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Rima Mahajan posted thisThis past week has been very emotional and I needed a few days to process & give myself space before I open up here and say goodbye to this significant company that has shaped me so much. I was impacted by the Meta layoffs last week along with many many other talented team members/friends that I have worked with very closely over the past 7 yrs. #metalayoffs Oh what a journey it has been!! It's hard to put in words what this company , job and the people have meant to me and how they have shaped me for who I'm today. THANK YOU!! As I reflect on my time at Meta, I'm incredibly grateful for the years spent , the experiences gathered , the learnings and most of all the friendships that I've built for life. Even though this experience has left me feeling uncertain about the future, I learned the importance of being there for each other during tough times. For anyone who was impacted, I understand and am here for you, Let me know how I can help - shoot me a message I also learned the importance of self-care and taking time to process emotions. It's easy to get caught up in the stress of the situation, but it's essential to take a step back and prioritize mental and emotional well-being. While change can be scary, it also presents opportunities for growth and new experiences. It's about shifting our mindset to see the silver lining in every situation. Looking ahead to whatever the universe has in store - ONWARD!! Thank you to everyone for being a part of my journey and hopefully our paths will cross again!!
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Rima Mahajan shared thisMeta Connect is returning to the virtual stage on October 11! Connect brings together AR/VR developers, creators, marketers, and more to celebrate the industry and its growth, while also exploring what it will take to bring the metaverse to life. Attendees will see a keynote including leaders in the AR, VR, and XR space, followed by on-demand developer breakout sessions. Attendance is free and open to all. For all the latest, sign up for updates at metaconnect.com.
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Rima Mahajan shared thisDesign Recruiting Is Growing! Come join the fun! We're excited to announce that our Design Recruiting Org is growing! Our pipeline offers a unique focus on Product Design, Art & Animation, Design program management and Sound Design. Our teams hire the creative minds that bring our Family of Apps to life and make them usable for ~3b people around the world! We're looking for Recruiting Managers,Technical Recruiters, and Technical sourcers to add to our Design org. If you are interested and curious about what our team focuses on, please reach out! I'd love to connect. Recruiting Manager- Product Design https://lnkd.in/gKuEFSu Technical Recruiter https://lnkd.in/gKRck4a I’m #hiring. Know anyone who might be interested?
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Rima Mahajan reacted on thisRima Mahajan reacted on thisWhat a week!! The opportunity to spend my third week at Clio at our Global People Onsite was truly a gift. 💙 I continue to be incredibly impressed by the way our People team comes together to collaborate, brainstorm, problem solve, and genuinely connect with one another. The energy, openness, and shared commitment to building for the future made this week both inspiring and energizing. I also especially loved the dedicated time spent with our TA team, strengthening the relationships that make the work even more meaningful. So much of our time together focused on how we navigate change, embrace creativity, solve complex challenges, and work together in this fast paced, AI driven world. The conversations were thoughtful, forward looking, and deeply grounded in how we can continue solving for the future while keeping people at the center. We also had a lot of fun together! Leaving this week feeling grateful for the opportunity, excited for what’s ahead, and incredibly lucky to be part of this chapter with such an amazing team!!!
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Rima Mahajan reacted on thisRima Mahajan reacted on thisAfter almost 8 years at Meta (🤯) I'm super stoked to embark on a new adventure at OpenAI, helping build the best product design team in the world alongside my dream team Lawrence Tagoe and Katie Manning. This feels like an historic time in OAI's mission of ensuring AI benefits *all* of humanity, and I'm here for it. Excited to learn, grow, and work alongside such an incredible group of people.
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Rima Mahajan reacted on thisRima Mahajan reacted on thisAfter 9 years (almost to the day) at Meta, I was laid off last week, along with ~8k of my colleagues. For me, this was welcome news -- the changes in the company's work environment over the last few years have been well-documented, and the severance that Meta provides makes the transition much easier, at least financially. I will very much miss working with the amazing people at Meta, but I will not miss working for the company itself. My thoughts are with those impacted, especially those who are on work visas that may be forced to uproot their lives on short notice. I've often said that the thing I'm most grateful to my parents for, is getting my sister and I naturalized when we were in grade school, so that we as adults have never had to deal with immigration concerns. My thoughts are also those who now have to scramble financially -- this is a brutal economy & brutal job market; finding another job will not be easy -- and to the people who remain, especially on teams that were impacted 50% or more, who will now be asked to do more work for less pay. So what's next for me? In the short term, I'm going to focus on my hobbies -- photography (IG: OscarC.Photography & OscarC.Travel), gardening, home automation -- and catch up on the many games, movies, and shows that I've been meaning to watch. I will figure out the longer term in due time.
