How to find a new job in the time of COVID-19: Career advice for women of color [FREE DOWNLOADABLE]

If you’re looking work in the middle of this COVID-19 pandemic and you’re a woman of color, you might feel like coronavirus is yet another major roadblock in your way.

And, to be honest, I wouldn’t disagree with you.

At the same time, from my perspective as a career coach for women of color, I want you to know that there are still a number of ways that you can move your job search forward during this time.

So if you’re looking for a new job and you want some unfiltered career advice for these uncertain times, here are my top 10 tips for you – along with downloadable resources to help guide you.

1. Prioritize your mental and physical health as you’re looking for work.

Everything feels unpredictable and turbulent right now. It’s nearly impossible to shield ourselves from all the stress and anxiety around us. As women of color, we tend to have a heightened sensitivity to the emotions of others. And we tend to be caregivers who always put others ahead of ourselves. That means that it’s even more important to protect your mental and physical health in a time like this. If you only take away one piece of career advice from this article, let it be this:

Prioritize your health.

On top of our current situation with coronavirus, as women of color, we’ve long been subject to pressures and negative feelings because of who we are, how we were socialized, and how we are treated. We may have developed deep-seated feelings of inadequacy; scars and triggers from past discrimination or harassment; fears of letting our families down; imposter syndrome; paralyzing fears of failure; negative self-talk; and unhealthy coping mechanisms like self-sabotage.

That’s why it’s even more crucial that we be intentional in setting aside significant amounts of time daily (ideally) in order to replenish our reserves. That might mean having protected time for exercise or meditation, limiting time spent reading the news, or asking others to take on household responsibilities for a period of time so that you can rest.

2. Reflect on, and reassess, your career goals

Things are changing day-by-day. The job market now isn’t the same as it was pre-COVID-19. As career coach Tiffany Southerland recommends, set aside time to reassess your career goals and reflect on whether they’ve have changed. Many women of color (myself included) feel as if they must have a death grip on their goals until they have reached them (or exceeded them – let’s be honest!).

But now isn’t the time to blindly hang on to goals or strategies that no longer apply in this reality.

It also isn’t the time to blindly panic and give up on everything.

So it may well be that you decide to stay the course. But the point is to make sure you take the time to actually reevaluate your situation and intentionally move forward from there. It’s best to ground yourself before you do this deep thinking.

Once you solidify your long- and short-term career goals, you’ll be in a much better position to figure out what you want to prioritize – whether it’s searching for jobs in your same line of work, pivoting your job search based on who’s hiring right now, or taking another route.

Use the questions and prompts in the resources linked below to help you think about your career goals – so you can purposefully recommit or adjust your career strategy.

3. Establish a routine for your days and your job search

My second piece of career advice for women of color looking for work right now is to create a new routine for yourself. For many of us, these are unprecedented and stressful times. But developing routines is an effective way to anchor ourselves. As a career coach who works with ambitious, high-achieving, and very often perfectionistic women of color, I know you might be thinking, “I must create a detailed routine for every moment of every day and execute it perfectly.” Please don’t! That is only going to add more stress and it is not what I’m suggesting you do!

My advice is to create a rough routine for your days and aim to follow it and also be compassionate with yourself if you deviate from the routine sometimes. At the very least, I suggest establishing a general routine to ground you each morning and to help you wind down each evening.

If you can, also create a routine or ritual for your job searching time.

Turn on music that helps you focus, have your favorite beverage next to you, and schedule in breaks so you can stay focused.

Use the downloadable resources linked below to help you craft a routine for these times.

4. Build or maintain a support team 

You are not alone. You don’t have to do everything by yourself. As women of color, many of us pride ourselves on being the backbone of our families and communities. That is hugely admirable.

But now is not the time to let our egos and habits burn us out.

We can continue to support others, but let’s also be open to accepting help for ourselves. The women who go the farthest in their careers have a support team.

Social connections have been strained by social distancing, working from home, and shelter-in-place protocols. But you can still find ways to call on friends and colleagues. Focus on the ones who understand your current situation and can help by connecting you to opportunities or by being a sympathetic listening ear.

Use the downloadable resources to help you assemble your support team.

5. Do your research

Information may be scant at this time, but knowledge is power and you want to make sure you know as much as the white folks looking for jobs do. This means doing your due diligence on the internet and using different techniques to research potential employers. 

It also means leveraging your professional contacts to find out what might be going on inside the organizations and industries you’re targeting (see tip 6). This will inform how you cultivate professional relationships during this time, what you ask industry insiders, and what you end up prioritizing and focusing on – versus what you decide to put aside for now.

To continue reading and to download the free COVID-19 career resources, click here.

Have thoughts or questions about this post? Feel free to reach out via LinkedIn or Instagram and please share widely!