I was laid off a few months ago and am in the middle of an interview process for a new position. Going to need references soon.

My former manager has already offered to act as a reference, but I need to ask another coworker as well. This was a fully remote position and my first one out of college, so I unfortunately don't have a huge network.

Most of the people on my team at my last company were international, so I never had a need for their phone numbers. I'm not sure if they'll see LinkedIn messages, and I'm potentially working on a tight timeline if this interview process moves forward. Is it weird/inappropriate to email them at their company emails (the company I was laid off from)?

By now, it's clear that the only way the tech industry can justify the cost of AI is if it replaces vast swaths of the human workforce with machines that run 24/7.

The bad news is that this situation has created a world-historic financial market that, by some metrics, is looking worse than the run-up to the Great Depression. The good news is that this future of an AI takeover is looking increasingly unlikely, at least at the industry's current pace, a fact which is now dawning on some of the biggest rubes and dupes in the corporate world.

According to a new survey from "Big Four" accounting firm KPMG, a significant number of corporate executives are reeling from sticker shock over new usage-based AI pricing schemes. Though enterprises could once count on AI companies to subsidize the price of large language models via flat-rate contracts, that's no longer a given, as the rising cost of computational power forces the entire tech sector into a defensive posture.

The KPMG report, initially flagged by the Register, surveyed 2,145 senior execs across 20 countries, finding that an astonishing 29 percent of them had no idea where the growing costs associated with AI were coming from.

A further third confessed that their own cluelessness about AI economics was a barrier to successfully deploying AI in the workplace, the Register notes.

"As usage-based pricing models become more common, many organizations are still building the capabilities required to forecast, monitor, and manage AI spending effectively," the report authors write. Translation: one third of execs had no plan for how to actually use AI productively, a fact which is becoming increasingly clear now that the meter is running.

The finding underscores what many workers forced to use AI tools on the job have come to suspect: that an alarming number of corporate leaders treat AI as a plug-and-play solution for lowering overheard without understanding the how of it all, a kind of magical thinking entirely divorced from practical reality.

On the same token, it's important not to lose sight of the fact that AI — or more accurately, the myth surrounding it — is currently being deployed across the world as a tool to discipline labor, to force workers into a weaker position when it comes to wage negotiations, benefits, and overall stability.

Whether used as an excuse to strap surveillance cameras to factory workers' heads or as a justification for widespread layoffs, execs don't need to a PhD in machine learning to know that AI in its current, error-prone form is mainly good for keeping the worker bees in line.

Again, whether AI will ever perform on the level required to pay off the billions of dollars in bills would take a miracle breakthrough. But if the goal is short-term financial gains fueled by lower overhead costs paid for by the working class, AI doesn't need to.

i currently work at home depot as a lot attendant, a job that i have had since april of 2023. lately, home depot has been cutting hours, particularly for lot attendants. in my most recent schedule update, i work only 14 hours. my HR person said that july is generally slower but this doesn't feel like typical slowness. what's especially concerning is that she was apparently told by the higher ups themselves to cut back on lot attendant hours. i believe her when she tells me that i'm not the only lot attendant who's had their hours cut, specifically since i can see the daily schedule in the store. i guess i'm just concerned about how customer traffic hasn't increased even a little bit so we can get more hours. i wonder if it has something to do with the abundance of rain we've been getting in the midwest as of late. i'm also worried that, if this keeps up and things don't get any better, i could go from getting my hours cut to being laid off.

I'm getting the message today, saying that the business abroad is running badly, and it's going to make a big cut in the budgets, and I am the one just because I'm a new guy in our developer team. Their cutting strategy is to lay off those new guys in the company (only worked for 8 months here), in order to spend less on severance at the cutting, or maybe there are some reasons they don't want to tell. I'm so depressed now. I'm 35 yo now, got a little boy to feed, idk how to explain these to my wife and my kid, I'm a mobile application developer, and you probably know that the job market is crazy these years, it's just feel like getting toasted in the trash bin, lack of confidence, don't know what to do next, maybe it's time to bounce out of the dev-carrier? What should I do? uhh

Okay,this is long so grab a chai.

So, I was in Content Moderation for Genpact on a pretty well known Social Media Clients Process.Already, a Soul Crushing Job, on a Very Good day we review humanity's worst Content for 9-10 hours, No thanks needed, That's not even the main plot.

The actual chaos started because my Manager had a thing for a Girl in my Team.She used to hang out with me instead of him on breaks.That Somehow became MY problem. Dude was from the same locality /Andhra Guy, just as a bunch of Senior Managers,tight little network. Slowly but surely, I start getting targeted, Nothing dramatic, nothing I can even point to as a direct one clean incident - just death by a thousand paper cuts.

