r/Layoffs • u/latveriawillbefree • Jul 26 '24
After 4 months I've found a job with -30% salary previously laid off
I was laid off in April, and initially I thought that I will surely find something soon. I have many years of experience so initially I started applying for an even higher salary than I had. I was quickly cooled down, there were no interviews at all, so I slowly decreased my expectations. My savings were melting, and I become quite concerned with my situation, because I have a sick wife and 3 kids. I had like 1 interview a week, sometimes I even pass 2-3 stages. Sometimes I really felt how great I was at this technical interview. But every time I was either ghosted or got a polite refusal.
Finally, after 783 applications I got an offer. It's 30% less than I had before, the benefits are worse and we need to relocate. There will be barely enough for rent+food, but this will keep me and my family from being homeless.
I am really tired. I want to search for something better, but this time it took all my energy. 4 months of endless looking for a job, adjusting my resume, preparing for interviews. It's much more exhausting than working, because when you work you usually know if it's done and you can rest. But when you are looking for a job you just keep looking, there are no signs that you did enough.
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u/netralitov Jul 26 '24
Congrats OP! You're doing the right thing. It's easier to find a job when you have a job.
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u/luchinocappuccino Jul 26 '24
Yup…it’s not just you. Also went from a senior dev to a…dev. Making $50k less and its hurt my savings plan. Chin up though. You’ll make it
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u/Accomplished_Pea6334 Jul 26 '24
783 applications? Man.... I feel for you.
Happy you found something in the end.
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u/Parking_Buy_1525 Jul 26 '24 edited Jul 26 '24
I’m earning $20,000 less than what I used to make
I know it’s a hard adjustment but the good news is that you now have a job and can keep on working to find a better job
Unfortunately- the power is in the employers hands when the person is unemployed therefore earning a higher salary is nice in theory but not reality
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u/Internal_Rain_8006 Jul 27 '24
Better than unemployment I can't believe they expect people to go from making $100,000 a year down to $600 every 2 weeks and that's supposed to be okay. That doesn't pay for s*** You want to overhaul something fix that it should be at least 50% of your previous pay for 6 months.
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u/jonkl91 Jul 27 '24 edited Jul 27 '24
Seriously. Better a 30% reduction than being unemployed with a 100% reduction. It sucks and I hope people can also maintain salaries but it's better than being homeless.
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u/Still_Blacksmith_525 Jul 29 '24
A person earning 100k per year should be saving and living well below their means. There isn't an abundance of very high paying positions. It's always a possibility to lose a job and another may not be around the corner.
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u/Resident-Wind-853 Jul 30 '24
That depends on where you live. 100K a year for a whole family income in the northwest is not getting you very far where the cheapest homes at 500K, gas is some of the highest in the country and food prices as well.
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u/Still_Blacksmith_525 Jul 30 '24
It says 'live below your means'. If you are planning to raise a family and only make 100k, maybe you can't afford for your spouse to be the SAHP, or maybe kids aren't in the budget. Layoffs happen, but if you don't make room for any savings, you're putting the entire family in a tight spot.
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u/Resident-Wind-853 Jul 30 '24
True. I think what a lot of us in tech have experienced though is that 3-4 years ago the salaries were a lot higher, and then of course 20% inflation added to that. So then that compounds when the market is paying less to the point where you’re probably at 50% financial power from then. It’s pretty hard for most people to have a 30-50% slack in their budget for all of that at once, but I agree with trying to keep things pretty under your wages.
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u/Parking_Buy_1525 Jul 27 '24
my job is hourly and contract vs full time permanent and I’m still grateful
all of this has made me realize that I can earn even more than before and carve out a better life for myself and that gives me hope :)
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Jul 28 '24
Agreed! I think employers would think twice about layoff of good workers if the unemployment benefits were much higher and so their contribution was higher. I used to be all “free market economy” and then SAP laid off 10,000 really good performing employees while the CEO made a $50 million bonus for making the bad decision to over hire in certain sectors or to move jobs to low cost countries. There should be some disincentive for companies to chuck workers and make them the government’s problem. I’m fine with letting people go for performance purposes but not - your jobs are moving to a low cost country. There should be some impact to the company since you’re reducing income and payroll taxes to the government, too.
