Knowing the difference between essential and non-essential services can help you cope with the ongoing pandemic lockdown. Since the imposition of ECQ, MECQ, GCQ, some businesses closed while others remained open. Why do you need to know essential vs non-essential? Understand community quarantine rules. Find more flexible jobs. What are Essential and Non-essential products and services Essential or critical goods and services refer to the end-products and activities required or necessary for the minimum normal functioning of society that revolve around basic human needs such as shelter, water, communication, food and clothing. They also pertain to the secondary essential support that makes society function efficiently such as banking, and money transfer services. Non-essential refers to the secondary end-products and services that aren’t necessary for the minimum and normal functioning of society and basic human needs. Basic essential products and services Bakeries Canned sardines canneries Energy suppliers Fish market Granaries Homeless shelters Livestock farm Rice planters Vegetable market Water filtration Water suppliers Supportive essential product and services Ambulatory Banking Child care services Factories of personal protective equipment (Face mask, facial shield) Funeral services, cemeteries and crematoriums Government offices and services Hospitals Law enforcement (Police, Security and Military) Logistics Medical wholesale and distribution Mental health counselling Money remittances Petrol stations Pharmaceutical research and development (vaccine) Pharmacies Port services Sanitary products (alcohol, hydrogen peroxide) Security Telcos (Smartphone loaders and internet business) Transportation (delivery of basic goods) Trash collectors Warehouse facilities (storage of basic goods, pharmacies) Non-essential products and services Arts and craft business Beauty supply stores Car washing services Concert venues Dance schools Gyms, yoga, spin and barre facilities Movie theatres Personal appearance and grooming businesses (barbershop, tattoo shop, hair salons, eyelash salons, body piercing) Pool resorts Recreation facilities (parks, bowling alleys) Shopping malls Skating rink Sporting event venues Vaping supply stores   The domino effect of pandemic lockdown on jobs:  No jobs are completely immune to the economic impact of COVID-19 since every company or industry depends on one another. Likewise, the economy is like an ecosystem where input and output (manufacturing - production) revolve or cycle. But there are jobs, due to their flexible working arrangements, that can be performed at the comfort of your home. On the other hand, some occupations require physical presence such as bank security guard, restaurant cook, and warehouseman. An IT company can still deliver its services remotely as long as its team members can work at home and remotely send the deliverables at the required pace and efficiency. An IT company can only be affected or have its income affected by forced lockdown and social distancing if it depends on clients directly affected by the pandemic. If an IT company depends on clients operating restaurants, events, tourism and airlines (or in non-essential products and services), its revenue might probably be slashed by the loss of income of its clients. In other words, it’s a domino effect. IT company clients (low probability of being affected by Pandemic) Energy Healthcare Banking Ecommerce food and beverage Security  Water supply Transportation (transport of medicine, food, fuel) Communication Public security Law enforcement IT company clients (high probability of being affected by Pandemic) Airlines Tourism Restaurants  Event organising Cosmetology Shipping Entertainment Transportation Hotel Entertainment (Boxing, Basketball and other sports)   What is a skeletal workforce? Skeletal workforce refers to the minimum number of staff or employees needed for the minimum and normal functioning of a business. During the normal working hours (before the start of Pandemic), companies require a minimum of staff to mitigate situations such as employees who are on sick leave, vacation, medical check-up, suspension and resignation

Experience and skills matter to the hiring personnel and your potential employer, but how well you perform on an interview sets your fate whether you’ll step inside the company or not. There are no hard and fast rules or formulas to make an interviewer say yes to your application since situations vary among the companies. Then there’s the mood of a person, the competition and the management. However, these tips can increase your chance of passing an interview.   