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Rima Mahajan reacted on thisRima Mahajan reacted on thisClose to 12 years at Meta came to a close last week. I was too heartbroken and pissed to say anything nice, so I waited. Now that I’ve had the requisite cooling-off period, I see this for what it truly is: a gift. I joined Facebook as a baby, for all intents and purposes, and left having had one of my own. Those early years were truly some of the most fun I’ve had in my career. Everything was new and exciting, and people were STOKED to be there and work really freaking hard. From recruiting coordination to Building 8 to DEI programs and, finally, workforce planning, my career at Meta was never boring and never lacking in complexity. More importantly, I walked away with friendships forged in the fire of Meta — many of them people I’m lucky enough to now consider family. Thank you to everyone who picked me up this past week 💛 I’m humbled by the outpouring of support and forever grateful. I know how to do hard things, and I thrive when I can bring structure to brand-new, chaotic environments. I don’t know what’s next yet, but after catching my breath this summer, I’ll be ready to dive in headfirst.
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Rima Mahajan reacted on thisRima Mahajan reacted on thisMy long (17 years!), strange trip at Meta came to an end last week as I was one of the 8,000 laid off. Thanks to everyone who has reached out, especially with stories about how I've touched their careers. It has been a pleasure for me to work with such smart, ambitious and hard-working people. One of my favorite things at Meta was developing people and helping them realize their potential, from summer interns to senior staff engineers. Building and being part of the Production Engineering org from the ground up has been one of my proudest accomplishments. Growing from a handful of engineers in 2009 to over 1,500 worldwide, we built a culture and a set of technologies that rivaled the best in the world for operational excellence in running one of the world's largest computing infrastructures. There's no magic recipe to building and operating the best engineering teams: 1) Hire the right people. 2) Set high standards for work output and how people treat each other. 3) Enforce those standards by rewarding good behaviors and discouraging negative ones. 4) Repeat. One of the reasons Meta has historically been a great place to work is because there are so many leaders that practice exactly this style of back-to-basics engineering leadership. I've learned from the best and passed on what I learned to as many others as I could. I would like to give a sincere thank you to the many people who took chances on me, even when I wasn't quite ready to believe in myself. For myself and many others affected, this layoff was a bit unexpected. My perf ratings were fine, I was leading "AI native" projects, and my deep experience with people and technology inside Meta made me easily redeployable. It's a good reminder that at the end of the day, from the perspective of a big company, all of us are just rows on someone else's spreadsheet somewhere. For those outside Meta, the situation inside the company really is as bad as the stories make it out to be. Morale is in the toilet. Company strategy is both incoherent and unstable, changing substantially every few months. Virtually every employee, from IC3 to VP, is in "survival mode," thinking of how they can survive the next 90 days and collect their next vest. As a shareholder and long-timer with many friends still there, I hope Meta can figure things out and re-orient the company in a better direction. As for me, I'll be taking the summer off and figuring out what's next in August or September. I have a few trips planned and will stay busy raising chickens, playing drums, doing tie-dye, and playing with AI. And I would love to hear from folks that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to, or talk about possible future opportunities. Thank you and much love to all of you out there reading this!
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Rima Mahajan reacted on thisRima Mahajan reacted on thisMy time to die. Today, after nearly 7 years, I got laid off from Meta. It was a hell of a run, honestly the best job I ever had. The work was great—challenging, interesting, varied—but the best part was the people. I used to say that you were doing well if you liked 80% of your coworkers, but at Meta it was more like 98% (whether or not I was part of the 2% I will leave up to you, Dear Reader). Everybody was—and is—simultaneously so gung-ho but also caring, kind, helpful, and scary smart. This morning it's a bummer with how it shook out but I can't complain. This job brought me to Seattle, expanded my skills and network in ways I never thought were possible—but mostly it was just a lot of fun. I hope I can find something new that's just as fun and challenging. Keep an eye out if you see any product design roles (in the Seattle/Bellevue area or remote) that you think I'd be good for. Thanks for the memories and good luck to everyone who remains and everyone who was impacted today.