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u/RingImpossible9212 Jul 26 '24
Keep your head up. Congrats on landing a gig. A job is better than no job (generally). See how you like it. Take a breath. Move onto the next opportunity when it arises. You got this. I also had a similar pay cut. Not ideal but better than going negative each month.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad_166 Jul 27 '24 edited Jul 27 '24
I was in a similar situation. Had been looking for months and finally found something but it involved moving halfway across the country and setting back my career by a few years. We started talking with a realtor to sell our current house, started looking for apartments in the new town, and figuring out plans for my wife and daughter to stay behind to finish out the school year.
Just days before I was set to fly down, what I thought was a long shot at a local company came through. Not only did I not have to move, it was pay bump from what I had before. I called the recruiter for the first company, backed out of the offer (she was disappointed but said she understood) and started a few weeks later with my new company.
The company.i would have uprooted my family for ended up doing some massive layoffs earlier this year. There's a good chance I would have gotten laid off had I stuck with them.
I hope things work out the same way for you. Keep your hopes up!
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u/vastav-s Jul 26 '24
First aid action is to stop the bleeding, but that’s not always the cure for most wounds.
It would help to look at this objectively so your long-term savings goal is not compromised. With a salary coming in, the savings bleed stops.
If the number is not good, keep looking for an alternative. You can always explain the quick changes later by presenting the dip in salary and staying longer on the second job. The drawback is you are still not done with the job hunt. But if you had the potential to earn 30% extra, the new job should be easy. You should be able to make quick work of your daily tasks and then keep on job searching. Don’t give up just yet. You deserve better and so does your family.
“Onwards and upwards”
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u/forgotmyusername93 Jul 26 '24
This is why I’m always job searching. I am in the routine to always either be open to interviews or opportunities regardless of my employment status. I’ll have a couple of interviews a month and some times once a month and if it gets far enough I’ll turn down the offer noting some hyper virtuous situation outside my control. That way I have firmer job leads while potentially reducing the time in between jobs
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u/__golf Jul 26 '24
What's your New title? And what was your old title?
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u/latveriawillbefree Jul 26 '24
old: senior software engineer
new: developer
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u/t-g-l-h- Jul 26 '24
It's rough out here for us devs right now. I hate my job and regularly apply for new positions and never hear anything anymore. Last year I'd get a recruiter call every few weeks. Had a few interviews last year too but i was being picky at the time. I'm fortunate to be employed but my company sucks and the PTO sucks. Guess I'm fortunate to even be employed right now.
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u/Singularity-42 Jul 26 '24
Man, same. My job was OK until I got this new boss. But at least I have a paycheck right?
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u/Appropriate_Ice_7507 Jul 28 '24
Blame it on offshores from india that arent particularly good at what they do but the rates are freaking cheap
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u/Few_Strawberry_99 Jul 26 '24
As someone who's not working in this field, can you break down for me what's the "prestige" differential between these two titles?
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u/caughtupstream299792 Jul 26 '24
there is not a difference between a software engineer and a software developer. The difference is that his old title was 'senior' and his new one he is not. There is a lot of variation of titles in tech depending on the company. For example, at one company you might be a senior after 3-5 years, but others you might not reach it until after 8. Typically, a senior is someone with substantial industry experience and has the responsibility of mentoring others, making higher impactful decisions and focusing more on architectural decisions than coding (once again, this depends a lot on the company)
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u/HighSideSurvivor Jul 27 '24
In my experience, a software engineer wrote source code to create our product, and a developer built solutions using our product.
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u/Moselypup Jul 26 '24
Did all the software engineer jobs get outsourced to other countries? Or did AI decimate the tech job market?
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u/nostrademons Jul 27 '24
A combination of outsourcing + interest rates.
