Many ex-Indeedians are starting month six of post-layoff this holiday weekend, still searching for their next job. The job market is down, layoffs are down, and tech hiring continues to slide (more on those below). While many very educated people are viewing this as a soft landing, the Harry Truman quote, “It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours,” feels a little on the nose at the moment. 

The summer slump should be over by now, with hiring managers in the office (finally). I’m putting extra effort in throughout September to refill my pipeline of positions and land a role before the holidays. I’ve also started an equity-only role with a startup, which has been incredibly rewarding. I built the first version of the Android and iOS apps last week. It is incredible how much technology has simplified the process. More on this in a few weeks when it has launched. For now, it’s back to the job search.

Stale-ish Numbers

187,000 jobs were added in August, showing continued cooling in the market. Not alarming, but it’s not a stellar number for job seekers either. source

7,452 more people were laid off in August, almost back to the low point one year ago in 2022.

50% fewer tech job postings July 3 compared to August 28 source

Asking For Help When Things Feel Stale

Layoffs are a solitary game — so much time alone, even if you live with a partner or family. The solo job search, time spent thinking, and so much waiting. Catching up with former coworkers can help a bit, of course, as it’s social and many are in the same boat. Getting resume reviews and referrals helps, too, because it has the feeling of progress. There’s a ton of advice on things to do to keep busy. There is no shortage of direction, but none of these articles felt authentic today. Ultimately, none of these articles or authors (myself included) know what you need like you do. So my encouragement today is to spend some time thinking of what you need and give yourself permission to do it.

I know how hard it can be to do something for yourself (especially if it involves spending money when none is coming in.) I’ve remarked lately that as soon as I have a signed offer in hand I really look forward to taking a week or two truly off. Relaxing the job search, the unemployment documentation, the emails, the LinkedIn replies, and all the rest of it, to just take a day or so for myself. But that’s my plan. Make yours and make it great! Your job is coming soon and having a plan to start it out on the right foot is just as important as anything else right now.

Work Advice For Stalemates

When a decision gets stuck (whether at home or work) it’s crucial to have a strategy for resolving the conflict in a way that preserves relationships. Avoiding an escalation that puts the decision into the hands of someone less involved and knowledgable is a goal. The framework for decision making that is a solid starting point is the “pros/cons/mitigations,” and this worksheet is a simple distillation of the process (1m read time, a lifetime to master). 

Fun

Final Words

If I can help with your search, please contact me. Please give me feedback on what you like or don’t care for in this newsletter, and I’ll adjust. For total transparency, I have no affiliation with any of the tools, companies, or resources I share. These are my impressions, not colored by any outside influences.