Massachusetts had the highest unemployment rate in the country in July, but things may be looking up. Job postings are up in the metro Boston market.
Still, things are a little different than they were pre-COVID. Just over 40% of jobs listed in the area today are part-time positions.
"A lot of employers are looking at part time options," says Jim McCoy of Manpower Group, a global staffing and recruiting company. "It's really to address two things ... that uncertainty in what the economy will look like in the next six to twelve months [and that] employers are running into a lot of challenges with child care situations for their employees."
McCoy says there are opportunities available if you want to work remotely.
"Twenty-one percent of jobs posted for Boston employers don't actually specify a job location, meaning, out of the gate, they're being hired for work at home," he said.
You may want to consider taking your job search national, since many positions are not currently tied to locations. Or, consider piecing two part-time jobs together. That could get your foot in the door and put you at an advantage with both companies when a full-time position becomes available.
McCoy said five companies are leading the way when it comes to hiring in the Boston area right now. Oracle, Partners Health, Beth Israel and Lahey Health are all hiring, but he says Amazon is dominating.
"Amazon has been hiring nationally on a scale that we've never seen. An enormous amount of hiring, and that's obviously a reflection of individual desires to have products shipped to their homes," he said.
Amazon is currently hiring to fill 864 positions in New England, with more than 300 of them in the Boston area.
"Those include not only jobs in our logistics networks or the kinds of things that you would associate with package movement, delivery, but also associated with Amazon Web Services, so solution architect, software development engineers, " says Ardine Williams, Amazon's vice president of workforce development. "We do expect that our operations network will be announcing tens of thousands of jobs in the next several weeks and some of those will be in New England and in the Boston area."
The company is also launching a free Virtual Career Day to help people who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They are offering 20,000 free one-on-one career coaching sessions with Amazon recruiters during Amazon Career Day 2020 next week.
"Regardless of background or whether or not they're looking for a job at Amazon, they can meet with a recruiting professional and get a resume review, tips on how to upgrade their resume, interview advice and insight into jobs at Amazon or perspective on how they might take the experience they have in one industry and pivot to another," Williams said.
You do have to pre-register for the Amazon Virtual Career Day, which is being held on Sept. 16. You can register and book an appointment with an Amazon recruiter by going to amazoncareerday.com.
