As Tufts decided to send students home and move classes fully online on March 10, a challenging time awaited the Class of 2020. With no grand ceremonies, formal goodbyes, best friends’ hugs or just one more time walking down the President’s Lawn, seniors nevertheless had to seek jobs while the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the labor market.
If you look at the Twitter profile photo of Mitch Navetta (LA‘20), you will see he is smiling with former presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Having graduated as a political science major, Navetta is currently working in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Washington, D.C.
Navetta started applying to jobs in November 2019. Because of the sudden turmoil the pandemic brought, a company Navetta was interested in froze its hiring process.
Navetta continued to look for jobs after graduation in May 2020, until he found his current employer, HHS.
One of the companies Navetta interviewed with had only restarted the hiring process this November for early 2021 start dates. Navetta considers himself fortunate. Indeed, the pandemic has radically shrunk the job market for the Class of 2020. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate was 11.1% overall in June, and 19.8% for those aged 20–24.
“The 2020 grads faced an employment landscape in which many hiring organizations moved more cautiously during the spring and into the summer as they compared their needs to their budgets and the shifting pandemic economy,” Donna Esposito, the interim executive director of the Tufts Career Center, wrote in an email to the Daily.
Despite the grim outlook, some graduates have secured multiple opportunities due to extensive networks within and outside Tufts. Abigail Alpern Fisch (LA‘20) is one of these graduates.
In April, by reaching out to the former senior director of Tisch programs, Mindy Nierenberg, Fisch obtained a summer position as a marketing intern at Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit art advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., that has extended into the fall. Also, from August to November, Fisch initially volunteered, and then became a paid intern, in the Sara Gideon campaign for the U.S. Senate in Maine.
Fisch has also kept a close connection with Tufts. This fall, working with Tufts alumna Jennifer Earls (LA‘08), Fisch was able to co-teach two sessions of the Koru Mindfulness program, a four-week workshop open to undergraduates and graduates. By contacting her former professor Jonathan Garlick, Fisch also has been a dialogue facilitator in one of Garlick’s civic science courses.
“It is a nice way to stay connected with the Tufts community,” Fisch said.
According to Fisch, her ability to secure various opportunities definitely requires “lots of networking and reaching out to alumni.”
“You have to put in as much as you can in order to get maybe a little bit back,” Fisch said.
Director Esposito’s opinion echoes Fisch’s.
“Networking is key. Talking to Tufts alumni, professors, peers, family members and others is often one of the best ways to get advice and learn about opportunities,” Esposito said.
Fisch has been piecemealing every opportunity together and saving money, as she still makes limited income while living with her family in Bethesda, Md.; she is still looking for different jobs and internships for 2021, sending out cover letters and resumes every day and continuing to engage in informational interviews.
“It's definitely not super fun; I would not recommend graduating into a pandemic,” Fisch said.
While graduates like Fisch try to find multiple post-graduation positions, other graduates may focus on one main trajectory.
Allie Morgenstern (LA‘20), who lives in Somerville near campus, is an assistant teacher at a Boston charter school. Having completed a child study and human development major, Morgenstern now teaches science and meets with her students for around 45 minutes every weekday. In her Zoom classroom, Morgenstern uses interactive slideshow apps such as Nearpod and engages her students with chat boxes and review games.
Morgenstern feels fortunate to have secured her current job only a couple weeks after Tufts sent everyone home in early March, for she did not spend numerous quarantine hours looking for jobs.
“I already had it, which was really huge, because I know I have many friends who spent the entire rest of the semester and summer looking at it,” Morgenstern said.
Although Morgenstern wishes she could form and utilize more professional relationships during her time at Tufts, she nevertheless has used substantial campus resources.
Through a teaching fellowship with Breakthrough Greater Boston during the summer after junior year and the newsletters sent out through the child studies department, Morgenstern learned about her current job. She said it is beneficial to participate in the career fairs held by the Tufts Career Center, to hear from peers from the same department or just to reach out to advisors.
“That is how I got one of my summer jobs, which I really like,” Morgenstern said.
Not only has the Career Center moved the career fairs to a virtual format via Handshake, a job search website for college students, it also has developed various programs to assist Jumbos with the job search during the COVID-19 reality.
The Center has developed extensive online workshops and panels with employers and alumni regarding interviewing and the job search, and uploads them to its YouTube channel for 24/7 viewing.
The Center also has increased its outreach effort to increase job, internship and short-term program opportunities, and recruited 600 new alumni mentors on The Herd, a flash mentoring program at Tufts. Through resources like Big Interview, Interstride and Forage, the Center tries to accommodate all students to cope with the job search process. By making an appointment on Handshake or dropping by the Career Lab, students can easily connect with the Center.
“We are ready and eager to assist [students]!” Esposito said.
Fisch met with Esposito to talk about her summer internship and seek advice about her career plans, and she learned a lot from Esposito.
With the Career Center offering graduates career advising sessions via Zoom, Fisch said she is definitely due for another meeting to figure out the next steps.
As the Class of 2020 adapts to the challenging job market under the pandemic, the frustration and pressure are high. Navetta has talked with some friends who have stayed with their families since March, and the past eight months have been emotionally difficult for them.
“The process of finding an entry-level position is time-consuming and draining, and having to worry about lots of other things can only make the process more challenging,” Navetta said.
Fisch said a lot of job postings specifically for the 2020 graduates were cancelled and many companies chose to maintain, if not lay off, current employees. The pandemic also has disrupted many graduates’ plans and put them on a pause. For example, Fisch’s initial goal was to work in Greece and temporarily live there, but the plan became unrealistic when the pandemic hit.
“I have kept myself busy, but I will definitely never undersell how difficult all of this is,” Fisch said.
As the Class of 2021 prepares for graduation, graduates of 2020 shared their advice.
“It is really important to remember that you probably will not find the job that’s going to be your career for the rest of your life right out of college,” Morgenstern said. “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to find the [perfect] job.”
Director Esposito agrees with Morgenstern, saying it is important for seniors to be flexible and open to different possibilities.
“This could mean being open to the gig economy (a.k.a. short-term work) or learning more about 3rd party recruiters alongside traditional job search sites,” Esposito said.
Fisch said it is okay to feel unsure about what to do as the world is “also searching for some stability and grounding,” and to not feel afraid to ask for help.
“Lean on your friends. Lean on the Tufts community,” Fisch said.
