Between Monday 23rd , and Saturday 28th March, at least 280,000 Australians lodged an ‘Intent to Claim’ for financial assistance, and while predictions of the numbers of jobs that will be lost before the Coronavirus pandemic is over vary, estimates between 500,000 – 1M jobs lost are not uncommon. So many people across this country will lose their jobs, but all is not lost just yet. The Federal Government have announced multiple rounds of assistance, with a $1500 per fortnight JobKeeper subsidy the latest in a long list of financial supplements, subsidies and supports at both State and Federal levels aimed at supporting employers and employees to stay afloat.

But who is hiring, what jobs are growing in demand, and how do we get the jobs? Short-term data and recent reports suggest IT, Healthcare, Communications, Banking/Finance, Retail (Supermarkets), Deliveries, and Public Sector have been and will continue to hire. Also, increases have been seen for roles such as Nannies and Tutors, and Warehousing & Production workers. A quick scroll through SEEK for Victoria confirms this – IT role, Banking, IT, Finance, IT, Personal Carer, Nurse, Software Developer, Nurse, IT… just under 23,000 jobs are listed as currently hiring. Coles, Woolworths and Aldi are hiring across the country, Centrelink is hiring, DHHS is hiring. There are jobs out there, so the next step is to find out what education, licences, and skills are required for these jobs – follow the job ads themselves, this will all be listed in a position description, but if they’re not, a quick google search of position description (insert job title) should bring up something similar.

• Education: If you need a formal Higher Education qualification, and you don’t have that qualification, keep this point in mind. For some professions, it means stop here, and look for a different job; for example, while lots of nurses and doctors are currently needed, a strong work ethic and a first aid certificate just won’t get your foot in the door. That said, significant industry experience and transferable skills might just get you by for a marketing or community services role, so don’t give up.

• Licences: Again, these are essential, sometimes even more so; Linfox and Dyers both have heavy vehicle driver roles advertised, but without the appropriate licence they literally can’t hire you for that job.

• Skills: There are really two types of skills to consider, technical skills and transferable/soft skills. You can define a difference between soft skills and transferable skills in some roles or industries, but universally transferrable skills are all soft skills. Technical skills can be summed up as the things you can do; MIG welding, coding, OHS incident analysis. Your soft skills and transferable skills are things you add to the team or the business that help it run better, such as communication, time management, prioritisation, leadership, innovation, problem solving, and creativity.

  It’s easy to box ourselves into thinking we can only do the jobs we done before, and it’s your soft skills and transferable skills that will be the key to changing jobs, whether its an ongoing career change or a temporary position to get you, your family, or your community through the current crisis.

  A great example of the importance employers place on transferrable skills, is that Woolworths, Telstra and Rio Tinto have offered thousands of jobs to Qantas staff who have been stood down in recent weeks, citing transferable soft skills and technical skills as opportunities to meet their own companies’ growing demands (see more here https://www.afr.com/work-and- careers/workplace/woolworths-offers-jobs-to-laid-off-qantas-workers-20200319-p54br5).

  Start thinking about how your existing skills can be used in other jobs and other industries. An experienced Front of House in a busy restaurant isn’t just a hospitality industry worker, they are a team leader with exceptional customer service skills, and retail staff can apply their calm demeanour with difficult customers to government or telecommunication call-centre roles. If you are not confident in recognising these skills and in re-writing your resume accordingly, contact Impressive CV for a free CV review, or take advantage of our current offer of a free LinkedIn profile optimisation with a standard professional CV package.

Written by Stacey Whitelaw.