Unfortunately, There Was No 'Get A Job During A Pandemic 101' Course Taught At My University | The Odyssey Online
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Student Life

Unfortunately, There Was No 'Get A Job During A Pandemic 101' Course Taught At My University

Diving into the unknown and just hoping I can swim a little.

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Unfortunately, There Was No 'Get A Job During A Pandemic 101' Course Taught At My University
Gregory Shamus / Getty Images

The future is scary. I want to place blame on the coronavirus and the fact that no one else is really prepared for what is to come either, but I can't. The truth is, I am preparing myself for a future I'm not even sure I know yet.

Search job postings, sending in my resume, emailing people I have never met. That is my new life. That is the life of thousands of college seniors, who quite frankly aren't ready for this new normal of job searching in the midst of a pandemic.

For a lot of us, we had a careers class, but none of those classes taught us what it would look like to find a job in the middle of COVID-19.

I know the basics. Online interviews mean perfect hair, plain background, good wifi, nice dress shirts, and sweatpants. Job searching is limited to Indeed, LinkedIn, and if you're lucky, previous connections. The things I don't know are, how do I get a job when hiring is paused? How do I know if I like the company if their website hasn't been updated since 2008? How do I finish getting my experience hours when the place I was job shadowing closed due to the pandemic?

My university didn't prepare me for this, but how could they?

We never would have guessed there would be an outbreak to this capacity and that is what is so scary. No one knew this would impact everyone the way it did, yet we hardly know how to control it. Our world has been shaken to its core, but for so many, that doesn't mean the world stops spinning.

There are millions of college seniors around the globe who are juggling online school and the job market that is hanging on by a thread. Trying to navigate all of this in the dark, with a flashlight that is about to run out of battery life. We are lost, we are scared, and we are under the pressure of a society that is understanding of everyone except us. We don't want to complain and we don't want to place blame, but it's hard.

Our life has become a nightmare we can't wake up from.

We are fighting a battle we simply won't win and still trying to manage to pay rent even though most of us don't have an income. This is our normal. This is our "wow your life sounds like a movie." This is COVID-19.

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Student Life

The 5 Painfully True Stages Of Camping Out At The Library

For those long nights that turn into mornings when the struggle is real.

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woman reading a book while sitting on black leather 3-seat couch
Photo by Seven Shooter on Unsplash

And so it begins.

1. Walk in motivated and ready to rock

Camping out at the library is not for the faint of heart. You need to go in as a warrior. You usually have brought supplies (laptop, chargers, and textbooks) and sustenance (water, snacks, and blanket/sweatpants) since the battle will be for an undetermined length of time. Perhaps it is one assignment or perhaps it's four. You are motivated and prepared; you don’t doubt the assignment(s) will take time, but you know it couldn’t be that long.

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Student Life

The 14 Stages Of The Last Week Of Class

You need sleep, but also have 13 things due in the span of 4 days.

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black marker on notebook

December... it's full of finals, due dates, Mariah Carey, and the holidays. It's the worst time of the year, but the best because after finals, you get to not think about classes for a month and catch up on all the sleep you lost throughout the semester. But what's worse than finals week is the last week of classes, when all the due dates you've put off can no longer be put off anymore.

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Student Life

28 Daily Thoughts of College Students

"I want to thank Google, Wikipedia, and whoever else invented copy and paste. Thank you."

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group of people sitting on bench near trees duting daytime

I know every college student has daily thoughts throughout their day. Whether you're walking on campus or attending class, we always have thoughts running a mile a minute through our heads. We may be wondering why we even showed up to class because we'd rather be sleeping, or when the professor announces that we have a test and you have an immediate panic attack.

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Lifestyle

The Great Christmas Movie Debate

"A Christmas Story" is the star on top of the tree.

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The Great Christmas Movie Debate
Mental Floss

One staple of the Christmas season is sitting around the television watching a Christmas movie with family and friends. But of the seemingly hundreds of movies, which one is the star on the tree? Some share stories of Santa to children ("Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"), others want to spread the Christmas joy to adults ("It's a Wonderful Life"), and a select few are made to get laughs ("Elf"). All good movies, but merely ornaments on the Christmas tree of the best movies. What tops the tree is a movie that bridges the gap between these three movies, and makes it a great watch for anyone who chooses to watch it. Enter the timeless Christmas classic, "A Christmas Story." Created in 1983, this movie holds the tradition of capturing both young and old eyes for 24 straight hours on its Christmas Day marathon. It gets the most coverage out of all holiday movies, but the sheer amount of times it's on television does not make it the greatest. Why is it,
then? A Christmas Story does not try to tell the tale of a Christmas miracle or use Christmas magic to move the story. What it does do though is tell the real story of Christmas. It is relatable and brings out the unmatched excitement of children on Christmas in everyone who watches. Every one becomes a child again when they watch "A Christmas Story."

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student thinking about finals in library
StableDiffusion

As this semester wraps up, students can’t help but be stressed about finals. After all, our GPAs depends on these grades! What student isn’t worrying about their finals right now? It’s “goodbye social life, hello library” time from now until the end of finals week.

1. Finals are weeks away, I’m sure I’ll be ready for them when they come.

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