@4are+16zEvLP3 - you’re 100% correct and I found that out for myself too late (not that I am much good at networking or kissing butt). It truly is all about “who you know” not “what you know” and about who you s— up to.
For years it bugged me that i had co-workers who relied on me for deep technical knowledge and problem solving, and they soared to CL 28 and CL 29 while I stayed at a lowly CL 26 (and even then, only somewhere in the lower middle third). I saw that these successful co-workers (male and female) spent nearly all of their time in meetings - and not even technical meetings - I’m talking mentoring, women’s interest network, United Way, all of the other Employee Resource Groups and even offsite “women in industry” conferences. Seriously - their calendars showed that they were in so many meetings, that they couldn’t possibly do any productive work. Yet they are still actively employed while I was NSI’d, because “nobody really knows what you do”.
I suspect that this lay-off has resulted in the loss of a lot of people who actually did the work and had the technical knowledge and skills that the company has always relied upon. If that’s the case, they are going to be in for a heck of a shock in a couple of years’ time.