Coronavirus downturn: Labor economist discusses recession-proof industries hiring now and technology, tools and tips helping job seekers

Devastated by the coronavirus, the U.S. economy is sinking. And the plunge is accelerating.

Now, as some businesses in a few states start to trickle back to work, hopes are beginning to arise that the economy, damaged as it is, might be poised to rebound by the second half of the year. If more employees and consumers were to gradually return to working and spending, the idea goes, the economy might be able to mount a sharp comeback.

Yet most economists have the same response: Keep such expectations in check.

ABC7 was joined via Skype by Julia Pollack, labor economist at ZipRecruiter, to discuss the current job market.

What are the industries that you've identified as growing or relatively recession-proof?

There are lots of industries that are hiring right now precisely because of this crisis. Some examples are grocery stores, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, e-commerce companies, remote software companies, video game companies, meal kit delivery services, home exercise companies - there are really so many opportunities opening up because of this crisis has increased user growth and sales.

What kinds of resources does ZipRecruiter offer people looking for work?

ZipRecruiter is the fastest growing online employment marketplace. We also have the number one rated app, job search app. We use a A.I. smart driven, smart matching technology to match job seekers and employers, kind of like Netflix uses A.I. And our technology simplifies the job search process for job seekers in a couple of important ways. One is that our job alerts, text messages and emails notify candidates of jobs that match their skills and location and invite them to apply quickly. And another is that we inform job seekers when their resume has been viewed or is that we inform job seekers when their resume has been viewed or been raised with a thumbs up by the hiring manager. So we provide greater transparency and help job seekers avoid as if they've sent their resumes into a black hole.

What about transferable skills, how do you go about highlighting skills you might not normally think about?

Our job alerts and our job suggestions help job seekers ladder into jobs in industries they may not have considered by mapping transferable skills and matching those jobs accordingly, but you know something job seekers should remember is that the skills that employers are most commonly looking for are soft skills that are highly transferable, like communication, customer service, analytical skills, interpersonal skills and attention to detail

Can you tell about ZipRecruiter's "Job of the Day"?

Our website right now is helping employers find jobs where the employees are actively extending offers. And we've added a, you know, an actively hiring during COVID banner to jobs were employers have verified their call of extending offers. And urgent banners to jobs where requested by their employer and we also highlight new jobs. So here is a new job that urgently looking for candidates: ziprecruiter.com.

It's also in an industry projected to add many more jobs than average over the next decade. Certified nursing assistants are in very high demand.

Tell us how the ZipRecruiter search page works and what are some of the features that help job seekers.

You can search for jobs by location and by job title or by keyword. Job seekers should move away from searching for a job titles and also look for characteristics of companies that they might like to work for. Another important thing is to filter by date. So, most jobs receive 50% of all of their applications within the first seven days. And so, you want to get on it quickly because hiring managers often might often not look at any jobs they receive after that.