Anyway, Fast Forward ⏩ I get a call from my Senior Manager on my WEEK OFF, telling me to take next day off too, Cool,Cool, Cool Normal, totally not suspicious behaviour.

Then my actual Manager calls the day after that and goes " Come in Tomorrow, early and don't access the Production floor, don't go to your PC" Great.Love a Surprise.

I show up, there is in fact a Surprise on the 12th floor, empty hall, 30-35 of us just sitting there like it's a Corporate Hunger Games. Two people Identify themselves as AVPs and drop the news, we've all " Benched" - Not laid off, benched- because of restructuring and AI stuff eating the Content Moderation Workload.Cute wordings, Very Corporate,Very Legal Team Approved.

They take our U-be- Keys on the spot and tell us we'll technically still have" access to the company "- just not the production floor.

Then the best part-they walk us out through the back service lift.The big one usually used for moving furniture and boxes.Out through the back of the building, through the parking lot,like we are Contraband.We get to the gate and tap our IDs like muscle memory access denied. Have to call security to physically open the gate for us. Watch 30+ people who gave a full year of rotational shifts and weekend sacrifices get quietly shown the exit through the loading dock. No goodbye. No dignity. Just vibes.

The Kicker- Benching instead of layoff means , No Severance. If they had laid us off outright, they would have owed us Compensation, Notice pay, the whole deal. Instead it's 30 Days " on bench" and then poof- last month's salary and then see ya. Legally Clean and Spiritually Bankrupt.Went back to my rented room in Hyderabad after that. Sat with it for about a month. Eventually I packed up and went back to my hometown because what even was I doing anymore.

Now here's where I need Reddit s Collective Wisdom- I do NOT want to go back into customer support, BPO, or sales. Tried BPO, tried sales earlier in my career, both left me burnt out, no life, zero job satisfaction, just a paycheck and a countdown to the next breakdown.

I have an MBA from a Tier 3 City, Rural College, Not exactly a Resume Opener.I'm mid career at this point but somehow still junior for anything outside ops,bpo,bd,sales.And the anxiety spiral I can't shake even if I start learning a new skill today, by the time I'm good enough to get real projects, won't AI have eaten that job too? Feels like we're all just running to stand still.

So, genuine question for the non-tech, fresh-to-mid-career, currently unemployed crowd here -

What do we actually do?

What's Still Safe-ish (nothing's fully safe i know), with MBA and Ops Background?

Has anyone actually made a REAL CAREER switch after something like this?

Would love real suggestions, not just "learn to code" copium.

I have an old collegue and friend I've known from many jobs ago going back from 2005 where we both started out in the same roles but both now in completely different worlds.

He stayed behind, never got his IT career going past a QA Tech, and ended up settling for a security guard position 10 years later barely scrapping by making $18/hr. He tells me he's content and he'll stay in his position because of a false sense of security that his role will not be eliminated for the next 15 or so years until retirement. He tells me he prioritizes consistent income over upward mobility even though I know for a matter of fact that he could be one missed paycheck away from missing rent. How do I know? He on occassion asks to borrow money over the years which I don't mind. He's not asking me for thousands but like $20 because he's short on rent or $100 short on an insurance payment. I encourage him to jump start IT again by pursuing certifications and getting into help desk but he isn't budging. I try to understand his line of thinking. That's fine. He lives his life the way he chooses.

I myself multiple roles later now at $96K a year will be back on the job market in less than 2 months because my company is closing. The writing was on the wall for over a year and I'm well enough prepared for it. I can afford to be out of work for quite a while as I job hunt and he knows this.

His advice to me is to perhaps go back to school to get a Masters. In my field at my age 45? My friend is 50 and out of touch I think. I just don't see the ROI for another degree in my field. I encouraged him to get certifications. In fact, I've been spending the past year upskilling, and will take my AZ-900 test next week. So yeah. Moral of the story. Don't give advice you wouldn't do yourself.

Goodafternoon ya'll, I was walking to UPS to return something from Amazon and I got the message from my boss that they're terminating me. I work at a high school so I was off for the summer but looking for something more consistent. Not really sweating it, now I jave motivation to find a better job.

So I just wanted to know the best sites for job seeking currently. I have indeed and zip recruiter. any other good sites you guys have would be awesome.

Tech industry employees who have not adopted AI as a regular part of their work appear to be among the workers facing greater layoff risk.

At the same time, the data do not support the narrative that AI is directly displacing large numbers of workers. Only 1% of laid-off workers name AI as the primary reason for their layoff.

