If anybody has any positive experiences, please say - no details needed. I’m so demoralized that I badly need to hear that it worked out for someone at least. I’ve been trying for half a year now, few offers I got were not exactly great and I refused. I don’t regret that I rejected those jobs, because they were all bad offers by others exploiting the state of the job market. I’m really becoming desperate, and wondering if I’ll have any choice in the near future.
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You must use your network to find your next job. The job market is too difficult to just send resumes. That said, AWS and crowdstrike were more responsive then some other big companies.
Cutting costs, and downsizing my life — now looking at going into entirely different industry. Need a complete reboot.
Look for a job, cut your expenses - big time. Eat in, not out. Take Amazon app off phone. No Starbucks. No fast food! Learn how to cook own meals. Cut cable or streaming platforms - look for cheaper car, house insurance. Look at all of the expenses to see what is a need vs. a want - and cut! all of this cr-p adds up! Never go back to bad habits. Save your $$$. I am tired of people that go to Starbucks everyday or eat fast food and are complaining about inflation. It is soooo much more expensive - so cut, cut, cut! Shop at Walmart! It is sooo much cheaper that any of the Kroger stores.. or use Trader Joes if you have one near you. Use Costco and Sam's. Work with neighbors to buy together at warehouses.
As someone else said, use your network. It will be more efficient and effective to use real connections that blindly applying on LI - you can see that 1000's of people are applying for 1 job. Look for jobs that are in town and NOT remote or hybrid in your town - it cuts down the number of applicants. Apply on company sites, not via LI. Use a word resume - as the key word tracking on ATS does not work great with PDF's. Write a sincere CL.
Take a deep breath. You will find another job. I went through it and was demoralized as well. It is more difficult now and you have to be realistic. You will be making less than you were. Many people being let go took jobs at 25% over the pay range because companies feared being able to get workers. Salaries are normalizing again.
You just have to ask yourself which arena you are wiling to get back into. Tech will always be layoffs every 6 months even in the best economies. People thought I was crazy going to work for the government taking 20% less than another offer. Now 5 years later we talk about where we are to retirement. Their 401ks are a bit higher and mine similar. But when I throw in the $2,000-$2,500/month in pension, their eyes drop. They say you can't live on just that. But, that is not all. Add in $2,000 in SS, wife's $3,000 in pension, and the same level of 401k, their jaws drop. We will retire with no house payment, no debt, an $7,500/month income and a similar 401k. 5 years later, wife's SS kicks in to make it about $9,000/month. I could never get that from a 401k alone unless extremely lucky.
Seek out those jobs that still have pensions. Government, rail industry, and others.
If you get an offer, take it. Even if it's a pay cut, it will slow your burn rate and relieve some of the stress in finding a more long term gig.
You're going to be very lucky to find same salary right now... Employers are getting us back for the years of WFH they didn't want us to have.
Take the job and keep looking for a better salary. Being out of the industry for too long is worse and will really hurt you.
You need to leverage your network. Ask directly for help. When I was hit, I had a sales manager create a req for me. Jobs tend to come from our networks, not from blindly applying on LinkedIn.