Assemble and bring all the needed papers Image by Oli Lynch from Pixabay Collect the papers ahead of time to avoid last-minute scrambling. It’s likely you’ll forget a credential or paper by the time you just assemble everything on the day or hours before your interview. What if you left your diploma or took your cousin’s resume instead? Things you’ll need: 1 to 2 pages of a resume (5 copies) Diplomas  Transcript of records Water-proof envelope Identification cards Work portfolio Pen Thank you card Research the company Image by StockSnap from Pixabay Researching the company shows that you did your homework and you’re interested in their culture and the job. You’ll also save money and effort by knowing that the company is Ok for your expectations. It’s likely that HR personnel will ask you questions about the organisational background. So days before your showtime, spend some analysis on the company.  These are company details that might be asked during your interview. Your interviewer might not ask all of these but usually, asks one or two of these questions. Products and services - What they do. Mission - What are the reasons for their founding and their values. Trends - Things about a recent product, services and promotions. Company competitors - These are other companies with similar products and services. Unique selling position - What makes the company and its product or services different from others. Show confidence You might have anxiety but you still can strengthen your faith in yourself that you can pass an interview and get that contract. Confidence boils down on these three things: Correct body language Smart dress Preparedness (Time, Document, answers to questions) Arrive on time Photo by form PxHere Punctuality shows your enthusiasm and seriousness to the interviewer and the company. Employers have busy schedules and have other candidates next in line. To arrive on time, always set the time 30 minutes or 1 hour early. You may never know what lies ahead during your travel. Life is full of surprises and there could be traffic jams, last-minute changes, accidents and bad weather.    What if you’re late  If you’re late in a situation you can’t control (accidents and bad weather), you can mitigate such happenings. Call - Call ahead of time and let the hiring personnel know your Estimated Time of Arrival and you can’t make it on time and if it doesn’t work out, ask for a reschedule. Provide an acceptable reason - Lame excuses such as crazy traffic, a hangover from parties, and your cat scratching your door won’t cut it. Good reasons include such as family emergency, accidents and weather conditions. Regain your composure - Everyone makes a mistake. Show to the interviewer that you’re adaptable by asking for rescheduling that is both Ok for you and the employer.   Dress well Image by Piqsels and Licensed under Creative Commons Dressing well exudes preparedness and confidence. You don’t have to wear tuxedos or formal attire to show up. The dress code depends on the company industry. Dress type Description Industry Business casual Men: Long sleeve shirt, leather shoes and khaki pants Women: Work dress, collared shirt with pants; and pencil skirt Banks Law firms Financial firm Marketing Human resource BPO Some IT companies Business professional Men: Suits, suit jacket, blazer, tie, button-down shirt, formal shoes. Women: Suit jacket, black vest, black pants, formal black skirt or slacks, pantyhose, flats or low-heel shoes. Airline companie Car sales Hotel and resorts Law firms Insurance Banks Marketing  Human resource BPO Casual Men: Long-sleeved shirt, dress shirt, khaki pants and belt, dress shoes. Women: Collared shirt and pants, work dress and pencil skirt. Most IT companies BPO   Exude correct body language Image by Jonathan Alvarez from Pixabay Your body language refers to the non-verbal signals that can be interpreted depending on the country’s culture. Here are some of the postures you should avoid: Avoiding eye contact Crossing arms Doodling (writing random objects) Drumming your fingers on the table Excessive nodding Fidgeting a pen or any object Mismatching facial expression with feeling (expressing passion with a sad face) Not smiling Placing hands on the back Pointing to an interviewer Pursing lips Resting your chin on your arms or hands. Sitting in a cross-legged position Slumping in a seat Staring or ogling Too strong handshake Weak handshake Correct body language Sitting straight in a slight angle Shaking someone’s hand in a firm way Using hand gestures to express a point Maintaining eye contact - You can do this by not staring or ogling that can make the interviewer uncomfortable. Shift your gaze in an inverted triangle by changing from one point to another and stopping for each point for 10 seconds. This isn’t an absolute rule as you can also shift your gaze or eyes away into a side position to convey that you’re thinking Nodding to express understanding - Slightly nod in an upward direction and then coming back to a downward position. This is complemented with verbal words such as Ok, yes, and all right.   