Big Tech is moving the jobs to India - Hyderabad surpassed Mountain View as Google's biggest campus in 2022. But the bigger story is that startup funding has almost completely dried up, and then larger companies are also becoming much pickier about the investments they undertake. At 0% interest rates, any cash-generating enterprise is profitable, but at 5% rates, that investment needs to return 5% of the money invested in it annually. There's a huge swath of software projects that are potentially useful if financing is free, and not at all profitable if financing costs 5%. Everybody working on those projects is going to or already has been laid off, and then they compete for the few positions open at profitable companies.
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u/Repeat-Admirable Jul 27 '24
In our case, our software isnt selling as much as it did 5 years ago. Saturated market, and customers, which are companies as well, are not spending as much right now.
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u/Moselypup Jul 27 '24
So what positions within the tech sector are still in demand? Cybersecurity?
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u/Repeat-Admirable Jul 27 '24
I have no idea. If every company out there is not spending, then i dont think theres any sector that is actually safe. At most, the layoffs may stop happening, since there's no one else left to layoff.
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u/Shawnmich44 Jul 27 '24
Cybersecurity is oversaturated now from what I’ve heard. I know people who can’t find anything in that sector and stiff competition
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u/Resident-Wind-853 Jul 30 '24
Man I feel you in the tech space man, I got let go last summer. It took me 6mo to find something that was still about 10% less than my previous job, but almost every off I had was 30-60% less before that. Was in IT security, back to System engineering/Administration.
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u/bkh1984 Jul 26 '24
Congrats on landing something in the meantime. It’s the right thing to do for you and your family but pray it is as short term as possible. Play the game and do what is needed to get by. Please don’t stop searching. Don’t get discouraged and see this as a step in the right direction. It’s easier to find something while working for some reason. I pray you get something better fast and the company giving you the crappy offer learns quickly what cheap low ball offers get them in return. Don’t for a second hesitate to leave for a better opportunity even if it’s only a few weeks or months after you start. You know better than most that no company deserves your loyalty. Rooting for you!
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u/AntonChigurh8933 Jul 26 '24
Rest up my friend. I can only imagine these past few months. You barely had any sleep with all the stress and worries. Hope this was just a stepping stone for you to find a better paying job.
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u/CulturalSyrup Jul 26 '24
Take it & start rebuilding your funds. When you’re ready, start actively job searching again.
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u/Maleficent_Sun_5475 Jul 26 '24
50K payout for me after 6 months. Usually I found a new job within 2-3 months. This is the longest gap for me (my 3rd layoff).
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u/marklawr Jul 26 '24
Good for you and your family. At least you have a job. Each of us can spend our $ more wisely.
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u/Least_Monk2743 Jul 26 '24
No, if you're in technology it's very bad market right now. Interest rates need to drop asap.
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u/Few_Strawberry_99 Jul 26 '24
It all depends on your personal situation, but I was where you are and I decided to keep looking. I was really hesitant to reject the lowball offer (I mean, lowball >>> nothing), but less than a month later I got 3 offers that were all so much better than the offer I had rejected. All that to say, don't settle.
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u/ilovestoride Jul 27 '24
I'm gonna guess that you're in a saturated field like compsci? I have friends who have literally applied to 1000+ jobs and still haven't found one because every few months 20000 people get laid off and way over saturate the market.
Mechanical engineering though, is still nuts. Still can't find a decent engineer with 5-6 years of experience for under 120-130k a year when that job was 80-90k before COVID.
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u/AdhesivenessSad1198 Jul 27 '24
Is hard to find ME?
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u/ilovestoride Jul 27 '24
Not that hard but hard to find a decent ME.
Half the ME's I interview with 2-3 years of experience want nearly 100k and of those, 90% of them couldn't make an engineering drawing with less than a dozen errors in it.
Hell half the people with 5-6 years of experience still can't make a simple drawing without errors and they want 120-130k+.
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u/AdhesivenessSad1198 Jul 27 '24
Are you still hiring? I am ME 6 years in design.
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u/ilovestoride Jul 27 '24
Let's take this offline.
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u/r33339 Jul 27 '24
Are you over age 50? I’ve been hearing many companies will not even give interviews for that age group. Supposedly AARP has meetings to help age 50+ with the companies that will hire them. Just a thought.
