The Top-5 Resistant Jobs in NZ post COVID:
Without a doubt, COVID-19 has been a brutal disruption to the entire world. The virus has turned everything upside down and continues to affect our daily lives, the global economy, and national GDP. Earlier this year we did some market research and chatted to a few industry peeps to see where COVID-19 was hitting the most. We came to the conclusion that during the first national lockdown here in New Zealand, these 5 sectors below saw considerable growth and stability. As with all industries, there are good and bad, lucky and unlucky so take what you will from this article and let us know if you were in another sector that has done considerably well. Despite a lot of others struggling and worse yet, shutting up shop for good.
Supermarket Merchandiser
Courier
IT-Support Engineer
Web Designer
Digital Marketer
Industries that took a massive hit:
In general, the whole New Zealand tourism industry, hospitality sector and educational realm, based on the international income, quite literally froze. Another honourable mention, a huge publishing business Bauer Media NZ discontinued operating too. Furthermore, Sky City, The Warehouse Group and Flight Centre had mass redundancies too. How many more small to medium-sized enterprises are going through difficult times? As a result, many people have lost their jobs and others are under the threat of the loss too. In light of this, the most important question is “where can I work without worrying about the implications of COVID-19?”Qualified & Skilled Work v.s COVID-19 Essential Workers
Let’s think about perspective earning opportunities. On one hand, society considers future professions like the latest developments in science and technology. Or achievements in the field of artificial intelligence. As well as, developers and programmers, who will be in huge demand for many decades to come. On the other hand, the lockdown made it very clear where employees most urgently needed. Namely, no community will survive without people who perform socially significant work. For example, supermarkets’ staff, couriers, and pick-packers just to mention a few.
COVID Resistant Job #1: Supermarket Merchandiser
We caught up with a New World merchandiser to get their feedback on working through lockdown.
Here what Harpinder had to say:
“It was a total change from my normal days…. because it was hard to work in lockdown, the store became too busy, and also we had fear of Coronavirus. When all people were at home, we are working all that time.”
Harpinder, New World, Merchandiser
COVID Resistant Job #2: Couriers
We also had a chat with a local courier person who had this to say:
“We worked as usual… No shifts overtime or fewer days off… but we spent more time on servicing each area… Obviously, people were ordering more stuff than usual”
New Zealand Post, Delivery Driver
Becoming digitally operational
Another important circumstance is that the world now knows where the potential growth points are in the economy. Advantages are online. But just because you can’t operate online that doesn’t mean you can’t be visible online. Of course, not all businesses can 100% operate only online. No matter which products or services are offered, one critical feature shouldn’t be overlooked – online digital presence. In other words, companies should have websites, internal cloud platforms and employees, who are able to do their work remotely via the Internet.
“Every day I did my usual work, had a lot of calls and online-meetings with my colleagues… So by and large, besides the fact that we worked from home, nothing had changed for us :-). As our company is a part of the international business our system is built in such a way that anybody can do their work remotely.
The only thing that we need is our laptop and internet as all information, tools and systems are connected in our laptop via the cloud.
We were encouraged to use video calls using Skype for Business so we can compensate for lack of face to face communication. Every Monday we had a video call among our colleagues in Australia, New Zealand, USA and American Samoa as we are in the same time zone to get an update on COVID-19 impact on business and social life. ”
Helen, FMCG Wholesales Company, Financial Worker
COVID Resistant Job #3: IT-Support
It’s obvious that in such a remote digital economy, the role of IT-support is growing as never before. To illustrate, adjusting connections, solving technical problems, and providing data security are vital requirements for those operating online. Thus, the demand for support engineers will increase day by day.
“When working from home it’s important to access the school network to maintain the server and the hardware. We did well before lockdown to make sure that all staff members have computer and internet at home, and they know how to access NAS (the File station) and how to use Zoom.”
“I noticed that lots of companies start to set up their own online shops.”
Wayne, NZIE, IT-Support
COVID Resistant Job #4: Web Designer
This leads on quite well to the next booming industry during the pandemic. Next up, web design. With the need to be visible online, there’s a huge demand for professional website developers & designers. In particular for building new websites, mobile applications, and upgrading already existing ones.
Undoubtedly, to work as a web designer, as well as IT-support, you should be qualified. However, a great place to start is with NZIE’s Digital Marketing Diploma. In this programme you learn how to create your own eCommerce website.
“I think the online industry as a whole, from web through to marketing and beyond have had a huge demand in work. If anything it has opened a lot of eyes for business owners to understand the importance of being present online and building that presence through various platforms.”
“Work hours increased immensely over this time. Challenges experienced were more down to showing compassion in every situation, which wasn’t so much a challenge but something to be aware of. People now needed digital solutions but didn’t have the budget to do so, so it was working with tight margins and still getting the result. We were busy for various reasons, mostly due to:
- People realising that their business needs to have a digital solution in place
- Business owners having more time on their hands to see through a website build or refresh
- Updating sites so their customers were aware of their Covid procedures
- E-commerce functionalities for people to be able to shop and order online
When it came to helping my clients communicate with theirs, yes I feel that element was essential. Its important people know how a business is operating during this time. We also do a lot of marketing which helped business owners to generate sales, which isn’t necessarily essential but important during a time of such uncertainty.”
Olivia McIver, Soda Digital, Director
COVID Resistant Job #4: Digital Marketer
Another New Zealand industry with a thriving market potential is Digital Marketing. Since it’s obvious that all businesses moving online will be searching for quality promotion on the Internet. As a result, skilled and talented digital marketers will be in high demand. Especially for the reason that digital marketing itself is a vast field. For example, to work in this industry job opportunities are in social media marketing, search engine optimisation, data analytics, e-mail marketing, and content creation. And that’s just a few of many!
Feedback from a Digital Marketer working since the pandemic began:
“Being in lockdown, I haven’t made any changes in my workflow, besides the fact that my bubble always was at home 🙂 In fact, I used to work remotely for many years. Moreover, nomadism is quite a habitual thing in our field. For example, our team is operating remotely in 10 different time zones, from Europe to New Zealand. Because we’re a location independent IT-company sometimes we joke about the time zones and cities one another is operating from.”
“Without any doubts, there is a sharp increase in demand for all online decisions made all over the world.”
” Brick-and-mortar stores need an online presence. Entrepreneurs start-up different online projects. Even ordinary people who used to be employed offline are now trying to sell different stuff on the Internet. And all of them need digital marketing support at that or another degree. So it looks like we won’t be without tasks and jobs in the future.”
Tatiana, Pokupo, Digital Marketer
How do you get into the space of Digital Marketing?
One of the best ways is to complete a one-year Digital Marketing Diploma Programme. Among all, this programme has benefits such as a mix of online and in-person delivery. That’s quite an important and needed feature with the uncertainty and disruptions of COVID-19 continuing to wreak havoc.
Conclusion
To conclude all of the above, we would like to emphasise two key points. First, the NZ economy will recover. It’s just a question of time. However, and here’s our second point, it’s unviable to just sit around and wait. The strength of humans is in being able to adapt and change. So, think about your new career horizons. Get a new profession, suggested in this article, or learn other widely required skills right now. In this case, you’ll be in demand, you’ll be efficient and you’ll be consistently relevant for the job market.