Prepare for Questions Photo by Amtec from Flickr and licensed under Creative Commons You can research interview questions and rehearse them when you do a mockup interview. Tell me about yourself Give your concise employment history and educational background and how it relates to your past and present role. Why should we hire you? Your answer lies on these three points: You can do the job, bring results and that you can fit within the culture and team. What are your strengths? Tell about your specific qualities and illustrate them with your life stories. What are your weaknesses? Tell honestly something that you’re struggling with and that you’re doing something to improve it. Why do you have an employment gap? You could reason that - - You took care of your aging parents and children. - You upskilled by studying online or enrolling in a physical school. - You run a business. - You took a freelance job. When you can start? This depends on your current situation. If you’re unemployed, then you can say as soon as possible. If you’re employed, then you can say that you need a month or a couple of weeks to finish your job in your current employer.   Ask for feedback Asking for feedback gives you an opportunity to know when the company will show results instead of waiting for nothing. Although it doesn’t always work, asking for the result can increase your chances of getting a job. HR personnel can be busy and may not attend to all resumes. So asking for feedback can help you stand out from the crowd. Depending on the job or the organisation, you might get feedback on the same day or in another week, a month and after a holiday. Not all employers use the same hiring process. Most interviewers will say when they will give feedback and how they will tell you (call, email or text). But if they didn’t give a hint of knowing the result, you can: Say thank you - Thank the hiring personnel and that you’re looking forward to hearing for feedback without a demanding tone.             “I really love to put my skills into good use and thank you for giving me an opportunity. May I ask when I’ll know the result? Identify the contact person - This is important as it saves you and the company some time. Ask the company about their method of contact and also, tell them about yours.   “Who should I stay in touch with?” Know when you can get in touch - If they missed the deadline, then you can always follow up unless the interviewer told after the interview that if you haven’t received a response, then your application is most likely rejected.     “If I don’t hear from you from [deadline], when is the best time to follow up?

The COVID-19 Pandemic is still ongoing and it seems it won’t be subsiding anytime soon for the next coming week or month. According to some experts, there could be succeeding waves - 3 waves just like the 1918 flu. The pandemic killed lives and disrupted the economy and jobs. The good news is some jobs are flexible even during the forced lockdown and lack of transport. Video Game Developer/Designers Since the start of the pandemic, people have been advised or forced to stay at home to avoid infection. To fight boredom, those who are video gamers found video gaming a great pastime. With demand increasing, sales for video games also increased. Here are the statistics - Gamedaily.biz and Japantimes. If you’re a video gamer and a fan of some greatest games - Half-life, Counter-Strike and Resident Evil series, you can find many video games sold online. An increase in video game sales is a boon for video game companies as well as for their employees - video game developers and designers. Video game developers use programming languages such as C++, CSS3, Java, HTML5, Javascript and SQL to build the movement and game physics.   Webmaster (E-Commerce) When most people were advised or forced to stay at homes, eCommerce proved a useful tool for remote business. Such eCommerce involved online marketing of products such as ready to eat meals, pastries, bread, buns, coffee, jams, and condiments. Then there are non-food items such as plush toys, smartphones, electronics, ceramics, keychains and everything that you can sell legally online. The job of eCommerce site webmaster is to maintain websites, find bugs and update content. A need for COVID-19 safe business makes this job thriving.  For this job, you’ll need the following skills in: Web hosting Domain registration Finding and fixing bugs on HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP Customer service Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist  The job refers to the specialist of another information technology field. Here you are tasked to increase the website visibility in the search engine and recommend improvements on the website. The competition among eCommerce sites and the need to survive such brought more opportunities for SEO specialists. You’ll work with webmasters or web developers to make sure an optimised website. You’re also a part of the marketing team that makes sure that the website can gain web traffic and reach more potential customers. Just like web developers, your job is flexible and can be done at home and that makes your SEO job flexible and thriving even during Pandemic. Skills you need include: Data analytics Keywording Writing Webhosting Copywriter Copywriters are tasked to write blogs, landing page and subpage contents. A demand in website content and eCommerce makes the need for this job. Here you’ll also work with web developers and SEO specialists to make a user-friendly website. Depending on the company policy, client’s industry and workload, you might be asked to manage social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), write storyboards for videos, and edit articles and blogs.  