Instead of chasing after marquee-brand-named companies in sexy sectors, start looking into firms ... [+]
You need to rethink your job and career strategy. Instead of chasing after marquee-brand-named companies in sexy sectors, start looking into firms with a strong balance sheet that are profitable, have a top management team and offer products and services that make sense in this current turbulent environment.
Before you interview at a company, conduct due diligence on the organization. Read articles about your target company to ascertain if there are any red flags. Look to see if the organization has been laying off workers or plans to downsize. Is the company’s stock doing well, or is the share price plummeting? If you are not comfortable reading financial statements, find someone who is, as you don't want to jump aboard a sinking ship.
See if you know anyone who works or was previously employed at the organization. Ask for their honest opinion of what is happening and how safe it would be to work there. Check out the LinkedIn profiles of people affiliated with the company you are interested in. You want to see if there is a pattern of people steadily leaving without hiring new personnel.
When you interview, ask tough questions. In this current contracting economy, it’s reasonable to inquire about the company's financial health. If you are interviewing in person, try to get a vibe check of the people. You want to decipher if they look happy or pensive, worried and nervous. If an offer is extended, get everything in writing. Make sure that there is a fair severance package and extended health insurance, so you won’t be financially vulnerable when you’re in between jobs.
The Hot Tech Companies Have Cooled Off
Tech has been a hot and exciting area for jobs. Young people wanted to join Google, Amazon, Apple and other fast-growing, dynamic tech companies. There was also an allure to venture-backed startups, fintech and cryptocurrency platforms. Now, it looks like those days are over.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Wednesday that 11,000 employees would be downsized. The social media platform will also cut costs and enact a hiring freeze. Zuckerberg's hell-bent foray into building the metaverse, costing billions of dollars, has raised the question: does he still have the Midas touch? Meta’s stock has fallen more than 70% this year. Employees who thought they could get rich by owning Meta’s stock and RSUs are now left thunderstruck, seeing their dreams of wealth evaporate.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, had his reported net worth of $16.8 billion almost completely wiped out in one day after a massive outflow of tokens from FTX.
A Twitter exchange with rival Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao ended with Zhao tweeting on Tuesday, “There is a significant liquidity crunch. To protect users, we signed a non-binding LOI, intending to fully acquire FTX.com to help cover the liquidity crunch. We will be conducting a full DD in the coming days.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Binance is walking away from the deal following a review of FTX’s structure and books.
“Our hope was to be able to support FTX’s customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help,” Binance said in a statement.
Digital assets plunged due to uncertainty.
Things Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better
The Federal Reserve Bank is following through with its plan to cool down the economy to whip record-high inflation rates. A crucial part of the Fed’s plan is to raise interest rates, which makes it more difficult for companies. They’ll be forced to lay off workers to cut costs and save money to get through a recessionary period.
It’s only the beginning of November, and there has already been a parade of layoffs and hiring freezes announced by a large number of startup and tech companies.
Salesforce confirmed its plans for job cuts on Tuesday. Up to 2,500 employees could eventually be impacted by the layoffs, specifically personnel with "performance issues." The company is seeking to slash costs amid a "new activist investor challenge and harsh economic conditions," Protocol reported. According to a recent filing, the software giant employs more than 73,000 people and has expanded its workforce by 36% over the past year.
Elon Musk, the newly self-appointed “chief twit” at Twitter, feels the pressure to turn the social media company around fast. He acquired the tech platform for $44 billion, although Twitter has failed to be profitable for the last eight years. To reduce costs, Musk has reportedly cut 50% of Twitter’s staff.
Lyft is cutting 13% of its workforce—approximately 500 people. This will be the second round of layoffs for the ridesharing company this year. Digital bank Chime is laying off about 160 people—12% of its staff.
Digital payments giant Stripe is cutting 14% of its workforce, CEO Patrick Collison wrote in a staff memo. The layoffs will impact more than 1,000 employees.
Real-estate platform Opendoor is cutting 550 jobs—18% of its workforce—CEO Eric Wu announced in a blog post.
Oracle, the world’s largest database management company, laid off as many as 200 employees in its cloud infrastructure unit on November 1. This comes a week after the company "quietly" laid off workers in another cloud division.
According to the Information, Gem, the San Francisco-based software management platform, let go of 100 employees—one-third of its workforce.
Amazon has placed a hiring freeze on corporate roles, Beth Galetti, the company’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, wrote in a blog post.
Apple has paused “almost all hiring,” and the freeze could last through September 2023, Business Insider reported.
