If you’re a top performer you bail as soon as there are layoffs anyways. I certainly do. It’s rarely a sign that anything good is in your future, they’re often performed poorly, and the work environment post-layoffs is incredibly bleak and disheartening.
If you have options there’s no good reason to stay.
Where would you go in this environment? Most of the top-name companies have had layoffs themselves, or at the very least are at the hiring freeze stage of the layoff routine.
The "we're in a hiring freeze" press releases all have fairly broad asterisks. New people are being onboarded daily in all of the companies that announced layoffs.
Meta recruiter just reached out to me this week, so even parts of Facebook are hiring, and my relevant skill set. Of course I don’t care about VR goggles, but you just had large layoffs, why would I work for you? (Plus ok Zuck is ruining your core business, but that aside)
There’s tons of very profitable companies hiring right now - the “top-name” companies doing layoffs were all “growth-first, profit-never” types. We’re not in an industry-wide downturn and there’s a hell of a lot more out there than FAANG or MANGA or whatever we’re calling it now.
Reading a bunch of responses, I feel like I should qualify my initial comment slightly - I really meant it as being specific to these circumstances, in which the largest/most successful companies are doing layoffs.
I generally work at early-stage startups, and I 100% agree with you - at those, if layoffs start, barring some extraordinary circumstances, it's time to get the hell out because your options are about to be worth bupkis.
When it's FAANG, etc. I don't think that's true. Amazon and Microsoft can lay off swathes of people and still have plausible outcomes in which their stock prices are higher in a year or two (perhaps even more plausible than they were pre-layoff).
Not if you are at a top company. Also it’s not like any company gets to cut 10% from what it offers new hires… it’s hard enough recruiting at market rates, will be harder 10% below market rates.
bail off to... where? Every single big tech has done layoff except Apple. Which fair you could go to Apple but then you have to deal with Cupertino and inflated bay area housing.
in_cahoots|3 years ago
roncesvalles|3 years ago
as-j|3 years ago
Meta recruiter just reached out to me this week, so even parts of Facebook are hiring, and my relevant skill set. Of course I don’t care about VR goggles, but you just had large layoffs, why would I work for you? (Plus ok Zuck is ruining your core business, but that aside)
Layoffs hurt inside and outside too.
msbarnett|3 years ago
escapecharacter|3 years ago
idopmstuff|3 years ago
I generally work at early-stage startups, and I 100% agree with you - at those, if layoffs start, barring some extraordinary circumstances, it's time to get the hell out because your options are about to be worth bupkis.
When it's FAANG, etc. I don't think that's true. Amazon and Microsoft can lay off swathes of people and still have plausible outcomes in which their stock prices are higher in a year or two (perhaps even more plausible than they were pre-layoff).
naveen99|3 years ago
I_AM_A_SMURF|3 years ago