In times of disaster, it’s no longer the celebrities or sports stars that we look to and worship. Health and medical practitioners aside, it is those in the front line who make sure our essential services keep running. The cleaners, check-out operators, shelf stackers, and delivery drivers (just to name a few), have kept working throughout the COVID-19 crisis despite the associated health risks, and are the ones who make up part of a long list of front-line heroes during the COVID-19 crisis. If you’re out of work, some of these industries are still offering gainful employment opportunities.

Cleaners: the front-line heroes making hospitals safe for doctors and nurses

If you think doctors and nurses are the only ones being exposed to the Coronavirus on a regular basis, then think again. As a profession that often gets overlooked by the general public, cleaners are the front-line heroes playing an essential role amidst the COVID-19 crisis and are the ones who are making it safe for doctors and nurses to return to work each day. There has been a video circulating the internet taken in a Barcelona hospital where a team of cleaners was applauded by the medical staff for their tireless work cleaning the hospital, a nice reminder of the important role cleaners are playing during the Coronavirus crisis.

If you’ve noticed your own domestic workload increasing with all the corona-related cleaning, spare a thought for the cleaners; working double-time everywhere from mine sites, aged care facilities, and medical centers to pharmacies, supermarkets, food, and retail outlets, offices, schools, and government departments. Keeping their sites disinfected and the virus germs at bay. As with retail, food, and other face-to-face essential services, cleaners also face potentially getting up close and personal with the microscopic virus germs. With an increase in demand for cleaning, you can find plenty

Supermarket and essential retail service employees work so we can have food in our fridges.

From shelf stackers and check-out operators to management and logistics workers in head offices, anyone working in a supermarket right now is worthy of your awe and respect.

Not only are they responsible for ensuring the continuous supply of food and goods into supermarkets so we have food on the table, products to clean our homes and hands (and the occasional treat to keep our spirits up) – supermarket staff are working under stressful conditions with a risk of contracting and taking home the Coronavirus due to their direct contact with the general public.

Meanwhile, working tirelessly behind the scenes, are the producers, packers, and distribution center workers – including delivery drivers, that are ensuring our food keeps on coming. If you’re looking for work, this is one industry that still has jobs on offer. You can find distribution center jobs online, or search and sign up for job alerts in supermarkets here.

The IT industry never switches off, not even in a crisis

Simple internet access and troubleshooting aside, the IT industry is another one of the unsung heroes of the COVID-19 lockdown. If you’ve sat at home while your IT guru remotely logs in to your machine and gets you set up on your workplace’s servers so you can retain your job working from home, then you have the IT industry to thank. If you have kids that are participating in schooling from home, you have reason to praise the internet Gods.

Even if you don’t use the internet to work from home, you’ve no doubt benefited from the work of IT gurus – they are busily supporting telehealth system, internet-based health care, and a host of other apps and websites that are supporting our healthcare industry and efforts, while software developers are hard at work creating new and better versions and products to help our healthcare system function remotely.

There’s no WFH option for teachers during COVID-19

Already tasked with educating the next generation, teachers have really stepped up to the call created by the Coronavirus. Another profession who deserves the title of a front-line hero during the COVID-19 crisis are teachers, who continue to teach by day while working out how to teach online classes by night AND answering the many panicked parental emails filling up their inboxes. Teachers are also risking their own health on a daily basis to continue educating – if some adults are struggling to embrace the social distancing rules, kids are often unable to fully grasp the concepts or are prone to forgetting them.

We predict a lot of very extravagant end-of-year gifts this year – though perhaps the most thoughtful gift parents can give is patience and cooperation as they transition to online schooling moves forward.

Above are only a few of the industries and occupations that deserve recognition for their amazing work during the COVID-19 crisis.