UC Riverside sees increase in jobs for its students even during coronavirus pandemic

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- Career fairs have typically been a great way for college graduates to meet potential employers, but since the start of the pandemic, such events have changed.

Students were able to have face-face contact with recruiters at University of California Riverside's Career Fair last year, but at the 2020 career fair, things looked a little bit different with those first introductions happening in a packed Zoom meeting.

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"I had an internship offer at a software company, but it got discontinued just like many other peoples offers because of COVID-19," said Heidi Chen, a UC Riverside senior.

Chen is about to graduate, and although her paid summer internship fell through because of the pandemic, a previous internship at a digital marketing startup has turned into a full-time job.

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"At UC Riverside, we've actually seen a 15% increase of new jobs posted in April compared to the month of March. We're approving about 130 new jobs each day for UC Riverside students," said Sean Gil, the Director of the UC Riverside Career Center.

Gil said the way you interview and where you work from has changed, but job listings haven't dried up for his students. He said there's been a rise in micro-internships, which could serve as a type of job interview for some, testing skills through contract work.

"Micro-internships are short-term paid professional projects that are completed by college students or recent graduates on behalf of busy professionals," said Jeffrey Moss, the Founder and CEO of Parker Dewey.

Chen says she's actually doing more networking during quarantine, which is how she rebounded after that first job disappeared.

"Everybody is at home so it's a lot easier to set up meetings, like Zoom meetings, because we can still talk and get to know each other over like a video call," said Chen.

The UC Riverside Career Center says during the pandemic, companies have reached out to work with them on ways to turn office jobs into remote jobs so they can continue to fill positions.

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