How to Look for a Job During a Coronavirus Pandemic: Guide for Felons

During the last week, coronavirus pandemic in the US has been impacting many people, not only in terms of health but money as well!

If you are a felon looking for a job, you may have found a sudden decline in job postings and job interview offers. Many large and small businesses are temporarily shutting down their operations, laying off employees and halting hiring.

In this very uncertain time, what can you do to survive and even land a job?

Health is FIRST

First and foremost, be sure that you are in good health. If you have any symptoms, such as coughing, temperature, get treatment and stay home.

Be sure to follow the guidelines of your local health authorities and limit social contact with others.

Where to look for a job?

As you may have noticed, everything has slowed down and people are just staying home. Companies are not hiring and not interviewing. So how can you look for a job in this situation?

The reality is that the COVID 19 pandemic is TEMPORARY and companies will go back to work once the spread of the virus stops. This means that you need to continue applying to jobs that you may be qualified for on places like Craigslist and Monster.com

Also, many companies are now moving fast to the online mode and are hiring workers remotely. This may be a good time to consider new career opportunities and learn skills that you can use online, such as marketing, coding, writing, etc.

Moreover, large companies such as Amazon and Walmart are continuing to deliver goods and groceries to people remotely, and there will be a growing need for warehouse workers that will stock goods as well as delivery drivers.

For example, on Monday, March 16, 2020 Amazon announced that it will hire 100,000 warehouse workers to fill the growing number of online orders. Moreover, the company is promising a $2 raise for all its warehouse and delivery workers through April of 2020. This can be a great opportunity for someone with a felony conviction to land a job with Amazon.

Similarly, many supermarkets as well as restaurants are now offering food delivery options and also need drivers to deliver the orders to customers. Many restaurants are now exclusively serving food through online orders only.

Large trucking companies that deliver goods and products across state lines are also continuing to operate. These are still hiring despite the coronavirus situation.

If you end up getting a job in food delivery, be sure to wear protective gloves and mask when you go out. These most likely will be provided to you by the employer.

Prepare for online interviews

Many companies are starting to interview prospective workers online. There are various programs available such as Skype or Zoom. This means that you should polish your virtual interviewing skills and get ready to talk to a potential boss right from the comfort of your own home.

All you need to conduct a virtual interview is access to the internet either from your phone or from a computer.

Who knows, maybe this will be the new may companies will start doing interviews from now on. This certainly saves travel time, and money on transportation. (Its always good to try to look on the bright side, in a tough situation of anxiety and uncertainty).

What to do if you got laid off?

If you lost your job as a result of the corona virus because the company you worked for could not afford to keep all its workers, the only thing you can do in this situation is ask your boss if there will be any compensation available. Many small businesses are getting funding from state and federal governments to pay its workers for 2-4 weeks, while people are staying home.

While no one knows when the economic situation will get back to normal, the goal of social distancing is to stop the virus from spreading as soon as possible so that everyone can go back to “business as usual”. Some states are less impacted than others (for example, New York and Washington states have the highest number of confirmed cases), so if you are in one of those areas, you may not experience a major economic slow down.

Based on what happened in China and other countries that got the corona virus and got over the hump of the pandemic (its now almost gone), it looks like it will take up to 2 months to hit the peak and then subside. So while its very scary and stressful to wait for this to be over and have major financial instability, this time will pass very quickly!!

Don’t make this BIG MISTAKE!!!

Looking for a job with a felony conviction is challenging enough. With COVID 19 looming over everyone, its very easy to give up and assume that now you will definitely not get hired. This is a really bad mistake!

The truth is that while there is an economic slow down, this has not hit every industry in the US. Moreover, in the industries where there has been a downturn, many companies have not slowed down their operation. We have a very robust economy in this country, which means that workers are still needed, companies are still functioning and hiring.

The worst mistake you can make right now is to stop looking for a job. Keep applying, keep interviewing and you will get a job. In times like these, its people who are most competitive and persistent that survive the economic downturn and come out on top.

If you had an interview, before all hell broke loose and you have not heard back from the potential employer, you should follow up with them! There are so many changes happening so fast, that many companies are just much slower at making hiring decisions and figuring out exactly what they need. However, this does NOT mean that they stopped hiring or are not interested in you as a worker. Be persistent and follow up with every place that you had an interview.

Stay healthy and positive and let us know in the comments below if you have any tips looking for a job during the coronavirus pandemic.