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Rima Mahajan reacted on thisRima Mahajan reacted on thisAfter 9 incredible years at Meta, surviving 4 rounds of layoffs, round 5 finally claimed my badge. Looking at the kid on that badge, I barely recognize him. I have a lot of mixed emotions right now and that will take some time to sort out. What I am not confused about is the people. I had the privilege of working alongside some of the smartest, most capable, and most driven humans I have ever met. I was mentored by people who were genuinely exceptional, and I hope I gave back even a fraction of what I received. I may have even matured a little over these 9 years. Maybe. I leave with a full heart. To everyone who was part of this chapter, thank you. Genuinely. Onwards.
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Ryan Affolter
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✨🔥 “Imagine a platform where a candidate’s credentials, certifications, licenses, background checks, and structured reference feedback are all pre-validated and securely stored—ready to be shared with any employer, anytime. This future portfolio won’t just tell a story; it will prove it, backed by data from issuing bodies, educational institutions, and verified third parties.” - Elaine Orler of Match2
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Ellen Heirbaut
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Did you know that nearly 3 out of 4 U.S. employees have caregiving responsibilities? There are many challenges in balancing work and home life, especially for folks who are navigating being a caregiver for their child, spouse with a disability, or aging parent. To help employees thrive in their careers while supporting them as caregivers, Yelp strives to provide the benefits and structure they need to care for their loved ones and the additional support and community they need to take care of themselves, too ❤️ 🏡 Flexible Work Arrangements: Our remote work policy empowers employees with the flexibility they need. In a 2023 survey, 89% of Yelp employees felt equipped to manage both personal and work-life demands. ❤️ Comprehensive Benefits: Yelp offers a monthly reimbursement for caregiving expenses, including childcare and eldercare services. In 2024, 30% of Yelp employees utilized this benefit, with 22% specifically for eldercare. 🧑🤝🧑 Community Support: Yelp Employee Resource Groups, like YelpParents, YelpMoms, and Yelders, provide a sense of belonging and support. These groups host workshops and events to help caregivers navigate their responsibilities. 🎉 Celebrating Caregivers: Yelp cherishes caregivers with thoughtful gestures, like care packages for new parents, complete with Yelp-branded onesies and heartfelt notes. Learn more about how Yelp is supporting its caregivers here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gPPWzr8K #LifeAtYelp #FiveStarCareer
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Alex Sadler
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12 days from "being happy" in their current role to head of department for us. Hiring doesn’t have to be slow or longwinded. It has to be clear, focused, and intentional 🔥 We just hired for a very senior key role in 12 working days - from initial outreach to signed offer. This is what made the difference: 1) We direct-sourced the candidate with a transparent, honest message - no hype, just real context and overview. Challenges aren't a blocker, for the right person, they're attractive. 2) Kicked things off with a casual, no-pressure intro chat to align on skills, expectations, and motivations on both sides. Key hires needs to understand the entire picture, not a portion. 3) Our team flexed fast - a director made time for an interview across a 6+ hour time zone within 24 hours. Superstar candidates are speaking with multiple amazing companies. Speed on process shows intent. 4) Our CEO stepped in quickly for the final round, showing real commitment to moving fast when it matters. He even discussed interviews on a Saturday if the candidate was free. Flexibility is king. 5) We kept feedback loops tight, decisions quick, and communication clear at every stage. No nonsense comparative understanding of skills vs need. The candidate experience? He told me how refreshing it was to go through a process that was thoughtful, respectful of his time, and free from unnecessary hurdles. 💡Here's the key takeaway: Being busy doesn’t mean pushing things back. It means having the discipline to prioritise the right things for delivering success. Speed doesn’t mean rushing. It means showing up, staying aligned, and making decisions with intent. That's how we win and how we stay the market leader 🚀 #hiring #candidateexperience #leadership #talentacquisition #recruitment #prioritisation #efficiency
