Friendly advice

There have been a number of posts here about layoff struggles and hundreds of applications.

As someone who has been through layoffs and on both sides, please step back.

Everyone laid off has had pay until this month. Every single one. Two months WARN, 60 days severance, Cobra and the bonus. Minimum.
If you’re out of savings now please use this as a wake-up to never let a company put you in this position again. Yes, you did it to yourself too, but you can only control you.
If you’ve sent out hundreds of applications in less than 120 days you’re doing it wrong. This isn’t 2AM in a dive bar. You will spend more time with coworkers than loved ones and the next job is the jump for the one after that. Focus.
Focusing means custom cover letters, adjusted resumes and only applying for roles that you want.
Listings are a joke. Will only consider applicants with 30 years of AI experience? Shut up.
Applicants are a joke. I’ve gotten resumes with 30 years of AI experience listed. The applicant graduated junior college last year. Shut up.
Consider flexibility. Rent out your house, relocate, take a job outside your field.
I guarantee your resume is wrong. Why? Because there is no perfect resume or formula. Change it up if it isn’t working. Make it easy to read. Zero errors. I spent about three seconds a resume and I’m pretty diligent. They’ve been keyword indexed to death by the time I see them. What do I see in three seconds? Focus. Clarity. Detail. Saying responsible for a weekly report? Shut up. Saying automated a weekly report for a 90 minute per month savings? I’m interested.
Networking and word-of-mouth are 10x more valuable than a cold web submitted resume. Use that.

It’s easy to be angry when let go. I’m angry that a company I invested in has performed so dreadfully. But I’ve never been angry at the opportunity in front of me.

Companies are like high school. You should be done in four years (role, not necessarily company), there are bullies everywhere and the administration doesn’t have a clue.

Focus the search. Make solid applications for roles you really want. And remember that they paid you to leave. Their poor staffing plan. Their flawed interest rate strategy. Their greed. Their RTO for no good reason except flaccidity.

If you read this far, thank you. If you weren’t let go and don’t have years of savings, fix it. And all should always be thinking about the next job and the ability to say pi-s off whenever they want.

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15 replies (most recent on top)

@eore+1rs6SZAt are you in technology technology m

I’ve submitted about 100 applications for jobs since November. Did company research, tailored resumes and cover letters. Got to the final interviews for 6 roles. Not hired. 3 of them decided not to even have the role I interviewed for. One brain scraped me for 6 interviews and then ghosted me. Another I was under qualified and the other over qualified. Some of the others I received rejection emails with no interview… most, I never heard anything. 2024 is different. Typically, I find a new job in 2-3 months.

My LHH career coach appointed by Schwab had 100 clients from Schwab and she said none of them landed a job in her 3 month time span with them. I became friends with her and she told me her next batch of 100 have not found jobs yet. It’s freaking rough out there. I have friends laid off from other companies last year and they are also having the same struggles. You are not alone.

I’ve started my own e-commerce business so hopefully it starts to profit by the end of the year. My plan is to start going downtown Austin to network next month. Seems like the only way these days. My bf landed a job by knowing someone in the company that hired him so I’m going to get out there and make some new friends!

Also, I’ve noticed that there are tons of “fake” job postings where the HR teams need to show “growth” by posting jobs and interviewing and then just cancelling out the role. Heard that from an HR person… and read on Medium the other day. This su-ks.

To the OP:
Companies are like high school. You should be done in four years (role, not necessarily company)

So, keep moving before someone knows you're full of sh*t? Shut up.

You are a douchebag and a di-k.....you know what? Let's make this a trifecta - you probably are from the generation of "Participation Trophies" so you shut up as----e

Where tf did op dhame them. People here were whining about having no money and having to sell their house in January. When they still had severance. The rest is how to improve their search and prepare for the next one. Like every f500 as you say.

Imagine shaming the people who got laid off as not doing enough while failing to see the fat cat execs laughing at us at the top who never had to do this. Why did every F500 have to lay off?? they created this situation because it benefitted bottom lines and budgets based on inflation/speculation, they could have also not taken raises for themselves. Your energy is misguided pointing it at those that were affected. So many sh--e managers still exist with a job that never contribute anything... Management is the problem

'I spend a minimum of 4-6 hours per job application — targeted resume, company research, and yes I do a cover letter if they either ask or allow for upload.'

If it takes you 6 hours to write a cover letter and revise your resume you must be a Schwabbie! xD

You might wish them well, but you clearly don’t know anything about hiring. The average time is 7.4 seconds in a lab environment according to studies. They’re being honest about 3 seconds.

Filtered there are hundreds of resumes. Three seconds is how long you have to make an impression. You may not like it but that’s what it is.

@OP, I am a grown-up who understands life is unfair but if it takes you 3 seconds to scan a resume and make a go/no-go decision based on that then I politely decline the opportunity to work for the lame-a$$ company that hired you. It cuts both ways. You clearly are not interested in hiring talent or building teams. You probably come from Visa or similar "cut-throat" sh_thole. I cannot even imagine how the performance reviews or KPIs would look like under your "leadership". Oh wait, I actually can imagine that. I am a knowledge worker, senior level SWE (20+ years) and a tech lead, not a burger-flipper or brick layer or ditch digger (respectfully) where you would easily evaluate my "performance". To do my job, I require the leadership to understand the nature of my work and demonstrate some good will. Again, it cuts both ways.

I wish you well

Oh brother…could you put this in a “deck”? I so miss the incessant deck creation

As a 25 year old with 30 years of AI experience, I hear what the OP is saying.

LMAO as if most of the laid off haven’t thought of all of this already. Gee thank you! You’re so smart! Let me guess you’re one of the people who laid people off with no soul.

IMO the advice is solid. I spend a minimum of 4-6 hours per job application — targeted resume, company research, and yes I do a cover letter if they either ask or allow for upload. These days you have to include quantifiable, results-oriented entries under roles, and contents need to be highly relevant, concise, and targeted. I'm not in tech and don't have a role easily described in metrics, but I do my best. I received zero interviews until I changed up my resume over the holidays.

The ability to accept feedback is a critical skill - not easy, but critical. I appreciate OPs perspective from the hiring side of the table. Gone are the days when companies used profit to invest in the company and its employees. We are in the age of short-term artificial stock price increases from buybacks and layoffs/expense reductions to appease the institutional shareholders and increase the upper management's company stock value. The client is the institutional shareholder and the customer is the product. And unfortunately, it's not just Schwab — they all own each other. And the start up tech companies will eventually either IPO and/or be acquired by the same institutions that own everything else. It's like a f'n national MLM. All just my opinion, but I am realistic about the next job not being much different if I stay in financial services.

@1avf+1rs6SZAt
Shining example of the Schwab attitude. You are unable to take feedback and get your feelings hurt. Some of OPs advice on applying to jobs isn't that good but still. At least take the advice to work on preventing a company from putting you in this situation.

It’s hard to believe you wasted an hour typing up this nonsense. Here’s some friendly advice….stop being a condescending pr--k.

Thread regarding Charles Schwab Corp. layoffs

Friendly advice

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