Career Opportunities During Covid-19
In the year 2020, up till now we have seen a variety of challenges with the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 or also known as COVID-19. Hundreds of thousands of people have passed away because of the disease, major countries are on lockdown with industries on minimal operation or shutdown, and people locked up inside their houses due to fear of contacting the deadly disease. Many people have lost their jobs, some are working from home, some are looking to work from home and some are unwillingly required to go for work. The world has changed drastically post-COVID and people as well as industries are trying their best to adapt.
EXPERT’S GUIDE:
Shri. Sacheen Gandhi is the founder of the NGO ‘Social Talks’ which has been in operation since 2017. In the last 18 years as a working professional, he has had the experience of working in the Banking sector and later on the Health Sector. He has been working for the Health Sector since 2010. He is the co-founder of ‘Medicine Baba’, an organisation that has been in service since 2012 for providing free medicines to people in need. He has a background in business and civil society. And among other achievements, he is the Chief patron at the Drug Disposal Awareness Program and has been awarded with a number of national and international honorary awards.
In this article, we will be looking at career opportunities that are available in the post-COVID economy. The guidance provided in this article is based on a live session titled “Career Opportunities during COVID-19” conducted by the Shashi Dream Foundation, with the guest speaker as Shri. Sacheen Gandhi.
The complete Career Counselling session on ‘Career Opportunities During Covid-19’ is available on SDF’s Facebook Page. Check out the full session on our Facebook page now👇
You can also find the complete session on our YouTube channel.
Check it now👇👇
Career Opportunities in the Post-Covid Economy
The latest evolution that has been a result of globalisation is digitalisation. And the importance of maximum digitalisation has been proved necessary with the pandemic. So, take your business online!
- Invest in homemade or local products: Homemade or local products have much bigger margin for profit than luxury or company made products. These products that can be procured locally or made at home are a great way to test your business skills. The investment is small and the profit is much more.
- Wider customer market: One can target much more customers online than in physical shops. Physical shops have expenses of their own like rent, maintenance, etc that sometimes may be larger than profits made. Through e-commerce, these costs are eradicated and there is more scope for earning profit.
- Social media marketing is must: Social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc link you to a web of connections that would widen your customer base.
- E-commerce is being promoted by the government: The government looking at the challenges that the pandemic has brought has been promoting self-sufficiency and local industries through their slogans like Vocal for Local, etc. They have launched e-commerce website ‘Swadesh Bazaar’ made to compete with Amazon as well.
What should one keep in mind when taking their business online?
- Proprietorship firm vs company registration
- Rather than putting money in acquiring trademarks or registering a company, go for a proprietorship firm. Trademarks should be applied for when you have successfully made a brand. Upon failure of your products in the market, a trademark or company will come with their own challenges when shut down.
- GST number is required by various e-commerce sites (Amazon, etc) and it is readily available with registration of a proprietorship firm under the cost of three to four thousand rupees.
2. Product delivery
- Major e-commerce sites like Amazon, Flipkart, etc have their own respective requirements for delivery charges. They provide their own delivery services, the costs of which are already added onto the MRP of the product being sold. There are also local courier companies that provide delivery services on minimal charges based on weight, dimensions, radius of delivery, etc.
3. Research and development
- One should research and try out products themselves before selling online. On online sale, reviews and ratings are important to maximise sales.
4. Basic requirements
- Make sure to provide photos of the product in front of a white background from all necessary angles.
- GST number
- Bank account linked to the GST number, made specifically for your business
5. Communication Skills
- It is important to connect with people. Keep a friendly attitude to people, as anyone and everyone is a potential customer or business partner.
Apart from taking your business online, you can go for employment opportunities that are backing up all of the business that has gone online! One can target opportunities in marketing, graphic design, web development, mobile app development, content writing, etc. This is a great opportunity to expand one’s skill as well, especially if you are a student.
Taking your business online and succeeding may require effort. But the investment cost in e-commerce is way less than physical sales. Apart from that, because of digitalisation there is more optimization of work, one just needs to worry about maintaining the stock of products and promoting them, whilst e-commerce giants provide sellers with delivery services, a platform to target a bigger customer base, etc.
If business is something that you have been looking to explore, e-commerce is a great low-cost investment opportunity.
Job Opportunities
To help you understand the kind of career opportunities emerged during covid-19, a list is compiled below
Conclusion:
Change is ineluctable, in the predictable future, but the learning must go on.The COVID-19 pandemic has motivated us to acknowledge the sensitive nature of our career decisions, and how unprecedented events may lead to a complete turnaround. It is time for us to be practical in our career choices, and our decisions should run in tandem with the career trends to follow in a post COVID-19 world.
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