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Oscar Chavez
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Oracle laid off 30,000 people. But they're not the only ones. Over a dozen companies have laid off thousands of people in Q1 of 2026. And I've been seeing a lot of Gen Z users post about experiencing their first layoff, and I empathize. As a Millennial, I've literally been there. the victim of a "business decision" or "restructuring." I know the last thing you want to hear is "keep going", especially in this job market. You don't have an easy road ahead of you, but you can still persevere. And come out the other side of this better than when you went in. Rooting & Recruiting for you, -Oscar from Linkedin 🫶🏽
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Casey Rabiea
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I’ve seen a lot of posts this week about the Amazon and Meta layoffs, and my heart goes out to everyone affected. I’ve been recruiting and hiring through some wild job markets, and I’ve seen how tough and heavy this side of the cycle can be. If you were impacted, here’s my honest advice: 1. Apply for unemployment immediately. It takes a while to process. Most states back pay you for the weeks it’s pending, but please don’t wait. There’s NO shame in getting what’s owed to you. Times are tough, and this is a safety net for a reason. 2. Take your time with severance paperwork (and NEGOTIATE!) You’ll likely get a packet from HR with a severance offer and a release form (basically: you accept the package they're offering you, and you agree not to sue for wrongful termination). That’s negotiable like everything in life. You CAN ask for more money, longer coverage on your insurance, more time to vest equity. There's no guarantee that you'll get what you want, but you won't know until you try. Read all of your paperwork carefully. Do not have these negotiations over the phone. Get everything in writing. You don’t have to sign anything right away. 3. This market feels rough, but there *IS* opportunity. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: the last few years have been wild for tech. The market’s uneven and highly competitive, but there are so many new AI and startup companies getting funded right now. When companies raise, they hire. Follow people like Tim He and Haley ONeill on LinkedIn - they frequently post about companies that are raising and hiring. Use LinkedIn, and honestly, use LLMs to help you research who’s raising and growing. 4. We're hiring at Evertune 💪 We’re building teams in NYC and Seattle. We’re hiring engineers, client services folks, a financial controller, and will be opening more roles soon! If you were affected by the Amazon or Meta layoffs, or if you’re just looking for a new challenge in AI, please reach out. If we’ve crossed paths before, or have mutual connections, I’d love to chat about what we’re building and how you could be part of it. This market is still very weird, but it’s not hopeless. Take care of yourself, protect your peace, negotiate, and don’t lose sight of the fact that there are better chapters ahead 🫶
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Ghose Mohiddin Khadir
ANSR • 7K followers
To everyone at Amazon, Pinterest, and other companies going through layoffs right now, I know this is a difficult phase. If you’re impacted, or feel you might be impacted, here’s one honest piece of advice: Stay calm. Don’t panic. Be Proactive. Take action. Update your CV. Optimise your LinkedIn and Naukri profile. Stay active and visible on LinkedIn. Start showing what you’re capable of. Confidence matters more than ever in moments like this. Also, be mindful of who you spend time talking to. Avoid conversations that only lead to sympathy and negativity because they drain you. Instead, speak to people who can guide you, inspire you, motivate you, or help you move forward. I say this from my personal experience. When I went through a layoff recently, I did not talk to anybody because I wanted my space and did not allow anybody to show sympathy as I was busy doing what was required, attending interviews, talking to recruiters and hiring managers. this mindset genuinely helped me navigate it better and helped close an offer in no time. And one last thing. when the official email actually comes, pause for a moment. Take a day off. Eat your favourite food. Watch a movie. Have a drink if that helps. Go for a spa or a long walk. Reset your mind. Then come back stronger and start again. This phase does not define your talent or your future. It’s just a chapter. Stay strong. You’ll get through this. #CareerSupport #JobSearch #Layoffs #CareerTransition #ProfessionalGrowth #MentalWellbeing #StayStrong