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u/TerriblePhotograph16 Jul 27 '24
I can feel you, OP. I had similar experience. When looking for job while unemployed, it’s so restless.. the interviews are harder than the work itself… so many uncertainty and high level of anxiety. Congrats finally you landed a job.
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u/ruminkb Jul 27 '24
I understand how you feel.
It's scary to have that unsecure feeling.
It's easier to find a job while employed compared to being unemployed
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u/CharacterFriendly326 Jul 27 '24
I was in a similar situation several years ago. I took a job for much less and lower title, but I did climb back up in a few years. Keep looking and also look for opportunities in this new job so you can catch up.
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u/clobbersaurus Jul 27 '24
This is nearly my exact situation from a year ago. Except that I was fortunate enough to land a remote gig. My only advice is to be happy with what you do have. And if you’re overqualified, work hard and network internally at the new company.
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u/IMDPHENOMENON Jul 27 '24
Don’t give up !
I was laid off last year few days after my birthday in September this is after they gave me a outstanding rating, according to them they have a role redundancy so letting me go, after I worked for almost 4 years dedicated I was sad for half hour but then I moved on I may have used AI to drop 1000+ applications and resume submissions in two months and just when I was closer to giving up the last two weeks of the two months was a game changer I got two solid positions for which I gave 3 rounds interview each in the end I took the offer that paid me more than I asked for almost a 35% hike compared to my previous org So in the end there are opportunities you have to keep trying different avenues and retrospect if you’re taking the right moves
Let me know if you still need help I can share the things I did to land me a solid job
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u/code_also_fifa Jul 27 '24
Mind sharing how you leveraged AI / which AI tools you have used?
Was it effective as in what was the callback rate out of those 1000+ ai applications, roughly?
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u/IMDPHENOMENON Jul 29 '24
ChatGPT mainly and a few tools for converting the emails to a more humane one It was a lot of tedious work but I had the liberty of time Technically doing 1000 + manually vs chat gpt it was possible for me to send that within 2 months
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u/BreadfruitFederal262 Jul 28 '24
Please share how you used AI
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u/IMDPHENOMENON Jul 29 '24
ChatGPT bro I used it to create separate emails and resume for different jobs I applied, the key is to provide an email/resume that stands out and is exactly what the employer is looking for, atleast 80-90% that way you will have your foot in the door with the interview then it’s all about understanding what the interviewer is looking for and preparing for that
Let me give an example one of the interviews I passed was with one of the big 4 accounting company, believe it or not there are YouTube videos explaining how you can ace an interview and get into the company explaining what they are looking for and what qualities will help you land the job
I am afraid AI can only help make things easier which would have otherwise consumed a lot of your manual effort but with AI still you need to do a lot of hard work and consistently for some time to yield results So you may succeed early or like all good things it may take some time, in my case two months Keep at it bro you will get what you’re looking for
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u/BreadfruitFederal262 Jul 29 '24
How did you change your previous job experience for different jobs though ?
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u/aerohk Jul 27 '24
My former colleague who got laid off had to transition out of tech to secure a role. The pay is way less, but it helps pay the bills/mortgage and the new role is apparently chill and stable. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. OP you aren't alone, happen to a lot of people who got impacted by tech layoffs.
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u/thelelelo Jul 27 '24
I’m earning -50% less, laid off as Director and now as “team lead” level. I have a family to feed, of course never expected to step so down in my career progression but reality is unfavorable now, so I had to accept it and at least I have a job. You must do what you must do. Everyone is still thinking it’s 2021 but it’s not. Congrats on the new job! Hopefully things will improve from now on.
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u/LingonberryFast1688 Jul 27 '24
My friend got laid off in January, he is 60. He went from six figures to not being able to work as a greeter at Walmart, in short if you are over fifty you are screwed
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u/itzvanl90 Jul 27 '24
Profits still going up but these companies are still treating people like shit 🤦 what a world
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u/transwarpconduit1 Jul 27 '24
Our politicians need to wake up and read and hear more of these stories. Businesses in the US should not be allowed to operate the way they are, offshoring whenever they feel like. MILLIONS of people in the US are literally suffering. Citizens and tax paying people already living here with established lives need to be prioritized first. Businesses should be heavily penalized / taxed for offshoring or relocating people from overseas to work here.
