Since COVID-19 started to impact the way we work, we’ve been looking at coronavirus hiring trends by conducting weekly polls, gathering Monster hiring data, and asking our community of candidates and employers how they’re responding to the shifts around work. Here’s a look at the most recent Monster insights:
This Week’s Poll Data
We’ve been conducting polls of our employer and candidate audiences, asking questions that seem most timely in a given week. Here are our latest poll results:
Working parents are stressed, and they don’t feel supported
When asked how they feel about the current back-to-school situation, 65% of parents said they experience stress or anxiety. Added to that, only 21% say they “strongly agree” that their company is supporting them.
Parents crave flexibility from their employers
When asked what action they think a company could take to best support parents with children going back to school during COVID-19, 75% said work schedule flexibility would go a long way.
Top Coronavirus Hiring Trends This Week
Retail is showing signs of life after a long dormancy
As the Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed, retail rebounded in August (accounting for over 17% of the 1.4 million jobs filled in the month) and Monster’s search patterns reflect a renewed interest in retail jobs. Retail-related seeker searches have increased over the last two weeks with keywords like retail, sales, store manager, and retail manager on the rise, alongside an uptick in new sales, retail, and business development resume postings on Monster. At the same time, Monster has seen increases in sales and related occupations and customer service representative job postings.
Back to school remains a hot topic as plans are in flux
Seeker searches for teacher and education jobs are flat, although still at some of their highest volume since before the pandemic. And, despite relatively lower volumes, there’s been a jump in education, training, and library occupations new job postings as a category on Monster.
Job Search Trends
AS COVID-19 cases rise, search behavior resembles earlier pandemic days
As COVID-19 cases increase beyond major metro areas, hitting small and mid-size metros in the southwest, Monster’s data shows a few of the keywords that we saw spike in searches among seekers at the peak of the pandemic resurface in search volume this week. Although still relatively lower volume than at their peak, there has been a boost in healthcare, food delivery, warehouse worker, delivery driver, and operations manager roles.
Location Trends
Texas tops the list of greatest increase in searches as a location week over week
Specific areas within the state saw increased searches: Austin, San Antonio, and Paris. Other areas in the southwest and southern U.S. with greater increase in searches include: Arizona, Nevada, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Florida. With higher cases of the coronavirus shifting to the Midwest, Monster is also seeing increases in searches across several midwestern locales: Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska; Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Philadelphia.
Healthcare and tech see search surges in Detroit
Healthcare and tech-related keywords were most often searched with Detroit, MI as a location. People commonly looked for patient care, registered nurse, medical office assistant, manager patient services, radiologic technologist, software engineer, program manager, and training consultant openings.
Remote continues its location keyword domination
Keywords most frequently searched with remote as a location continue to align with some of the top keywords searched overall: data entry, customer service, work from home, project manager, remote, marketing, human resources, graphic designer. Words searched alongside “United States” include: customer service, part time, warehouse, remote, receptionist, cashier, work from home, manager, retail, and full time.
New Resumes on Monster
The total new resumes posted to Monster increased for a fourth week in a row. Categories with the highest new resumes posted this week include the following top five:
The categories seeing the greatest increases week over week in new resume postings include:
Job Ads on Monster
Here’s a look at what roles employers are trying to fill right now:
Community Insights
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve been checking in with our dedicated audience of employers and candidates, curated by C-Space, to take their pulse on how COVID-19 has impacted their jobs and hiring strategies. Most recently, we took a look at where both audiences stand, five months into this health crisis. In the midst of this uncertainty and “survival-mode” mentality, employers and candidates present conflicting interests and expectations.
Who is the New Candidate?
They know what they value, but don’t expect to find it (for now)
- The crisis has forced candidates to assess what’s important in their lives, prompting a new kind of clarity on what matters most. Their values are more defined than ever.
- While most express an understanding that they’re not currently in a position to turn down a job that doesn’t match their values (especially recent grads), that doesn’t mean they’ll stop looking for it.
They expect visibility from employers, but may not ask for it
- When the stakes are as high as life and death, frontline and blue collar workers want to know what employers are doing to keep them safe, and seek specific protocol information.
- Fueled by protests and social justice events, younger candidates especially want to know specifics on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts from employers but are unlikely to ask explicitly.
They’re choosing practicality over passion
- The sense of “life on hold” translates to the job search too.
- Candidates are struggling to choose between pursuing their dream job and finding a secure job in the short term.
- Recent grads wonder about the long term implications of the crisis and recession on their career path.
Who is the New Employer?
They’re tasked with doing more with less.
- Hiring budgets have been cut or reduced for most, but the expectation for finding the right fit is high as the success of businesses is at stake.
- Those who are hiring expect to find a “champion” candidate who can fill multiple roles for the price of one.
- Many who are not hiring have been redeployed to other areas of the business and face a full shift in their role.
They’re expected to support business growth and stability.
- HR and recruiting roles are now more closely linked with broader business efforts as employers are often redeployed or charged with a broader set of responsibilities. The ability to hire is dependent on business success, and vice versa.
- Employers must play a part in business recovery, especially if they feel their own job is at risk.
They’re leading with empathy and alliance.
- As personal and professional lives intersect, the new employer will let some of their traditionally professional veneer fade.
- Approaching communications with existing and prospective employees with greater empathy will become more common, and, as it relates to diversity and inclusion efforts, so will alliance.
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