Thread regarding Optum layoffs

It is exceedingly hard to move around at this company, even laterally. Recruiters and hiring managers will just ignore you and ghost you. WTF is the point of an internal job board? It's a shame because I want nothing more than to ditch my current group.

I tracked an internal position once I was certain I'd get. I checked all the boxes: experience, education, certifications. I did get a first round interview, and I thought I nailed the interview. I wasn't selected though.

I later looked up the person who was hired to the team. (I took a screenshot of the managers team and then a month or two later saw the name of the new person on the team.) They ended up hiring an outside candidate who had a far worse resume than mine. I think most likely the person who was hired was planned from the beginning due to connections. The job posting and interviews were merely a formality.

@ch another post also said Talent Acquisition also got RIF today so that’s not promising as far as processing time nor the legitimacy of job postings.

@cp totally false.

I get over 100 people applying every time I post a position. That is not counting the ones that get denied before I see them.

@d4 I don’t doubt there are some that somehow managed to hang on this long but to interpret solid 3s as subpar shows you either haven’t been around long enough or not exposed to enough areas in the org.

In my group, all these were true:
1)we were Always told 3 is a good review, means you’re doing between good and great
2) we couldn’t give out 5s so I guess it’s just there as a FU
3) 4s were sometimes overridden bc of the bell distribution

I’ve been on the receiving and giving end of each of these.

There’s also NO standard across diff teams and departments. I’ve had 4s and 5s transferred into my team that were obviously rated less stringently than my 3s.
So those numbers are completely arbitrary and unreliable.

Having hired someone internally recently I can say that the quality of internal candidates was very poor. If I could have hired externally I would have.

So not to sound harsh but if you are a 3 most years and haven’t switched jobs in more than 5 years you are the people I am talking about. The ones like this that made it through the screening interviewed poorly.

You have to keep in mind the hiring manager already has someone in mind and the company is legally obliged to post the position even if it’s not truly available. When they did the same to me I thought I was blacklisted. Now I think it’s just HR bull postings and their sloppy MO!

If you apply more than 24 hours after posting you’re too late

@ch Thank you! I am going to try outside the company too. I’ll update everyone with any information I have.

@OP a few things to keep in mind.

1. It’s definitely not just you. In the career groups it’s one of the biggest complaints I see. The number of applications people fill out to get nowhere is astronomical.

2. Try to apply for positions in the first couple days they are posted. I’ve found this to be helpful. No guarantee just helpful in getting interviews (if the job is real).

3. Applications submitted are usually high due to the size of the company but it’s even more so now because many of us are fearful we are next to lose our jobs. Several internal recruiters have a message in Teams saying they are experiencing a high volume of applications and advising to check status in your dashboard instead of contacting them.

4. I think most of us (if not all) know this company does not value us as employees. No matter how much experience you have or what you bring to the table. If they think they can give your job to someone and pay them less than half of what you get paid you’re out. I have started networking more outside of the company and looking at what’s available elsewhere. The job market is crazy right now but it will all work out in the end. Wishing you all the best!

@OP Thank you everyone for all the support right now and making me realize I’m not alone.

Yup. First time I applied for an internal job with a role I had 20 years of experience with, I got a rejection from the recruiter that they found someone with more experience. Sure they did.

The second time was for a role with a team who I had worked closely with for a good year or two and made my desire known that I would love to join them. Finally a position opened up which I applied for. Even reached out to the recruiter letting them know how interested I was, but I never heard a word. No emails, no rejection. Just ghosted. Eventually the rec was closed.

So anyone looking for an upward movement and you live in the States? Good luck with that.

Hang in there, OP. I do know some reqs are “fake.” They function as pressure release for hiring managers who are looking to protect their existing staff.

When the hatchetmen come a knocking, telling the manager to cut three roles, they can cut the reqs to save their people.

I was always a high performer, I was plenty qualified for many of the jobs I applied after they eliminated my position, the redeployment team was a joke. So I’m not surprised.

@OP Don’t give up. It took me two and a half months to land an internal role. I start my new position in March. @a3 is correct; many departments are experiencing reduced budgets. The hiring manager mentioned this during my interview. Good luck!

Budgets have been severely restricted across Optum's internal tech orgs, and it's to either force headcount reductions or make contractors/offshore the only viable ways to add headcount.