Skills you need for this role include: Thorough understanding of grammar Ability to write for formal and informal style Write storyboards for videos Script for video games Research news, fact or statistics   Delivery Rider Delivery riders partner with eCommerce companies or online sellers and use the app to process the service. Here you may deliver fast foods, products from eCommerce sites and homemade products. For this, you’ll need the following:  Mobile application and mobile data Awareness of government lockdown rules and regulations Compliant motorcycle or car Customer service skills Graphic Artist A graphic artist is a diverse role that includes sub disciplines such as illustrator, photo editor, video editor and animator. Other internet sources distinguish graphic artists from animators and video editors. Here, you need a compliant laptop/desktop, reasonable internet speed, and comfortable table/chair. This role remains in demand as the IT industry survives during the forced lockdown. Skills needed: Vector graphics software (Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Inkscape) Photo editing software (Adobe Photoshop CC, Capture One Pro, GIMP) Understanding of colour theory Understanding of typography Computer: Laptop - 8 to 32 GB RAM, Processor: Intel i5/i7/9 Extra monitor   Technical Writer A technical writer is another type of writer. This role involves writing manuals, documentation, and  FAQs. Here you’ll write easy to understand and direct to the point sentences and paragraphs that turn the complex process into simpler and easy to understand documents. You might already have a new smartphone. The accompanying manual in the box is written by a technical writer. Many industries support this job that include: Information technology companies doing business in security systems, software, mobile applications, gaming, and security. Engineering and architectural companies Healthcare - Hospitals and pharmacies For this role, you need the following skills: Writing Knowledge of specific discipline (Architecture, Engineering, Medicine) Understanding of grammar Authoring tools such as Robohelp, Kotobee Flowchart makers such as MS Visio   Online Seller If you can offer any products and services and sell them online, then you can be an online seller. You can launch a website, make a social media page or join an eCommerce website. For example, you can make brownies or confections at home, package and sell them online. Contact delivery services and reach your customers. If you have writing, programming and graphics skills, you can sell them as digital goods or services.  Here are some ideas on products and services you can sell online.  Products and Services Digital goods 3D models Architectural/Engineering plan Astrology reading Business card design Cartoons CGI models Cliparts  Document templates Ebooks (fiction/non-fiction) Emojis and Bitmojis Fonts Infographic design Logo designs Lookup tables Music Plugins Research reports Resume making Stock photos/videos Tarpaulin design Tickets Translations T-shirt designs Voice over Applications Website design Website themes (custom and CMS) Worksheets Food Adobo Crispy wings Flavoured gelatin Flavoured pandesal Cake Ube halaya Leche flan Maja blanca Orange chicken Pancit Sashimi Sushi Vegan meat Pasta Furniture Computer table Ashtrays Laptop table Protective wears Gloves Face mask Face shield Sanitizers Alcohol/Alcogel Hydrogen peroxide Ornaments and arts Bonsai Diorama Potted plants Services Teaching Copywriting Content writing Technical writing Front-end/Back-end coding Social media marketing Web scraping Beauty consulting Home service haircut and rebond Home service manicure/pedicure Subtitler Subtitler refers to a work of hearing a voice from audio and video and transcribing them into text. A subtitle can help people (especially those with hearing disabilities) understand and enjoy the video more. Subtitles are also useful in understanding foreign languages. For this role, you’ll need the following skills: Attentive listening Knowledge of accents Typing skills English grammar Foreign language grammar

