The lockdown response to mitigate the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 incurred job losses across various industries. The global economy is almost at a halt with only essential services workers allowed to perform their jobs outside of their homes.
Professional networking platform LinkedIn announced is now offering free job postings for hospitals and non-profits working on the COVID-19 disaster relief as well as for essential services (supermarkets, package delivery, and warehousing companies) for the next three months or until June 30, 2020.
LinkedIn also said it would assist in accelerating the hiring process for urgent roles in the healthcare industry. Hospital frontliners are forced to work almost 24/7 as the number of COVID-19 patients increases as the result of mass testing.
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“This global pandemic has no doubt put a strain on economies and impacted jobs to a large degree,” said Olivier Legrand, managing director and vice president, Asia Pacific and China in a media release. “But in the midst of all this, we are hearing heroic stories of those on the frontlines who are working around the clock to protect the public. And it’s clear that more help is needed to fill urgent open roles within frontline organizations.”
Frontline roles
The platform aims to bridge job seekers with the right skill sets to fill vacant roles with companies and organizations. Frontline healthcare roles, such as doctors and nurses, will be automatically added to a list of urgent jobs and will be surfaced through a special banner to reach members with relevant skills and experience.
LinkedIn also expanded its Recruiting for Good program aimed at helping healthcare organizations and disaster relief operations nonprofits as well as those institutions assisting in managing the secondary effects of the disease.
LinkedIn is also offering access to LinkedIn Talent Insights for free for the next three months to give healthcare firms access to real-time data and insights on the talent market so they can make informed decisions even in the midst of a global health emergency.
To those who are working from home and have time to spare, LinkedIn has several online courses so they can upskill and develop relevant skills that could be of use when all of this is over.