'Not like anything we've seen before:' How COVID changed the job hunt for NJ college grads

With a pandemic surging and graduation approaching last spring, Sara Benz sat in her home in Howell, watching employers cancel job interviews and freeze hiring.

Benz, a business management major at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, had a lifeline. Her mother, Stacey, had recently closed her Marlboro jewelry store, Sarafina. 

"She goes, 'Why don't we start Sarafina online?' Sara Benz, 22, said. "I was like, 'Oh my God, yes.'"

College graduates who might have thought four years ago that they would march into a work force that included commutes into the city, collaborative work spaces and after-work happy hours are instead finding a real world that looks nothing like they imagined.

Internships were put on hold. In-person job fairs were canceled. Interviews were moved to Zoom. And the Class of 2021 is facing competition from the Class of 2020 — except for graduates such as Benz, who decided to do their own thing.

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In short, the pandemic's impact has disrupted the workplace beyond anything a recession could dream of. Employers have reinvented office life. And recent college grads are being dropped in the middle of the experiment. 

"I have to say, I've been in career services for a lot of years, 33 years, and I don't think we fully understand yet what we're dealing with," said Ceceilia M. O'Callaghan, director of career services at Georgian Court University in Lakewood. "I've been through different economic cycles. But I think this is not like anything we've seen exactly before."

Changing plans on the fly

It turns out, Benz, who at least temporarily ditched her career plan, was onto something.

Destiny Deniz, 21, of Millstone, and a friend of Benz's, is set to graduate this spring from West Chester University.

A communications major, Deniz kicked around the idea of going into journalism, but her career path was sidetracked by the pandemic. Internships, once a requirement for graduation, were canceled. 

She instead spent the summer turning what was a hobby — making crafts and accessories as a way to earn money on the side — into a full-fledged business called XO Dest Design.

The business took off as quarantined shoppers flocked online. Deniz has 200,000 followers on TikTok, and 39,500 followers on Instagram. She has brought her mother on board to help with shipping. And she calls on friends to model her designs.

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"After graduating, I plan on continuing doing what I am now," Deniz said. "Right now, I'm working out of my house. So I have literally 100 sneakers piled up in my bedroom. And my entire garage is full with my inventory. So I plan on finding a space to better hold all the stuff and potentially open up a store. I'm just not sure where yet."

The Classes of 2020 and 2021 alike have had to be particularly resourceful.

With the pandemic racing through the state last spring, New Jersey businesses sent employees to work from home, froze hiring and tapped into government aid. The state's unemployment rate soared from 3.8% in March to 16.6% in April.

This spring, the job market for college graduates might be thawing. The jobless rate has declined to 7.7%. And it is expected to fall further as more people get vaccinated, cases ease and Gov. Phil Murphy removes restrictions.

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Before the pandemic, Monmouth University in West Long Branch was getting about 200 postings to its job board. Once the pandemic hit, that number fell below 50. Now, it has about 150, said William Hill, director for career services.

Building a work culture remotely

Behind those numbers, though, college graduates are navigating new territory where interviews, mentoring and onboarding — human resource-speak for making sure new employees catch onto the company's culture — is done remotely.

"When you're in an office and you're around people, there's hundreds of informal interactions that happen every day that you don't even think about," Hill said. "But taken as a whole over the course of a month or a year, you sort of absorb informal information that becomes part of your skill set. But that's not happening with remote work."

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Some companies are taking steps to make sure new workers feel like they are part of the team. Holmdel-based iCIMS, a technology company with about 1,100 employees, created video events connecting new hires with mentors and managers, said Nicole Tucker, management of talent acquisition.

Employers during COVID are searching for other ways to connect with their workers, she said, whether it is engaging with them on social media or sending them text messages.

"Maybe that text is what gets them to feel like, 'Wow, this person is really on my side, and they're really excited about me joining,'" Tucker said.

The Classes of 2020 and 2021 are left winding their way through a pandemic recession without a roadmap.

In some cases, the job market has the hallmarks of previous economic downturns. Many students are putting off the work force and are going to graduate school instead, Georgian Court's O'Callaghan said.

In other cases, they are making it up as they go along. New hires once took their cues on what time to start, what to wear, when to take a lunch break, and so on, by simply observing their co-workers. 

Now, they make those decisions remotely — even as employers and workers alike are asking: Just how important are those workplace rituals anyway?

By the time the answers are sorted out, Sara Benz might not need to worry about it.

After watching her job applications and interviews dry up last year, she teamed up with her mother to bring back Sarafina, replacing the long-time brick-and-mortar store with an online shop and selling jewelry for less than $200.

The business seems to be growing; Stacey Benz said they could use more help to stay on top of orders.

Not that her daughter is here to stay. Sara Benz said she would like to make more money, so she continues to look for jobs and has started to field more interviews.

But, she said, the new opportunity born out of the pandemic has changed her career outlook.

"I'm kind of in that in between," she said. "I feel like it changed my mindset where at first it was like a side thing. Now, I feel like it's a lot more serious."

Michael Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannettnj.com.