What the job market is really costing people.
How long you’ve really been out of work, how many applications, and what it is quietly costing you. Answered anonymously, and counted. The questions you can’t answer honestly on LinkedIn.
“I was let go, but still part of the decision-making team to let others go on my team. Brutal.”
73 people have told us where they stand.
This is testimony, not a survey. Everyone here chose to speak. Read it as the shape of the people who did.
Which of these is you?
Find the people who do what you do, and where they stand.
Financial runway, months before the money runs out — 1 to 3: 26%; 3 to 6: 25%; 6 to 12: 18%; 12+: 31%.
- Staying in tech30%
- Considering leaving38%
- Retraining or applying outside17%
- Already left15%
“In the winter I had one of the best reviews of my career, I was one of the highest rated product leaders, higher than any of my peers. Despite this I was let go in the spring as part of a large RIF, the only one of my peers.”
Read this story →“It’s near impossible to disassociate self value with the value implied by a job. So when you become “re-orged”, your self-worth takes a big hit.”
Read this story →“No one responds to a networking email, not even to reject you. Former colleagues are removing themselves from your network.”
Read this story →“About a third of the company was laid off in the prior year due to “performance issues” despite being some of the smartest people I’ve worked with.”
Read this story →“You could do everything right and still come up short.”
Read this story →“I alternate between optimism that I will get something decent and just saying...well I guess I am just never working a “good” job ever again.”
Read this story →“I get it that it is just “business”. But continuing with multi-billion acquisitions while achieving record financials at the cost of nonstop layoffs, is not a good culture.”
Read this story →“When recruiters assumed I was still employed, I seemed to be a much more attractive candidate than when I explained that I had left.”
Read this story →All 41 voices →This is hard and humbling. And you are heard.