Work + Life Balance

Career Contessa’s Best Coronavirus Advice (That We Hope We Won't Need Too Much Longer)

2020 is the year we became familiar with social distancing, mask etiquette, and all things pandemic-related. Through it, we've done our best to provide our best advice to navigating your career through a pandemic. Here's our best.

By
December 23, 2020

We're all tired of hearing about Coronavirus, but that doesn't mean it's going anywhere—yet.

Our fatigue alone does not mean it's gone away or that it's less dangerous or that millions of people are still without dependable work. At the time of publishing, vaccines are being distributed. While it feels like the finish line is close, we will likely have fallout for a while longer.

This is why we wanted to share with you our most essential advice as it relates to COVID-19, illness, wellness, recession, job loss, and more.

While we hope we won't need this advice much longer, we wanted to compile our pandemic-specific content for you.

Here's to a happy and healthy future with our loved ones (who we cannot wait to hug again!)

Career Changes, Layoffs, And The Job Search

To say it's been a tough year for employment is a wild understatement. This year, millions of people lost their jobs. Some even got their jobs back only to lose them again.

Here are the resources we put together to try to help navigate these tough times—whether you're deep in a job search, navigating a toxic workplace where you're too afraid to quit, or fielding recession-specific interview questions.

Managing Your Finances During Uncertainty

Money stressors are a huge source of anxiety in the best circumstances. Add a global pandemic into the mix and your money woes are brought into sharp focus. Here are some resources we created specifically in relation to Coronavirus—as well as some others we think are always helpful when considering your finances.

Working From Home

In March of 2020, millions of people were told to pack their desks and go home to work. Suddenly, the conversation around "Can remote work really work?" was redundant. Remote had to "work" because it was the only option for so many non-essential businesses.

Here is some of our more useful content around remote work. Looking for even more? We created an entire course on remote work, Remote Control: How to Enact Successful Virtual Collaboration. This course is for everyone—from leadership to individuals trying to create the best WFH schedule to reach peak productivity.

Leadership in Trying Times

Think leadership is hard? Try doing it in a pandemic. Whether it's scheduling meetings (but not too many meetings), conducting 1:1s with your direct reports, conducting a virtual performance review, or onboarding new employees 100 percent virtually, we think we have it all covered. If not, please let us know what other leadership resources you'd love to see by emailing us: info at careercontessa dot com.

Here are some of our favorite resources on creating and maintaining empathetic and motivational leadership. We had a lot of help (and great advice) from our Leadership Writer, Shanna Hocking, on this subject.

Cultivating Physical + Mental Wellness

If there is anything that 2020 brought into the sharpest focus, it's that your health matters more than anything. We're not just talking about your physical health, either. We're talking mental, emotional, and physical.

The workplace can be a brutal place for your health, so we try to do our best to help identify red flags upfront, navigate toxic situations, and have tough conversations around what matters most: your health.

Here are our resources for preserving your own health through it all. Please take care of yourselves.