Thanks bkfunk. All — I launched layoff-aid.com for SF tech talent in 2017. Love the initiative here and happy to help push it forward or do whatever else I can to better solve the problem. Email is Adam@ , mention HN
I agree high profile shouldn’t matter, but it helps to grab the attention of recruiters who often pay attention to high-profile consumer companies like “Uber” but not to smaller, more enterprise-facing startups. It’s not necessarily a logical disconnect, but it is real.
Yes. The job seekers are more desirable to sourcing teams if they are systematically filtered to be sincere about taking a new role, local, and experienced in a given role. Layoffs tend to produce a gold mine in that respect from a talent acquisition perspective.
Good point on fragmentation seeming counterproductive. It certainly is, but that’s the way it is since different candidates and different employers have different preferences (e.g. an engineer might prefer maintaining GitHub over LinkedIn, so sourcers can’t just use LinkedIn). Also, people who have been laid off tend to value a specific package of help — not just job leads, but also resume reviews, fast-track processes, and sometimes creative (non-traditional / part-time) leads that fill any potential gap.
Founder here. Technically speaking we are the modern version of what "outplacement" service should be, rather than another recruiting platform.
I'm in Product Management by day (when I'm not in between jobs because I got downsized!), and I help to build out Layoff-Aid on my nights and weekends. More on my story here:
https://www.layoff-aid.com/team
Our first market is SF Bay Area tech talent -- anyone who has work experience in tech and is seeking employment in the SF Bay Area. Our candidates are roughly one-third business, / product & design / technical; basically the same distribution you'd find at a typical tech company that slashes headcount in a downsize event.
We do want to expand to anyone who gets laid off, in any industry, in any location, but we need to figure out how to sustainably generate revenue from our SF tech industry niche before we expand. Until then, I've somehow avoided burning a hole in my pocket as we figure things out, but we still have a lot of work to do to monetize effectively.
Our mission matters more than making money, but we need to make money to execute on our mission.
Sorry to hear. While I'm not over 50, I went through something similar at one point and took the opportunity to spend some time on a passion project before going back into the workforce.
We've been building a solid list of hiring companies for several months already. Our mission is to help people affected by layoffs and we're now ready with a network of local companies specifically hiring SF tech talent affected by layoffs.
May expand to NYC pretty soon given demand. NYC/SF/Boston Hiring companies can sign up now to get people from the next SoundCloud, Etsy, Twitter, etc
Awesome. Haven't used them. Curious to hear how long it took you from signup to signing, and whether or not you were employed while you were searching.
It took me 14 days from the day my profile went 'live' to the day I signed an offer being unemployed. Most companies scheduled 2 phone screens with me before offering me an onsite interview. The first with a recruiter and the second was usually a technical phone interview. I consistently did 3-4 phone calls per day during the first week and usually 1 full-day onsite interview during the second week. If I had to use their jobs platform while employed, I'd probably quit first or use up vacation time.