Some jobs are rare that they are hardly seen or noticed by the public. People who do these jobs are either specialists or living in their countries where industries support such work. Here are the weird jobs around the world. Professional Line Sitter Have you remembered waiting in line to buy something or withdraw from a bank only to find out there’s a long box office line? How about not having time to queue before the movie theatre? Here comes the professional line sitter that waits in line in place of the customer. People may leave their lines for temporary reasons such as forgetting something, going for a pee, and the lists go on. Not having someone to temporarily stand for you in line could risk others taking your place and thus having you to fall in line again at the tail of the queue. In fact, this job has already profited one guy from New York, USA. Here is a video and article. Professional Mourners Professional mourners are like actors who are paid to cry during the wake or interment. They cry loudly to show attendees and the family that the deceased is missed or revered during his/her days on earth. An example of this job is from Kenya; here is the video. Train Pusher Japan is known for its efficient transport system that includes trains, taxis and subways. Train operators also follow strict schedules to ensure that trains arrive on time. Unfortunately, during rush hours, train stations are packed with commuters. Here train pushers come to the rescue by pushing people inside the coach before it departs the station. Snake Milker Well, snakes don’t produce milk like cows as they aren’t mammals. The term “milk” here refers to the venom collected. The snake milker collects the venom for scientific and vaccine research. Snake milkers prepare and hold the head of the venomous snake until it can’t move. The brave professional pushes the snake’s fangs against the glass top covered with transparent plastic wrapper held by a rubber band. A video from Brave wilderness shows the milking process.  Snake milking is a dangerous job and must be done by a highly trained person. One mistake can lead to an instant death caused by the venom. Venoms are proteins, enzymes and toxins that can either shut down the nervous system or damage tissues. Here is the video of the effects of a one drop of venom in the blood - a venom clots the blood. Unless you’re the venom man, it’s too risky to do this job. Rental Handsome Man Handsome man for rent. One company in Japan rents their handsome men to women who are looking for some shoulders to cry on. These women are either stressed or coping with the recent heartbreak. The solution, hire a handsome man who is there to listen to their problems and emotions. The man wipes the tears from the woman’s eyes and consoles her with comforting words. Here’s a video from the National Geographic.  Pet Food Taster Pet foods are specialised and compact food for cats and dogs. Such food exists in pellet, jerky or meatloaf form. Human tasters make sure that pet foods are palatable for humans by recording their taste experiences. The only thing that you can make you wonder about this job - do human taste buds are the same with dogs and cats? Ostrich Babysitter Ostrich is the largest bird in the world and stands taller than humans. The bird’s egg is the largest. This job involves watching a baby or young ostrich keep them from running off and prevent pecking at one another. One ostrich farm from South Africa has this video. Friends to pose for selfies Family romance is a Japanese company that offers friends for rent. As you can know from the gist, friends for rent pose for photos inside the client’s house. A video from Vice Asia documents how a group of friends brought party foods and decors. They also posed for photos to make the client appear having a lot of friends attending his birthday and social media followers on Instagram and Facebook. Professional Armpit Sniffer Sounds gross, maybe for some, but professional armpit sniffers might be earning big bucks by smelling armpits of test models. They work for deodorant maker companies and record the smell. Their observations are vital for manufacturers who want to know the efficacy of their products. Ciudacarros Cuidacarros are people who earn their living by watching over your car to prevent someone from vandalizing or robbing inside your car. This job is found in Brazil and Costa Rica. If you happen to park your car in depressed or crime-ridden areas, then you may need Ciudacarros. Underwater Delivery Pizza Man An underwater delivery pizza man’s task is basically to deliver pizza underwater whether it’s 10 or 20 feet below water. At Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida, pizza delivery service is offered. The diver carries an oxygen tank, goggles and a waterproof suitcase holding the pizza. It could be a real pain if the customer orders the wrong pizza or demands an extra napkin. Visit this video for how this adventure is being done. Cuddling Girl Japan is known for innovations and also new things and services that can be rented. A cuddling girl refers to a service that includes sleeping and cuddling with a girl (no sexual services involved). Most clients are salarymen or young men dedicated to working for their earnings. The pay depends on the type of service such as sleeping beside the girl or cuddling the girl. Here’s a video.

