It’s hard to say anything original about the state of the world at the moment; it’s terrifying, confusing, upsetting and discouraging. I’ve felt this quite hard myself, like the majority of the world’s population at the moment. The area of my life that has been affected the most by this was job searching.

Job searching is already a difficult situation for introverts like myself. Putting yourself front and center and constantly harassing businesses for a potential position at their establishment is very much out of my comfort zone. Doing this in the midst of the pandemic gives me even more uneasiness, as it’s unclear the direction most businesses are going in. Are they hiring? Closing? Even open? It was a very difficult case to navigate since acquiring a job was a crucial component to even survive the pandemic without going into total financial dire straits.  And I am not the only one facing this. Everywhere you look, you see stories of people being forced back to work once the unemployment runs out or doesn’t prove to be enough, putting their own health and the well-being of others at risk.

My particular COVID-19 job search was just as annoying as finding a job usually is. It was a constant stream of checking Indeed, social media feeds and other websites to find open positions at stores or restaurants in my area. The positions were plentiful, with me constantly finding a variety of openings; however, once I applied and began the job application progress, many businesses left me with little to no responses about any openings. Almost like they died on the other end of our exchange. This is by no way a criticism of the business, especially at a period as chaotic as this one. Some places simply cannot afford to hire extra help or have taken out financial loans that only allow them to work at half or limited capacity. It’s also why your food orders have taken longer to process and deliver recently; so be kind to your local food service workers. 

I was especially frustrated by this result, since I kept running into places that put on the facade of being so desperate for work currently. It made me feel burnt out, and I almost expected that I was just never going to find work until the quarantine or pandemic was over. The indefinite nature of whenever this will end that was already looming over crept further into my vision of how bleak my prospects were looking. Call that dramatic or whatever you’d like, but it was honestly how I felt. 

Luckily, on one of my last attempts, I was blessed with finally being hired in a great position. Unfortunately, it’s dangerous as it is for essential workers at this moment, but it’s still a blessing that I received a job. Some people in worse or equal positions as myself haven’t been able to find work. It’s an unfair reality that we are all facing directly or more abstractly. More jobs are going to be lost and America is going to be in a deep financial hellhole after all of this. However, while it is extremely bleak, I thought to share my own two-month-long experience to show those who also may have been burnt out trying to find work any positivity during this period. There is something out there, job-related or otherwise, that can help everybody right now. 

Contact Grace-Marie Burton at [email protected].