My skills feel expired...

Hi everyone, I want to post this as a grievance of my experience after layoff.

It's been over 12 months and I can't find a job or make it past more than 2 rounds in an interview.

I gave usaa over 9 years of my life and thought that the usaa brand would have enough weight to keep me competitive in the market.

At USAA, I did everything from product to marketing to experience owner and even program management.

I felt like the skills i learned and even all the training like the safe agile training would help me in the job market.

After a whole year of searching, interviewing, getting my hopes up, and realizing in those interviews that my skills were dated, I cried.

I don't have anywhere or anyone to help teach me these new skills especially as ai has taken over. All of the stuff USAA did for adopting AI is so far behind. It's so overwhelming to see that the market has moved so far past what we were doing.

How am i supposed to learn how to use AI if I can't even afford a subscription at this point? I have a family to feed and if I spend money on a subscription, it takes away from that because I don't have a job anymore.

I have tried applying to USAA multiple times over the past year but have not gotten a call back.

And the saddest part is that my colleagues that I worked with for almost a decade have become too busy to help me get a foot back in the door. I've helped so many of these people get promotions and advocated for them. It really hurts to have such a big part of my professional identity tied to USAA and I can't even get anyone I thought was a friend on the phone.

I used to think I was good at every role I had at usaa, and that was more than likely true. I was promoted and had great reviews. But after months of rejection, I find myself just questioning if I will ever make it out.

Its lonely out here.
I wish I was back in with the people I used to work with every day.
I wish nothing changed because it was good.

But most of all, I wish that if I got laid off, I would have gotten laid off sooner because then at least I would have an easier time adapting to the market. If you were laid off in the past 16 months, you would know what im talking about.

The job market is different. Companies only want the best now. I even had an interview with a former USAA exec and she told me that she doesn't really hire from usaa because the organization was too slow to market, so most of the skills were built only for usaa.

Ughh. Im just ranting now.

Im sorry guys.

#AI #CareerGrowth #Grievance #JobSearch #Layoff

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13 replies (most recent on top)

You wish nothing changed? Been here 9 years. Did some bs certs? Yup, you’re expired. Haven’t put in the real work to stay up to date.

You are doing better than me. I've sent out maybe 50 resumes in the past a few month and not even a single response let alone interviews.

lol a bunch of boomers in this thread talking about an “mba”

@fh this guy gets pressed on online diploma mill and justifies how irrelevant degrees from prestigious schools are by claiming how useless certificates are haha you’re right. Certificates are useless. An MBA from Sloan school of management is a ticket to abundance. Remember that.

@fh you can’t justify your way out of insecurity dude hahaha

@er man... you guys are absolutely dense... the entire industry has moved on from school.

A school B school D school, it doesn't matter unless you are training for a skilled or licensed career.

Most of you, especially people who stayed at USAA for 5+ years have no idea how unskilled you really are.

You think that a training course is enough when there are people out there who have upskilled exponentially past you with the case study to prove it.

The most leadership has at usaa now is a course on "ai" from baylor. Do you know how embarrassing that actually is on your resume? crazy times.

Let me guess… you went to a useless online school.

@ar In case you've been out of market for ages, "education" and certifications are nonsense in the market.

Trust me, the "competitiveness" you think you have from the education you took mean nothing in terms of proving actual competence and application of skills.

The only way is to actually do the work or get out.

@aa couldn’t agree more

My recommendation is stop dwelling on what was USAA and what it could given you. It has lost its way and grinding to the ground.

The job market is officially dead for entry level and even mid level jobs. Thats the part no one is talking about. Check econometric reports out. Trying hard, trying harder or trying minimally will get you the same result. Gone are the days you give it your all and you get rewarded. Going forward you must come first, you don’t need to be ugly about it but that’s the reality. I come to work give just above the min and left over energy is focused on non job activities or re tooling.

You voice your concerns for costs but go online, check out all the free ai courses on YouTube / MIT and learn. Yeah it will take some time. Build a portfolio you can demo to employers. There are free llms and some you can even run locally at home if you have the right hardwares

The times of I can’t help myself are gone. You don’t need a company to fulfill you or over, now is the time to empower yourself while using available resources. Think outside the box.

Food for thought.

This sounds familiar from folks that have been here for awhile and expected to stay employed here forever. I think the common misunderstanding by most folks I’ve crossed paths with here as a leader is forgetting to keep a pulse on what’s going on outside of USAA and assessing yourself against it and closing gaps so you can remain competitive and relevant. People here are super complacent and put too much weight on just doing a good job and learning the USAA way of doing things and forgetting to see outside of these walls. I’ve used the education program to get additional skills developed and professional designations to make me competitive against anyone inside and outside of here.

Don’t sleep on your professional growth and development and remember that’s YOUR responsibility not USAA’s or your leader’s job to do for you.

Leverage the benefits to make them work for you.

I’m sorry you’re in this situation.

It’s exactly what I warn my directs about. And remind them of it when they make excuses for why they don’t have the time and or are unable to put the effort in to doing it.

“You gave USAA 9 years of your life”?

That’s quite a statement. You just worked there. It’s just a job. You will have many jobs in your life.

As it turns out, USAA is not special. Few jobs are. Stop wasting time trying to get back in.

Get out there and get a different job wherever you can and make money for your family. And realize that a job is just a job.

Have you thought of a serious career change? Your skills should translate into another type of career. You don't need a subscription for Gemini or even chatGPT (openAI), it just limits what you can do. But it can help with your skillset.

I'm 3 years from retirement. I do feel bad for the younger generation, the ability to find meaningful work is getting harder. My particular skill set can easily get me a new job if I need or wanted, but I know thats not the case with everyone.

Find your passion. Was it really what you were doing at USAA? Maybe its something else. Follow it. Then work becomes more enjoyable. I hope the best for you and allow you to pivot.

Thread regarding USAA layoffs

My skills feel expired...

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