Some jobs are already extinct due to advances in technology. One of the examples of jobs axed were in the telecommunications industry. Such jobs gradually disappeared as new smartphones entered the market. Here are the extinct jobs from the medieval period to recent history. Telephone Booth Clerk The 1980s and 1990s decade was the era of a golden age for telecommunications companies that employ telephone booth clerks. The job of clerks was to guide and connect customers to their friends or loved ones. They may also process the payments of customers using the telephone booth. When the smartphones came into the market and became more affordable for the public, telephone booths slowly faded as well as the telecom companies that were too slow or unable to innovate or upgrade their products and services.    Gong/ Night Farmer Don’t be misled by the term “farmer” in this occupation, gong farmers didn't harvest crops but instead …. A crap - fecal matter. So there goes, during the medieval period in the European countries, relieving oneself involves a privy consisting of a raised board and a collector underneath. The feces were collected into the cesspits. Over time, these cesspits overflowed with feces and needed to be empty. This is where gong farmers do their job - empty and collect their stinking harvest.               Gong farmers carried carts or wheelbarrows to collect heaps or piles of poop and dump them into the community pit. Because of the unholy smell emanating from the human excrement, gong farmers only worked at night to avoid disturbing people from being horrified by the obnoxious gases. That’s when the term “Night farmer” came into being. The word “Gong” came from the word “going” from the phrase going to the bathroom. The invention of latrines, septic tanks and sewage collection services had made this job extinct. Bowling Pinsetter Photo by Library of Congress and licensed under Creative Commons If you have been to bowling alleys during the 1990s and early 2000s, most bowling centres employ bowling pinsetters. These workers’ job was to collect pins and lay them upright for players to hit. The downside of this job is that you have to avoid being hit by the plastic or fibreglass ball and end up with the injured foot. Pinsetter machines replaced this job in most or all bowling alleys. Telegram Messenger Back to the 1980s and 1990s, when people sent letters to telecom companies. A telegram is a short-medium message with a corresponding price for the number of words. A messenger task was to carry a bunch of envelopes containing messages delivered by a cargo. The invention of smartphones and SMS have made this job obsolete.  Human Alarm Clock During the industrial revolution in Ireland and Britain, a paid human alarm clock or knocker-up woke up their clients using sticks to knock onto the doors and windows. This job went extinct with the invention of mechanical and digital alarm clocks. Old Gaming Console Attendant Back to the 1990s, when gaming consoles such as the family computer and sega were common, jobs sprouted at that time. A gaming console attendant’s job was to record the time in and time out of players. They also ensured that the rules’ were followed such as throwing litters in the trash can and processing payments.  Today, there are still gaming console attendants but they are mostly limited to virtual reality consoles and high-end gaming PCs. Morse Code Operator Morse code constitutes dots, dashes, and spaces that correspond to letters, punctuation and numbers. Such dots and dashes are represented by long and short sounds. Back to the 19th century and early 20th century, most telecom companies used Morse code for communication. The invention of smartphones, cell sites and other radio communication devices made the commercial use of morse code obsolete. Now, this job is confined to some of the aviation and naval industries. Pager Operator Way back to the 1990s when pagers were regarded as a mobile form of texting just like today’s mobile phones, pager operators stand between the sender who calls via phone and the receiver who owns a pager. The job involved transcribing the verbal message of the messenger and sending that message into the pager of the receiving person. A pager is a small and pocket-size device with LCD backlit display that shows monochrome characters of numbers and letters.  When mobile phones arrived at the telecommunication scene, the use of pagers plummeted. Slowly, mobile phones replaced pagers although pagers are still used by some doctors, rescue teams, lifeboat crews, mountain rescue teams and emergency workers. Pagers hold one big advantage - they use very high frequency which needs few transmitters and less interfering obstacles compared to smartphones. Video Store Attendant If you’re the 1980s or 1990s kid, you may remember those shops housing shelves or libraries of VHS and Betamax tapes. Betamax was developed by Sony to record sounds and videos. VHS or video home system is another recording medium released by Japan Vector Company. The video store attendant’s job was to process requests of customers, help them find the best movies, inform them about the latest release and process payments. Soon after early 2000s CDs and blu-ray disks came and replaced VHS and Betamax tapes which became museum pieces.  The obsolescence of Betamax and VHS tape ended the careers of video store attendants.  Lamplighter In the early 19th century and 20th century, gas streetlights illuminated cities, homes and streets. Someone had to light these lampposts and extinguish them by the next morning. Thousands of these lampposts were installed in major cities and thus required numerous lamppost lighters. Lamppost lighters used to carry ladders and matches to remove the lamp cover and light a candle or some sort of gas soaked wick. Soon after, the introduction of incandescent light bulbs and fluorescent lamps made this job extinct. Reel Film Projectionist Reel film projectionists carry film reels measured 2,000 foot or 610 meters and it can be longer than that depending on the movie’s duration. He or she may replace the reel with another one after the movie finishes, maintain film projectors and repair the devices. The invention of digital format mediums such as hard disks, solid-state drives and USB drives made this job from near to complete obsolescence.  Today, film projectionists became digital projectionists who are masters of digital film projectors equipped with hard drives or USB ports. Some reel film projections do exist but they are limited to some speciality and old cinemas.