So I Got Laid Off A Few Months Ago And I Just Got A New Job, Here's What I Learned.

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

Got laid off as a part of a mass restructuring a few months ago.
Job market is fukkin brutal AF
It was months of reading people on LinkedIn talking about how sending hundreds of resumes out there and never an interview even.
I'm talking specifically about the IT Job Market here.
I had no interviews for the first month, then I got one and I didn't do too well on the interview, I was rusty.
Then more interviews and I was getting better at them every week, it takes practice because the job market has changed.

Right now there is so much talent out there that companies now look for candidates that fit the job profile perfectly. Which I think is a stupid idea, it won't allow for much creativity always recycling the same type of people.
But what it meant was that every interview took way more preparation.

The other thing I learned is when companies ask you if you use AI, I thought they were asking and everyone shows that they did great work but AI helped them, so I thought the ideal answer was no.
But I later realized that I was wrong, no they want you to know AI.
If you don't know AI, you will be replaced. Because we are in a transition phase right now, AI is not ready to fully automate everything, but it can downsize teams and the remaining people will have to know AI to help them speed up projects or tasks.

Resumes that I was sending out was catered to the position, this sounds ridiculous but if you not doing that then you need to realize that everyone else is!
So if you applying to 10 different positions this week you need to create 10 new resumes.
And keep you resume concise, they getting hundreds and hundreds of resumes, so they will skim over it.
Also you need to make your resume ATS friendly. This is a big one.
An ATS-friendly resume is designed to be easily read and processed by an AI App called 'Applicant Tracking Systems' (ATS), which most employers use now because of the sheer number of applicants to screen job applications. This type of resume typically features a simple layout, clear section headings, and includes relevant keywords from the job description to improve the chances of being noticed by recruiters. A few hundreds of resumes won't even be read by a human, it will be read by AI.

It is a fully remote position so i'm happy about that, but it was a brutal couple of months.
If you in that position hang in there, I wish I read what I just wrote when I got laid off, so I thought to create this thread.
Alot of my friends in tech are also in the same boat, a few of them it's been over a year and they haven't found anything yet and they are very good at what they do.

You there to train your replacements the AI that's why they don't care that you use them because they are banking on the long term benefit.

Humans are cooked

When automation creeps into the white collar field it will be a fatal blow to the entire middle class.

The days of cert gang making it easy are over.

 

[Primetime21]

Where are y'all going to make connections and what's the typical lingo when doing a job search? I only have my current coworkers.

I'm thinking I find a local convention of some sort and go about it that way.

Depending on your city and area of work there may be ongoing networking events and mixers for black professionals that you can look into

 

[Redwood]

Maybe
But it could also be the number of applicants is just too high, especially with downsized recruitment teams

You have a point, but I'd stick with the former, since it's still an employer's market, correct?

 

[aXiom]

Congrats.

Whats your IT background?

 

[AceDeuceTrey]

There’s a declining ROI on all conventional wisdom when it comes to the job market these days and IMO will only worsen when AI is fully unleashed.

Resumes (ATS optimized for each role)
Networking / Connections / Referrals
Interview Prep / Interview Performance

Doing or having all that shyt is not a guarantee you’ll land something in a timely fashion or something that is aligned with your actual experience and abilities.

Not saying don’t do these things but understand that the job market is not a meritocracy and many uncontrollable variables can and will go against you even if you make it through a full loop with stellar interviews, top notch experience and education, connections on the hiring team, etc.

There simply isn’t enough jobs to accommodate everyone and that supply will shrink even further. Add on top of that that the competition is doing the same things you are as the info is easily available to everyone.

Despite having a “great” job, very selective experience and high performance ratings, I’m looking for ways to detach myself from relying on a W2 for my livelihood because it can all change in an instant.

I don’t envy anyone who has to search these days because I’ve been in those trenches and I never want to have to go thru that shyt again

 

[Prince.Skeletor]

Congrats.

Whats your IT background?

Started as a Programmer/SQL Server DBA, then became a Channel SE, then a Product Manager, then Customer Success and now a Cybersecurity Product Specialist/Adoption Lead.
I love changing job roles, you learn so much and that knowledge is so transferable. i've held almost every angle of a job throughout product lifecycle you can have except for professional services, i've worked with them alot, but was never a field engineer doing implementation.
All that for someone without any degree of any sort or any certs. Just a high school LOL.
That's why I strongly believe in being self-taught, if you have that character.

 

[levitate]

Good info.

We’ve had some layoffs here.

Not naive enough to think that I can’t be next.

 

[levitate]

Despite having a “great” job, very selective experience and high performance ratings, I’m looking for ways to detach myself from relying on a W2 for my livelihood because it can all change in an instant.

Yep!

 

[Robert California]

Getting laid off at the end of the month, but had a good month and a half head start to find something.

Created a new resume for each position and finally landed on 2 different versions depending on which software optimization the companies were looking for.

Used wonsulting.ai to help build my resumes and cover letters. It's $20 a month.

Now for the real, I didn't get a single interview and only 1 callback and didn't make it past the HR screening

I ended up getting an offer from a start up in the exact same space as the company I'm getting laid off from, but I have 2 former co-workers that work there already

Still, had to go through 3 rounds of interviews after the initial HR screening, but they're giving me an offer.

It's brutal out there.

 

[yardman]

​

 

[SheWantTheD]

Same stuff from when I was applying in 2018-19.

Job hunting while unemployed has to be the WOAT

 

[Money Be Green]

Amazon hiring

 

[AceAge]

OP has horrible advice. Do not tailor your resume to each job, that is a tremendous waste of time.

Why did so many people dap the post?

iunno...they often dont seem to come through breh

Connections aren’t worth anything without qualifications. And truth be told people not sticking their necks out with a recommendation and potentially messing up their own position if the person that’s brought on, screws up.

 

[Pazzy]

fukk it. Im going to make my own job.

 

[Prince.Skeletor]

OP has horrible advice. Do not tailor your resume to each job, that is a tremendous waste of time.

Why did so many people dap the post?

Connections aren’t worth anything without qualifications. And truth be told people not sticking their necks out with a recommendation and potentially messing up their own position if the person that’s brought on, screws up.

Do not listen to this man