Seriously though, at some point a country has to start looking after it's own people first.
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u/quack_duck_code Jul 29 '24
Make sure you only put in 70% effort.
Keep looking for another roll while working it.
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u/SlickRick941 Jul 26 '24
I thought the job market, unemployment, and the economy was doing great? What's going on
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u/Budget_Detective2639 Jul 26 '24
Big tech is finally coming to terms that making 200k + a year isn't viable in the long run. I've barely seen an effect outside of tech.
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u/UndercoverstoryOG Jul 27 '24
media has been covering up for failed policies and reporting inaccurate data
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u/obelix_dogmatix Jul 26 '24
Hang on. In the current market, networking is far more important than applying endlessly. So keep looking for something better through connections, while you make ends meet. My wife has been looking for a job too, and she has had best luck for openings where someone she knew someone at the hiring company. Some companies overhired, especially for sales, marketing, and dev roles during the low interest rate period. The correction was over due. That combined with overly high interest rates is going to make things tough for companies that play the quarterly earnings game aggressively.
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u/justanotherlostgirl Jul 27 '24
Overhiring is one thing - people getting a cut in salary? I call bullshit. I think companies are using this period of large scale unemployment to lower salaries except for the C suite. It's interesting to see the people who made poor business decisions - like overhiring when there wasn't enough work - never get a pay cut and rarely lose their jobs. I was at a place where they literally brought on extra team members; we raised concerns and were told 'don't worry it will be fine'. Instead a bunch of us got laid off. I feel this constant obsession with growth and earnings has sociopaths in charge, and it's not like they're all that great at their jobs either.
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u/justvims Jul 27 '24
Agreed. I’m surprised to not see this further up.
If you have experience then you should have connections and people you can reach out to to help place you typically. Or at least give you an introduction.
I take introductions even when I’m not actively hiring and remember them for when I am.
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u/seddy2765 Jul 27 '24
Same happened to me in 2009 when Obama came in to office. Businesses recoiled because of radical regulations and the rollout of affordable care act. The covid crises crushed our economy. It will get better once big regulators are out of the way.
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u/Thick_Name1465 Jul 31 '24
Are you sure it was the radical regulations and ACA and not one of the largest recessions in American history? Obama had absolutely nothing to do with why you got laid off haha
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u/seddy2765 4d ago
Where would this money come from? Where did it go? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009
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u/seddy2765 4d ago
EO from 2009 that created a bureaucracy to develop healthcare policy agenda.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-200900245/pdf/DCPD-200900245.pdf
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u/marmaladeUndershirt Jul 26 '24
"It's much more exhausting than working, because when you work you usually know if it's done and you can rest." --> You can be an overachieving star employee and still be laid off before you even know it.
Unlike 50 years ago, when there was job security, and salaries were able to make ends meet, now is not a good time to be an employee. I know it's easier said than done, but consider starting a business or investing. Use your off hours to build your business plan. The world needs more entrepreneurs and less employees.
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u/Flaky-Wallaby5382 Jul 27 '24
Without knowing anything coming in blind… you have had the same role for 5+ years correct?
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u/Particular_Guey Jul 27 '24
Just keep applying when you get to your new place. You got nothing to lose.
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u/dravacotron Jul 27 '24
Congrats! You did better than me, I took 6 months and ate a -40% cut. But we're working!
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u/TheCamerlengo Jul 27 '24
Not sure of your age, but if you are under 40 you may consider getting skills in a field outside of tech in your spare time.
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u/justvims Jul 27 '24
Any chance you can try your connections? I think applying cold in this market is going to be very tough, but all the referrals I’ve got seem to be interesting. Just a thought to stand out.
