When Rob Fishman, a former account government at a tech startup, was laid off in January, he wasn’t certain find out how to discuss it.
Despite the fact that tens of hundreds of tech workers at startups like his — and at main tech corporations like Google, Meta, and Microsoft (which owns LinkedIn) — have been being laid off, there was nonetheless, he stated, a stigma hooked up to speaking about it.
However he needed individuals to know he was out there for a brand new job, so he determined to publish on LinkedIn.
Fishman wrote a lighthearted, self-deprecating publish itemizing out the whole lot he did on the day he was let go (As an illustration, learn the e-mail that he was laid off, name his fiancé, wallow in self-pity for some time, drink a big margarita, drink one other giant margarita, edit his résumé).
The publish ended up getting greater than 40,000 views, almost 500 likes, and, most surprisingly, a bunch of presents of help from individuals he’d by no means met.
“It was full and whole LinkedIn strangers. Simply fully altruistic individuals. Not hiring managers,” stated Fishman, who stated he had six job interviews within the two weeks after being laid off — and all of these alternatives got here from LinkedIn.
Previously a number of months, as altering financial situations, overhiring, and inventory market drops have led to mass layoffs in tech, media, and different industries, vulnerability is having a second on LinkedIn. It’s true that, early within the pandemic, many individuals turned to LinkedIn to share tales about how lockdown was negatively impacting their jobs. For probably the most half, although, the skilled social networking web site has lengthy had a status for being a spot the place individuals go to boast about their profession accomplishments, posting “hustle porn” and inspirational platitudes. Now, the tone has shifted. Individuals are sharing their private layoff tales extra prominently on LinkedIn, particularly in the event that they’re tech staff.
Recode spoke with over half a dozen tech professionals who by no means frequently used the platform however are instantly discovering it extra related for his or her skilled and even private lives. They’re utilizing LinkedIn to announce they’ve been laid off, discover out who amongst their former colleagues was additionally let go, and join with trade friends who’re sharing job leads. Importantly, they’re making use of to jobs straight on the positioning.
All of the sudden, LinkedIn has change into a very fashionable social media platform for tech staff throughout this financial hunch, and that’s mirrored within the numbers. Net analytics agency SimilarWeb discovered that month-to-month site visitors to LinkedIn grew greater than 60 p.c from January 2020 to January 2023, and from December 2022 to January it went up 17 p.c. LinkedIn noticed report person engagement final quarter, and a 10 p.c enhance in income yr over yr. As of early February, 18.6 million individuals have added an “open to work” inexperienced picture body to their LinkedIn profile photographs, up from 6 million in February final yr (customers first obtained the choice in 2020), based on LinkedIn.
“It was an unwritten assumption earlier than that job-seeking must be as non-public as potential,” stated Rohan Rajiv, director of product administration for careers at LinkedIn, reflecting on the temper at first of the pandemic in 2020 when a wave of Covid-related layoffs hit quite a lot of industries. “I believe what has modified is that this has change into extra the norm now. There’s a full destigmatization.”
The latest progress in layoff speak can also be a part of a seismic shift for an entire technology of tech workers who’ve solely identified abundance, perks, and seemingly limitless progress of their sector. All of the sudden, lots of them are out of a job and realizing they should pivot — perhaps even away from tech. And for a lot of, LinkedIn is a place to begin to make that change.
Why individuals need to discuss being laid off on LinkedIn
For a lot of tech professionals who as soon as hardly ever used LinkedIn, the platform has change into a useful place to share about their state of affairs, particularly after they’ve been reduce off from inside work communication channels like Slack or office listservs. They’re additionally turning to the platform at a time when some trade individuals who used to construct an expert presence on Twitter appear to be utilizing that community much less.
Earlier than the present tech hunch, should you labored at a Large Tech firm or scorching startup the place job safety was excessive and money was free-flowing, you most likely didn’t really feel the necessity to publish frequently on LinkedIn to spice up your profession. Every thing modified after this latest wave of layoffs.
Neha Krishna labored for eight years at Google, hiring graduating PhD college students for the corporate. She stated she was all the time a prime performer on her staff who felt well-rewarded for her work. She cherished working at Google.
“I used to be completely residing a dream,” Krishna informed Recode.
Then, in late January, she was laid off together with 12,000 of her colleagues — through e-mail. She was rapidly reduce off from Google’s many inside communication instruments, like e-mail teams and meme-sharing websites the place she might speak to her coworkers.
With out entry to these channels, Krishna didn’t have a great sense of who was let go and which groups have been most affected. So she went on LinkedIn, the place she noticed publish after publish of former colleagues sharing that they too had been laid off. She was stunned by the breadth of the cuts and the truth that even well-respected firm leaders had additionally misplaced their jobs.
“It’s comforting to know that you just’re not alone, and it has nothing to do with you. It’s extra the corporate,” stated Krishna. “Whenever you get into that mentality, I really feel prefer it’s simpler to go and publicly announce that, ‘hey, I used to be laid off too.’”
Whereas different social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok are additionally widespread with tech staff, Krishna and several other different trade professionals who just lately misplaced their jobs stated that LinkedIn appeared to be the place they may really community.
Many stated that Twitter — which famously leans snarky — didn’t really feel supportive or like a spot the place many individuals would earnestly assist one another discover jobs. On TikTok, some tech staff have been posting movies documenting their life earlier than versus after being laid off — however these movies aren’t resulting in conventional networking alternatives the best way LinkedIn posts typically do. Krishna stated she makes use of TikTok and Instagram lots however sees them extra as locations for socializing with mates and leisure slightly than searching for skilled help.
