Editor’s note: This story is part of the annual Mosaic Journalism Workshop for Bay Area high school students, a two-week intensive course at journalism. Students in this year’s virtual program report and photograph real stories under the guidance of professional journalists.
Asif Maner, a 26-year-old San Jose State student set to graduate with a master’s degree in engineering in December, pulls up his browser each day and clicks on a few familiar websites. He checks online hiring databases such as Indeed or Glassdoor for new open positions in business analysis, his preferred field, as any student might during a break between semesters.
This has been his routine since before the coronavirus pandemic caused countrywide lockdowns, but being quarantined has led to new complications in the job-searching landscape. After Maner just seriously started to look for a job, the entire market seemed to fall apart in front of him.
One challenge is that people such as Maner entering the job market have to compete with workers freshly laid off during quarantine. He said the few companies that respond to job-seekers often forgo follow-up interviews.
“Everyone’s opportunities are cancelled right now,” Maner said. “I called this company back for an interview, and they told me they were closing down.”
While Maner is financially stable, he is still frustrated by the unexpected difficulty in his search. Connections on LinkedIn or Handshake, a job-hunting site for college students, only go so far, though getting in contact with alumni is extremely useful for finding opportunities, he said. The problem is that some companies can’t decide whether they even want to hire new employees — and it is rarely clear from the applicant’s side of the screen.
“Many of these websites have listings that are fake,” Maner said. “There are jobs listed as open, but they don’t call back. They’re from before lockdowns or layoffs, and they won’t respond to being contacted.”
But despite the fake listings, dropped interviews, and suddenly closed businesses, Maner continues his search — while hiking and swimming in between — during the summer months.
Jessica Reimann recently graduated from Silver Creek High School and will attend San Jose State University as a marine biology major.