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Drew Koloski
Fonzi AI • 13K followers
One thing that came up at our last AI & OJ breakfast with talent leaders hiring AI engineers: The pace of AI in 2026 is forcing companies of all sizes to rethink what "relevant experience" actually means. Several teams mentioned prioritizing engineers who joined companies during early growth stages — often valuing that experience over big tech logos. I dug into the data across Match Day, our AI Engineering careers marketplace, which probably has the densest concentration of AI-native startups hiring elite engineers anywhere right now. Out of 246 roles from 84 companies, more than half explicitly call out early-stage experience in the JD. "Founding team." "Zero to one." "Built from the ground up." 75% of companies mention it in at least one role. It makes sense when you think about what AI is doing to every engineering org right now. The tooling and workflows are new. The stack is changing fast. The playbook doesn't exist yet. That's true whether you're a 20-person startup or a 2,000-person company building out an AI team for the first time. Someone who joined a company at 10 to 50 employees had to build quickly, make tradeoffs, and operate without polished infrastructure. They shaped systems, influenced hiring, and set technical direction while everything was still moving. That's the muscle companies need right now — not someone who spent five years optimizing inside a mature org. We'll be digging into more tactics like this at NY AI Engineers next week: https://lnkd.in/dMBb2Ayy
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Steph Hector
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Layoffs and restructuring are everywhere in tech right now. The reality is, the tech industry is not for the faint of heart. I’ve personally experienced layoffs twice in my career, and my spouse, also in tech, has gone through it too. What I can say is that each time it happened, the next opportunity ultimately led to positive change. As a recruiter, one of the most common questions I get from people impacted by layoffs is: What do I do next? How do I even start looking for a job? Especially from people who haven’t had to search in 10+ years. Job searching is hard. Very few people enjoy interviewing, and the rejection that can come with multiple conversations can feel devastating and demoralizing. You know you’re good at what you do, but interviewing isn’t your actual skill set, it’s simply the process required to land the job. And honestly, interviewing can feel incredibly unnatural. Companies are evaluating how you perform in a high-pressure environment that often looks nothing like the actual day-to-day role. Sometimes you have to wonder how relevant that really is. The good news? As you navigate this new chapter, you have something incredibly valuable that people often underestimate: your network. Your network opens doors. It starts conversations. It helps you land on your feet. One thing I hear often is: “I don’t want to bother people by asking for introductions or help.” But think about it this way, if the situation were reversed, and a former colleague was unemployed while your company had an opening they’d be perfect for, would you help them? Of course you would. As Canadians, we’re often polite to a fault, especially when it comes to asking for help. But reframing that mindset is important. You’re not burdening someone, you’re potentially helping them strengthen their team with a pre-vetted, talented professional. You’re helping fill a gap and contributing to a company’s success. And in many organizations, referrals even come with financial incentives. One thing I’ve learned over two decades in tech, especially Canadian tech, is that the people in this industry are incredibly supportive and generous. Time and time again, I hear stories of people landing amazing opportunities simply by reaching out to their network. So my advice is this: reconnect with your friends and former colleagues. Post your update on LinkedIn. Let people know you’re looking. You may be surprised by how willing people are to help, and by just how broad your network really is. What are you waiting for? Start reaching out today, ask for the help, and land that dream job!
