Nicole Heller/ Staff Writer
FIU hosted a virtual workshop last week with two experts in the communication industry who suggested that we will all be facing a different reality in the post-coronavirus era.
Many find themselves without jobs and others in the process of losing their jobs as the market has changed due to the pandemic.
Students joined through Zoom on June 2 to learn how to adapt to this new reality and what we can do to be proactive.
NBC 6 Reporter Stephanie Bertini, who moderated the conversation, urged students to “stay relevant.”
According to her, staying relevant is all about using the tools we have available at the moment to our advantage. Students have to be the first to evolve and use all of these changes to our benefit in terms of building towards a successful career.
The reporter used the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. An employer will take into consideration what an applicant has done during these past months. If your last job or project was before the pandemic and you haven’t used this opportunity to learn and grow, then you are wasting a valuable chance.
“This just demonstrates that you are not able to adapt, you are not relevant,” Bertini said.
“This is all new for us. This is not going away so we need to adapt and find new ways of defining who we are,” said Rossana Fiske, the senior vice president of the corporate communications department at Wells Fargo.
She also mentioned that we are all experiencing a new normal, the post-coronavirus, which has also changed how the U.S. jobs market works.
Bertini highlighted the importance of networking while also stating that it is very hard without having any face to face opportunities. “We used to have conferences before. We had those opportunities to network while now everything is digital,” she said.
Fiske suggested that we can connect with people by joining Zoom webinars and participating in Linkedin opportunities.
“Follow up with the people you meet via virtual meetings and stay connected with them,” she advised.
During the conversation, Fiske shared advice to increase your chances of getting a job interview. First of all, she insisted that without filling out the online application, there would not be any interview of any kind.
“People like to spread their resume to someone they know in the company but that person cannot touch it for legal reasons,” she explained.
The expert also spoke about the importance of reading the job descriptions because if your resume does not include any of it, you are not even going to make it to the first wave.
Finally, tailoring your resume to each company is a great strategy to make sure you show the employer who you are and how you can contribute.
“Be able to adapt, be resilient, and be ready right now”, said Bertini.
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