Career | Job Hunting During A Pandemic: Resilience and Creativity

This blog is based on my virtual talk at Women Who Code — Boston. Feel free to join us at 6:00pm EST on March 25, 2020 over Zoom. I specifically look for product management jobs in tech companies, but general principles should be applicable to other fields.

Right now is an incredibly challenging time for job seekers. Some companies freeze their hiring, some cancel internships, some postpone in-person interviews, some move to virtual interview, and some still figuring out their hiring plan. Self-quarantine, news, social media are already psychologically draining to deal with. Looking for jobs adds even more uncertainties and complexities.

As someone who has been through the process recently, I want to share what’ve helped me to get a Product Manager job at Microsoft and what I wish I knew. I also hope to inspire audience to see challenges in a positive light and use resilience and creativity to turn sour lemons into lemonade.

Before I start, I want to first say that I feel frivolous to talk about job hunting and career right now[1]. The utmost important priority is public health, which I barely contribute to. My absolute respect goes to clinicians, hospitals, volunteers, organizations, and anyone who takes risk in devoting themselves to saving lives on the frontline.