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Asma Tameem
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It’s been a tough week for many talented colleagues impacted by the recent changes at Amazon. If you’ve been affected, please reach out. I’m happy to help with mock interviews, resume reviews, and referrals through my close network. For those preparing for what’s next, I wanted to share a framework that’s helped me — both while interviewing and mentoring others — on Coding Patterns and System Design. 💻 LeetCode — Focus on Patterns, Not Memorization When preparing for interviews, don’t just aim to “cover” hundreds of questions. Instead, understand why certain approaches work — the underlying problem patterns that keep showing up in different forms. Common examples include: - Sliding Window / Two Pointers - Binary Search patterns - Intervals & Sweep Line - Graph Traversal (BFS / DFS / Toposort) - Tree & Heap patterns - Dynamic Programming templates Once you see the pattern, you can reason through any variation — without relying on rote memory. 🧩 System Design — It’s Not One Right Answer System design isn’t about producing a perfect diagram. It’s about thinking in layers, evolving the design gradually, and balancing trade-offs. Here’s a practical way to approach it: 1. Start with the problem definition — who’s the user, and what are you optimizing for? 2. Define functional and non-functional requirements — scale, latency, availability, cost. 3. Sketch a simple baseline design with core components (APIs, storage, caching) and outline your data models and APIs. 4. Iterate deliberately — identify bottlenecks, then layer in replication, sharding, queues, or caching only where it’s justified. Good design is rarely static — it’s a conversation between constraints, trade-offs, and evolution. I’ll follow up in my next post with identifying key patterns and approaches for System Design, including real-world examples from products we use every day. Let’s keep learning, building, and supporting each other. 💛 #amazonads #adtech #EngineeringLeadership #CareerSupport #TechCommunity #hiring #mentoring
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Ashlye Hernandez, MBA
nCino, Inc. • 2K followers
Hiring in 2026: Reflection Post A little over a year ago, I moved from Product & Engineering Ops into Talent Management. Coming from operations, strategy, and delivery, I’ve always viewed talent differently not as a checklist, but as a lever for outcomes. Now, as we enter 2026, a pattern is becoming hard to ignore: We don’t just need people to fill roles. We need people who can orchestrate systems, tools, and momentum. Here are the four capabilities I’m seeing separate teams that scale from teams that stall in all my research: 1. Systems Thinking Can they see how their work connects to the broader machine, not just their lane? 2. Real-Time Problem Solving When the plan hits reality, can they pivot without losing velocity? 3. Tool Fluency Do they know when AI and automation accelerate delivery and when they only add noise? 4. Learning Agility How fast can they unlearn what worked yesterday to adopt what works now? Not having a traditional HR background means I don’t start per se with job families or frameworks. I start with a different set of questions: – Will this accelerate the business or slow it down? – Can this scale with the organization? – Does this genuinely elevate team output? Hiring isn’t just an HR function anymore…it’s an operating model. Grateful to the talent partners and business leaders who continue to challenge assumptions, share what’s working on the ground, and turn strategy into reality. As you think about your hiring strategy for 2026, what’s the one shift you’re leaning into most?
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Ruben J Gutierrez
Outset • 5K followers
I’m always fascinated by companies that aren’t perfect but still manage to retain their talent. Being in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 6~ years, it’s pretty normal to see someone switch roles every 2–3 years. I’m never surprised when I look at a resume and see a handful of hops. I get it. More pay. Better benefits. More flexibility. Not loving the team or manager. There’s always a reason people move on. But I just read an article about Nintendo, a company with a 98% retention rate! Yes, you read that right, ninety-eight percent. Their Japanese employees stay an average of 15 years (the national average in Japan is 11, which is already impressive). And this is in an industry known for being absolutely cutthroat with layoffs and turnover. Gaming has always been ruthless... even before COVID. Yet Nintendo keeps winning. Their stock price has been sitting at one of its highest points ever in as of 2025, probably thanks to the Switch 2 launch (which I still think was overpriced, but clearly it didn’t matter). I’m sure the company isn’t perfect. No company is. But the external success speaks for itself. Many employees point to the same thing: deep institutional knowledge and the kind of expertise you only build by sticking around. There’s something there. And I think a lot of startups and fast-moving companies could learn from Nintendo’s approach to retention and longevity. Full article in the comments. #retention #employeeretention #hiring
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Carmen Zayas, SPHR, M.S.