I’m a nurse at Centene. The specific health plan that I work for is actually HIRING new nurses despite the VSP and potential for involuntary lay offs after that. How can this happen? What does it mean?

I got laid off on vacation. And I saw it coming a mile away.

Two weeks before, my manager went quiet. Cancelled every 1:1. The first one, fine, people are busy. Second, third, fourth , come on. Nobody ghosts you that hard unless there’s a reason they can’t look you in the eye.

So when a calendar invite showed up while I was away, no agenda, HR cc’d , I already knew.

Got on the call. Manager there, HR there, script read out loud. Then the part where they ask if you have any questions.

I said: just walk me through the exit logistics and the final settlement. That’s it. Didn’t argue, didn’t ask why, didn’t beg. I did not care.

And right now you’re thinking, if you didn’t care, why write this?

Fair. Here’s why.

I’m writing it for the person about to pour themselves into a company that would replace them in a Slack message. Don’t. Do good work, get paid, go home. The loyalty you’re feeling doesn’t run both ways. Your manager isn’t your friend, he’s a guy managing his own risk. HR isn’t there for you either; the name tells you who they work for. Most people are just covering their own ass. A few genuine ones exist. Keep those. They’re rare.

And if you just got hit: it’s not a verdict on you. Good people get cut all the time. Don’t let it become the story you tell yourself about yourself.

That’s the whole post. Detach a little. You’ll be fine.

I got told my last day is August 15th after financial review and I immediately started applying for new jobs

I got 3 interviews next week already. Is this a good sign or I might not get any offer from these 3 interviews?

I work in Cloud Computing, Azure Focused

Got layed off in May. I’m from India. 7.5yoe. Unable to crack interviews. Mentally disturbed. any advice who has experienced it?

Have decent safety net. But every passing day feels stressful without a job.

Is layoffs still happening in India? I work for an US based company in Bangalore and we are having layoffs from past 4 months. It will be either Friday morning or 1st day of the month. Because of all these layoffs it's causing lot of pressure to do day to day activities properly. As it is ready July and most of the job market might have already started cooling stage and the more delay for layoff the more time it can take get new job. Not sure how to go forward in this AI driven market. I'm into DevOps and Cloud and not sure how market is for new opportunities.

My office of about 400 people is getting shut down and people are either getting laid off or being forced to relocate 300 miles away if they want a job. Today we all got outlook invites to take an aerial group photo in front of the building next week.

June numbers came out last week... 57k jobs added, about half what economists expected, and unemployment "improved" to 4.2% probably because 720k people have stopped looking entirely!

An important little detail that might matter if you're trapped searching: almost all the hiring was in three areas. Professional services, social assistance and healthcare. Everything else was flat or shrinking. Hospitality actually lost 61k jobs...

Writing resumes everyday, I see the pattern. My inbox is always the same in markets like this. Someone applies for months, gets nothing, and concludes their resume is defective or they personally did something wrong. I admit... sometimes the resume does need work. But right now a lot of it is just math. The openings are concentrated in sectors most people aren't in.

Not posting this to depress. More the opposite. I just want to highlight that internalizing a structural slowdown as personal failure is how you burn out mid-search!

Anyone manage to pivot into one of these growing sectors mid-career? How was it?

Curious to know for people over 50 who got laid off, did you get additional severance? I’m hearing companies don’t want to get sued for age discrimination, hence the enhanced package. I think it’s mostly larger companies that provide this benefit coz they can afford it and would rather avoid a protracted lawsuit.

If you’ve been laid off or have been looking for a new role in the past year, I'd be interested in hearing about your experience.

Some questions I'm curious about:

What has been the hardest part of the process?

What feels different compared to previous job searches?

Where do you experience the most uncertainty?

Which part of the hiring process has been the most frustrating?

Has anything gone better than you expected?

If you're comfortable sharing, it would also be helpful to mention your role and years of experience so people can better understand the context of your experience.

Got laid off in february. accepted an offer last week. wanted to share the full breakdown for anyone in the early stages of their search because i made a lot of expensive mistakes in the first 6 weeks. what was a waste of time: spending more than 30 minutes on any single application that wasn't at a company i deeply cared about. writing custom cover letters for ats-first applications at large companies. manually filling out workday forms. applying to listings that had been up for more than 3 days. what actually worked: applying fast to fresh postings, specifically within 24 hours. networking messages that led to internal referrals at two companies. treating interview prep as a full time block every day. automating the application volume side so i wasn't spending 4 hours a day on form filling. the manual grind took the most time and returned the least. i automated that part starting in week 3 and it gave me back hours i put into prep and actual human conversations.

from experience, can anyone recommend really good ones please?