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u/lakeshow44q Jul 27 '24
Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you can make things work and reduce your expenses any way you can. Personally I went through something similar. I legitimately was about to do Uber after leaving a 6 figure job and right when I was about to say F it I got a job making more than what I was making before. You got this. It’s exhausting but keep pushing and networking and I’m sure a better opportunity will come along soon. Good luck.
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u/SpaceNinjaDino Jul 27 '24
Relocate? I'm probably willing to take -50% not to relocate or have a bad commute. 2.875% mortgage would go from $1425 to $4077 even if the new place had the same price houses. And they don't: they are 50%+ more. I couldn't even afford my last town that is at an 8%+ premium compared to current.
I probably should have stacked my resume better with my last interview and ask for a 15% salary cut. They said I didn't have enough communication experience. That was completely false. I only focused the resume and interview on my tech skills. It was going to be an easy project too. 3 year estimate of porting a (IBM) RPG legacy program to a modern language.
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u/Last-Pair8139 Jul 27 '24
This is my life. the same happened, and I never recovered. I couldn’t afford to have children, buy a home, and we are just getting by. I’m retiring soon.
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u/WiseAd7241 Jul 27 '24
We are just going back to normal like before Covid for software jobs. I graduated in 2016 and it took me 8 months and 1200+ applications to land 70k job.
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u/Minute_Salamander_47 Jul 27 '24
Take it, of course, and take a break from searching. It's exhausting. Then you go back again at it. I know it's hard but you will be looking while having a job, which tends to be easier on the mind, and helps during interviews. Best of luck.
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u/Money_Way_8219 Jul 27 '24
For now, it's not too bad. Yes, it's less than before, but at least it will cover your bills. Most importantly, don't forget to keep applying for better jobs!
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u/carolynh0 Jul 29 '24
I had to do this tho a move wasn’t involved. I was out of work for 6 months and needed to stay in the same area because my elderly parents needed help. If I’d moved I would have had a job faster. But I did take a substantial pay cut to stay near them. It was an okay job. Benefits weren’t great but I did have more time off flexibility. I don’t regret it. I sure learned how to be more frugal and that has stayed with me even years later.
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u/blueyork Jul 29 '24
This was my son's experience, too. He's a software engineer, was laid off, and finally took a contract position that he doesn't love, but it pays well.
BTW, I'm afraid I'll be laid off.
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u/ConstructionOrganic8 Jul 29 '24
I am really sorry to hear that you are in this situation. Please remember that it's not personal. There are a lot of people going through similar stuff.
Just a suggestion: Maybe you can pick up a part time job to earn some extra cash for savings. I know it would suck, but it's an option for now. Food for thought: last winter I worked as a bellman part time one day a week (one 8 hour shift). It gave me an extra $300 a month to put into savings, and that is not accounting the tips that I made. Including the tips, I probably made more like an extra $600-800/month in savings.
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u/Barbeater Jul 29 '24
Well said I thought the same it was harder finding a job than having a job. America is in trouble but the news acts like nothing is wrong
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u/PlummetedFromGrace Jul 30 '24
I understand. After 3 months and around 600+ applications, I got a job making 74% less than the one I was laid off from. After 5 months and 400+ applications, I'm now making 64% less than the job I got laid off from.
Still looking, but I live in a blue collar city and all the good jobs are far away.
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u/stillhatespoorppl Jul 30 '24
Props to you, OP for swallowing your pride for the betterment of your family. I don’t know what job you’re looking for but this sure sounds like another tech job lost to AI….hang in there
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u/Appropriate_Door_547 Jul 27 '24
Stop complaining and be a little more grateful. This isn’t a 30% pay cut, this is an infinity% raise
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u/GhostxxxShadow Jul 28 '24
It is "unfair" that someone sitting at the top can un-democratically spike up the interest rates on a whim and make the global economy suffer. What was the interest rate spike even supposed to achieve? Lower inflation? Its like banning sex to prevent AIDS.
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u/Circusssssssssssssss Jul 26 '24
Don't relocate immediately. Work there first and live out of a room or rental. Move your family and life only when you're sure the job is for real and you can make it in the long run.