2020 will have been the last good year for the employment of young graduates. The health and economic crisis is turning the plans of graduates entering the job market in 2021 upside down. Testimonials and survival strategy to face a world of work in degraded mode.
“My internship contract ends in May. After that I won’t have a job and there are no jobs. I don’t really know what I’m going to do”. Like tens of thousands of young 2021 graduates, Félix, an engineer at the end of his studies , is worried and in complete uncertainty about his entry into working life .
The arrival next September on the labor market of 2021 graduates is proving to be appalling. 500,000 jobs destroyed in France in the first quarter of 2021, recruitment freeze, unemployment rate which could jump in France from 8.1% at the start of 2021 to 11.5% at the end of the year, rising from 2.7 to 4 million unemployed… What to do to launch your career despite everything in the coming months? The Student identified 7 leads from recruitment specialists.
1– Postpone your entry into the labor market and take training
The job market promises to be very tough from July to next December. Why not pursue a training course for 6 months to only arrive on the job market in January or February 2021 when it will start to rebound? You can consider taking additional training to your main training and thus specialize more, which will be a plus in the face of other candidates .
Another tactic: get a new internship or a work-study program of a few months which will always give you professional experience and will make it easier to obtain a job afterwards. Many companies will continue to play their role of trainer and offer a large volume of internship and work-study offers. Especially since employers calculate that a free internship or an apprentice paid as a percentage of the minimum wage always cost less than a young graduate!
2– Integrate the reality principle
You graduated from a top business school and you swear by a luxury marketing position at LVMH, Kering or L’Oréal? You may need to revise your claims downward . “Be careful not to let yourself be lulled by your dreams. You will quickly waste 8 or 9 months of your professional life never finding the ideal job or finding a fixed-term, temporary and poorly paid position instead of reorienting yourself. towards more open employment paths”, warns Sacha Kalusevic senior director at Page Personnel
The recruiter sees two internal obstacles to overcome for the new generation arriving in the labor market in 2021: first, believing that their professional integration will be as easy as their elders. Second, put the search for meaning and value in their work before the principle of reality. The quest for a meaningful job was the big trend shown by students BEFORE the health crisis. Do not lose sight of it but come back down to earth: the previous promotions had the wind at their backs, you take it in the face!
3– Fewer offers? Submit more applications!
Before the Covid-19 crisis , many young candidates were called directly by recruitment firms or employers, some of whom had to do belly dancing to seduce them. For their part, the candidates applied sparingly. No more difficult! You need to quickly change your approach. Rather than applying on a case-by-case basis only to companies you like, you have to change your strategy and focus on a larger volume of applications.
“As there will be fewer job offers, you must multiply the applications to increase your chances of being seen”, explains Sacha Kalusevic. “The more you are seen, the more chances you have of being called and invited to interviews. The more interviews you do, the more you will maximize your chances of being hired in the end. It’s mathematical”. So apply for offers regularly or even every day and bet on a volume strategy.
4– Orient yourself towards a profession that will recruit more
The wing turn strategy can pay off. If you have taken a specialized training in marketing, the offers may not be legion in the coming months. Why not specialize in sales where there will always be employment. “Give a more commercial oriented connotation to your CV”, recommends Sacha Kalusevic.
Other sectors will continue to recruit large numbers of young graduates: if you have a specialty in finance, why not negotiate a shift towards the audit professions , a sector of the economy that is still very active even in times of crisis? . The accounting and management professions are not always dream professions or passions, but they are constantly recruiting: good economic times or lean times, you don’t always need to count the pennies!
5– (Re)learn how to sell yourself
The balance of power has reversed between the candidate and the recruiter! In the world before, it was not uncommon for the company to have to seduce the student, future young graduate, to come and sign and work there. In the next world you will have to make more effort to “sell” yourself to recruiters.
6– Set yourself a deadline to get the job of your dreams
You’re not the type to make concessions? Do you want a job that makes sense and is in line with your values? “In this case, set yourself a deadline of 3 or 6 months to see if your CV ‘catches’ and find the job of your dreams in the field you want and invest yourself fully in its search”, advises the Personal Page Recruiter . “But be able, after having searched for 3 or 4 months in marketing or events without finding, to stop your search and orient yourself towards a second path, a market segment that is sure to recruit like sales. This will allow you later to bounce back to the position you want” .
Again, don’t waste 8 or 9 months realizing that you won’t find the perfect job. “You risk being out of step with the other candidates”. The shortest path to professional fulfillment is not necessarily a straight line!
7– Consider alternative plans like entrepreneurship
Many companies are created during periods of crisis: it is often a question of creating one’s own job for people who have lost theirs. Joining a start-up or starting your own business in times of crisis can be a solution if you have entrepreneurial desires . Don’t hesitate to call on the entrepreneurship unit or your school’s incubator when they exist. The period is difficult, but creating your structure in the coming months will allow you to take full advantage of the rebound period when growth resumes.