Now, Krishna frequently posts or feedback on different individuals’s updates on LinkedIn. She hasn’t discovered a brand new job but however, like many others, Krishna stated it’s comforting to be on LinkedIn so she will swap notes with friends, get job referrals, and even give recommendation to different tech staff who’ve additionally just lately been laid off. She stated she was pleasantly stunned that individuals nonetheless working at Google discovered her on LinkedIn and supplied to refer her to different positions.
“I really consider that human beings naturally need to assist others,” stated Krishna. “Individuals now not assume, like, ‘oh, you already know, I’ve my job and I ought to simply keep quiet or keep put.’” LinkedIn is an area the place individuals really feel it’s socially acceptable — and even inspired — to assist to former colleagues.
Not everybody desires to be professionally susceptible on LinkedIn
Despite the fact that LinkedIn has change into a spot the place individuals are extra snug sharing, there are limits to the vulnerability individuals present and what sorts of posts are profitable. Not each layoff publish will get consideration, and a few lead nowhere. And for some, the strain to publish on LinkedIn can itself change into a serious supply of stress.
After Rob Fishman posted his LinkedIn observe about consuming margaritas and wallowing in self-pity after shedding a job, he wrote a follow-up publish in regards to the upsides of sharing his layoff state of affairs on LinkedIn and inspired others to do the identical. That publish went viral, too.
A just lately laid-off tech trade peer, software program architect Robb Miller, wasn’t having the identical expertise.
Miller’s posts about being laid off — which have been additionally susceptible however extra easy and fewer humorous — didn’t entice a lot consideration. They hadn’t linked him to any job leads. So he determined to touch upon Fishman’s newest publish, saying as a lot.
“I used to be being a smartass. I used to be like, ‘Yeah, that’s candy that you just [Fishman] are yelling from an ivory tower, however the remainder of us weren’t getting this type of traction,’” he informed Recode.
Paradoxically, Miller’s touch upon Fishman’s viral publish ended up catching the eye of LinkedIn strangers who did join Miller with some job leads — so in a method, it become one other LinkedIn layoff success story (though Miller ended up accepting a job supply shortly after from a unique lead).
But it surely additionally reveals how profitable networking on Linkedin after a layoff isn’t a given. It will probably rely upon the whims of the algorithm and the way effectively your publish is primed for engagement, similar to many different social media platforms.
Kayla Lazenby began utilizing LinkedIn lots a number of years in the past when she needed to transition from being a instructor to working in training know-how. She efficiently used the platform to discover a job at a startup. When she was laid off from that job round Thanksgiving final yr, she stated her layoff publish landed on the LinkedIn feed of an government at one other tech firm. Despite the fact that she didn’t know that government, they have been impressed by her resumé and ended up hiring her.
Lazenby stated it helped that she already had a powerful presence on LinkedIn. She was greater than only a “informal shopper” however as an alternative an “lively person” who shared her story and persona on the positioning. Her expertise reveals how, for a lot of, sharing about being laid off on LinkedIn isn’t nearly being genuine: There’s a method to it.
“Not one of the people who find themselves doing this are silly about the truth that they’re doing this on a public discussion board that will likely be seen by future employers,” stated Emily Rose McRae, a director of analysis at Gartner who leads the agency’s future of labor analysis middle. McRae stated she observed that the majority laid-off tech workers are cautious to not publicly slam their former employer, regardless that tensions have been excessive across the mass layoffs. “It’s nonetheless LinkedIn; it’s nonetheless primarily an expert community.”
Gabi Weinberg, who works half time at tech enterprise agency Atento Capital, stated that regardless that there’s much less stigma hooked up to being open for work than earlier than, he prefers to make use of LinkedIn in a extra non-public capability by sending direct messages to corporations he’s excited about working with.
Weinberg stated that should you’re not working for a big-name firm like Google or Fb, your layoff could possibly be seen as much less publicly “marketable.” He additionally stated he personally didn’t really feel snug sharing as a lot publicly on the platform as some others.
“It appears extra culturally applicable to share should you have been laid off at a giant tech firm, whereas, should you’re at a mom-and-pop or smaller firm, it’s not the identical,” he stated.
Different individuals Recode spoke to acknowledged that the sensation of getting to publish on LinkedIn could be a burden throughout an already irritating time.
“I believe there’s a strain constructed round LinkedIn, that you just say you’re open to a job and should you’re not scrolling 24/7, you would possibly miss that one publish, and also you miss a possibility to use,” stated Lazenby, who stated she gave herself a day to be unhappy and ignore social media after being laid off earlier than she posted about it.
A giant query, although, is what occurs when individuals get bored with speaking about layoffs and cease providing assist — what Gartner’s McRae known as “compassion fatigue.” Already, some LinkedIn customers Recode talked to complained in regards to the fixed stream of unhappy information about layoffs showing on their feed on a regular basis. Or what occurs when there’s now not an financial downturn and other people discover new jobs and have much less of an incentive to make use of LinkedIn?
Whereas LinkedIn is discovering extra methods to maintain individuals on its web site — displaying them extra information and investing in profession influencers — it’s nonetheless a social community framed squarely round careers.
“Our imaginative and prescient has been for financial alternative. We’re not right here for the additional clicks,” stated LinkedIn’s Rajiv. “The best mode of growth can be cat movies, proper? That’s not the aim. The aim is to assist individuals develop, be taught, and discover their subsequent job.”
To this point, that aim appears to be understanding effectively for LinkedIn — a minimum of throughout this era of nice financial uncertainty in tech.
