-seekers should be strategic and target sectors experiencing job shortages as well as those that are growing.

While aviation, automobiles, tourism, hospitality & retail are the worst hit industries, there are certain industries who on the contrary, have added jobs instead. Let’s have a look at the top five booming industries for job opportunities amid Covid-19 & analyse the situation.

1. The Health Sector

With the ongoing pandemic crisis, health is now a priority more than ever. Increasing need for healthcare facilities with rising number of Covid-19 cases is opening doors for jobs in the health care industry. People are getting more aware about the importance of their immunity & overall health. One of the biggest challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic is the potential shortage of healthcare workers and how to ramp up healthcare hiring quickly. As the system reaches its maximum capacity and healthcare professionals themselves begin to get sick and need to quarantine, hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities are in need of additional help and backup staff. It has been observed that many companies are repurposing their production lines to join the fight against COVID-19. Along with this, there are many industrialists and luxury hotels that are entering into the hygiene masks and quarantine centre services, respectively. Many new start-ups are also contributing to the fight against COVID-19 by introducing apps that help to track COVID-19 cases. Many renowned players such as Mahindra Group, Ford, and Maruti Suzuki are stepping into the healthcare industry.

2. Telecommunication

The most effective way of emerging victorious against the battle with Covid-19 is by social distancing, and staying home to avoid any physical interaction. While this is the best way to keep people safe, businesses have been devastated with plants and offices shut down. Even industries recognised as essential services are not working at full capacity...not to forget, it’s difficult to stay in touch/connect to our loved ones, friends & family; As more states practice safety at home and social distancing, companies have transitioned fully to remote work.  In order to successfully enforce a work remote culture, employees need a broader reach through video conferences, online meetings, chat, and mobile collaboration services. But thanks to telecommunication, managing all of this is now possible from anywhere & everywhere. Telecommunication has been on a steep and sudden incline ever since the pandemic began. EG: Zoom just added openings on almost all of their teams including technical support, engineering, finance, and customer care.

3. Supermarkets and grocery stores 

The shopping markets have quickly transformed from the unavoidable errand people have on their to-do lists to the only outing throughout the quarantine. Large grocers are stepping forward with a need for swift and high headcount. Jobs added since February: 95.2K 

Don’t pass this off too quickly, these aren’t only roles for bagging groceries. Supermarkets are looking for support from stocking shelves all the way to managing supply chain logistics, handling public relations, and software development engineering. There is work to had! Here are a few examples:  

• Kroger: A nationwide grocery chain, has over 10,000 positions for immediate hire. 
• Walmart:  Is looking to hire 150,000 workers. If you need employment quickly, the superstore has streamlined the process from a standard two-week application process to 24 hours.  
• Instacart: A company that provides grocery delivery and pick-up, is looped into the hiring spree as well, with 300,000 roles recently listed to fill.  The company is primarily looking to hire shoppers, however, it is a wonderful way to support the sick or elderly while maintaining an income. This is a great stepping stone for Uber drivers, customer service personnel or anyone in the transportation and service field.   
• Amazon announced this week that it will hire another 100,000 workers in the US and raise pay for workers in the US, Canada, and Europe

4. Tech Support. 

With physical call centres and operation centres closing down, companies are left with the need for agents to still take customer and technical support calls. Especially with the increase in remote work, more people than ever need support with setting up and pairing devices or troubleshooting errors.  Because let’s be honest, not everyone is a smart user with their smart devices… and now everyone is stuck in their house trying to figure their technology out ASAP. 

Support.com recently announced it is hiring for an unlimited number of remote support agent roles.  These positions will help fill the demand for technical and call centre support. If you enjoy customer service, working with technology and problem solving, these roles are great for you.   

5. Couriers, private postal service and express delivery services

While the COVID-19 virus led to worldwide lockdown with Physical distancing and confinement measures accelerating, people stayed home unable to go shopping. But on-line sales increased as well during the pandemic and with it the delivery of parcels. By the end of May 2020, online orders had, on average, more than doubled year-on-year in North America and were up by 50% in Europe. Certainly, some have been shipped by mail, but that was the rare exception. DHL, FedEx, and UPS are the major players in the parcel delivery service business world-wide. The new normal for parcel sales will certainly be substantially higher as corona earned the confidence of many new customers in on-line sales. Jobs added since February: 59.3K. Delivery food services Postmates, Grubhub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash are seeing higher demand for their services.

Every so called crisis brings in new opportunities which are driven by changes in consumer behaviour. With some “new normal” getting created due to Covid 19, don’t be surprised if we get to see emergence of some totally new industries in the future.

Here is wishing happy job hunting to our readers