by These are uncertain and unprecedented times. What began as an unidentified cause of pneumonia in Wuhan, China, has snowballed overnight into a global crisis.
With the suspension of public gatherings and social distancing guidelines, many Americans are working remotely, facing temporary shutdowns at work, or are unemployed. Children are home from school and daycare, restaurants are only offering take-out, temperatures are taken at the doors of medical clinics, our sporting events and religious services have been cancelled or moved online, Amazon deliveries have been delayed, and, for some strange reason, the supermarket is constantly out of toilet paper.
Countries the world over are implementing various restrictions to either mitigate or suppress our new enemy, COVID-19. This enemy isn’t a radical extremist group or hostile foreign power; it isn’t even a person. While many of humanity’s conflicts and struggles to date have been us-versus-them scenarios, in our current struggle, there is only us. Now, more than ever, we can all say with confidence as a global community, “we are in this together.”
Even so, much of the future remains unclear and out of our control. We wonder to ourselves, “How long will this last? When will we return to life as usual?” Sooner or later, this crisis will end. While we have time to reflect during this period of isolation, we must ask ourselves, “How do we want to have changed when our routines are back to normal? At the end of this challenge, how are we better than we were at the beginning?”
Already in our profession, we’ve seen career services and college recruiting adapt as in-person career fairs transition to a virtual format. Suddenly, we are relying heavily on technology that’s been available for several years as our meetings, appointments, and interviews move online. As a profession, we are forced to experience what many have been wondering for some time – that much of our work can continue undisrupted outside of face-to-face interactions. The value of an in-person interview, a face-to-face interaction with a student during a career fair, a visit to campus or a company site, or many of the other ways we work through personal interactions may never be replaced, but, in the absence of in-person exchanges, we are learning how to still facilitate college students through the career development process and into meaningful post-graduate roles.
Coronavirus has forced us to think outside of the box to get our jobs done. Strategies we are using now to replace in-person communication can be applied to supplement and enhance our work once we have the luxury again of being in the same room with more than 10 people. My hope is that, when we all make it back to the office, we hold on to these lessons and look for ways to expand our reach, to work smarter and not harder, by continuing to apply them where appropriate. We can grow and improve from what we learn through these challenges, and by doing so we will create positive change in ourselves, at home, and at work.
COVID-19 has caused us to face many challenges in our personal and professional lives. While the struggle is real, so is the opportunity we have to emerge on the other side ready to define the future of career services and college recruiting. I encourage you to keep your conversations going within the SoACE Knowledge Groups through Slack and consider submitting your innovative technology solutions to the Technology KG Boot Camp (July 29-30), deadline April 17. We look forward to “seeing” everyone June 24-25 at the Virtual Employer Relations Summit. If you haven’t already, please consider submitting a program proposal before April 30!
Elbow Bumps to All,
Charlie Wilder, PhD
2019-20 SoACE President
Auburn University
We want to hear from you. How have you transitioned onto digital places and how are you quantifying the impact you’re having with your students during this new time? What brings you hope and happiness at times like this? Email us at mchmerhar@tamu.edu and let us know!