Zayas Consulting • 5K followers
It’s important to call this what it is: a strategic business pivot, not a “culture issue.” Framing layoffs of this scale—especially when they heavily impact engineering, product, and mid-level technical talent—as a culture problem is both inaccurate and unfair to the employees impacted. Large-scale reductions like these typically reflect shifts in business priorities, evolving skill needs, and investments in areas like AI, automation, and platform consolidation. Companies don’t eliminate nearly 40% engineering roles because of culture; they do it because they’re restructuring for a different future. What’s equally important is how those decisions are carried out. When efficiency moves faster than empathy, layoffs can quickly feel dehumanizing. It’s a reminder that a “profit over people” mindset may deliver short-term gains but often leaves long-term cultural scars—undermining the very culture companies claim to protect. Strategic pivots are sometimes necessary. Transparent and humane execution is always necessary. #Leadership #HRLeadership #FutureOfWork #Layoffs
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Brandon Sammut
Zapier • 25K followers
Our TA team just ran their second AI Build Day in six weeks. How it works: 15 min kickoff, 4 hours heads down (solo or paired), 45 min share out where everyone presents. Five protected hours. The whole team building, pairing, and pressure-testing each other's work. Here are some of the skills & automations they shipped: • Daily hiring sweep that scores every incoming candidate against a 5-signal rubric and drops a Strong / Worth a Look / Pass digest into Slack at 8am • Debrief prep builder that pulls Ashby scorecards and BrightHire transcripts and turns them into a thread the whole panel reads before the interview • Chrome extension a sourcer built to dodge a quirk in LinkedIn Recruiter, saving ~10 seconds per candidate across 30+ tabs Plus pipeline trackers, sourcing automations, background check monitors, and referral workflows. All built by recruiters, sourcers, and ops folks using Zapier inside Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex. A recruiting team that builds on the same AI platform we sell can back it up when we tell candidates AI fluency matters here. We sharpen our fluency, build real automations, and improve our product at the same time. Run this 1-2x a month across every team. See what happens.
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34 Comments -
Kate Kruizenga
Phero Collective • 4K followers
"Offer me enough that I don't feel like a fool for turning down $1M/year." Closed that Staff Engineer for $235K and 20 bps. They turned down massive offers from two giants to say yes. We won on mission, team, and culture. I've hired hundreds this way. Your startup can too, but you have to deliver a few vital things: 🧭 Mission Does the work actually matter in the world? What stories will they tell at 85? ⭐ Quality Will they have the tools, goals clarity, and communication to deliver their best work? 🤝 Talent and Culture Will they work alongside great people they can learn from? Who push them further, faster? Are these people they want to spend the majority of their waking hours around? 🪨 Staying Power 90% of startups fail. You can't promise you cross the chasm, but do you have the TAM, early proof points, and sound biz strategy to go the distance? They wouldn't be talking to you if money was the most important factor. They would be signing the $$$$ offer already. So make sure you have designed a process that helps them interview your company as much as you interview them. Tell the legendary stories. NDA and dazzle with demos of what's coming soon and how you solved your biggest challenge. Bring folks onsite to sit with your team. Absolutely give them 30 min with the founders to hear a passionate pitch for the mission from its origin. Ask yourself, does our process make it reasonable, appealing, and satisfying to work here if we get to offer? I promise you that incentives matter, and folks work for money. You can't offer them less than their financial life is currently built around. If they tell you they need $500k liquid for their financial life to work, believe them. But if their floor is $220k and that's in range? You can close them if you can deliver the full package. But don't try to win on money. As my morning Starbucks run reminds us, that's a never-ending and expensive battle, and one we will eventually lose. ---- 👋 Hi! I'm Kate Kruizenga, Fractional Chief People Officer and founder of Phero Collective. We help founders Seed to Series C build and scale your People and Talent foundation to unlock engagement, growth, and revenue. Learn more at withphero.co.
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Michael Chong
Contrario (YC W25) • 10K followers
#Block’s $29B acquisition of #Afterpay in Jan 2022 was an overpaid M&A miss, according to analysts and investors saying it caused significant loss of shareholder value. Now 4,000+ layoff comes. Was it because of #AI or an #expensive #nonprofitable asset?
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Mike Dorame
Gray Media • 40K followers
Hey Job Seekers, I’ve spent years recruiting across the San Francisco Bay Area, partnering with incredible brands like KQED, San Francisco Opera, Ziff Davis, CNET, Oracle, Monster, GDC, Burson-Marsteller (Intel, HP), Vacasa, Rodan + Fields, Avast, Impossible Foods, Amazon, Just Egg, Nike, Warner Bros Discovery, Slack—and many more. One of my favorite parts of this work? When candidates ask thoughtful, curious questions that spark real conversations—about culture, growth, innovation, DEI, tech stacks, and even what I do for fun outside of work. Here are some of the best questions I’ve received over the years: 💼 Industry-Specific What trends are shaping hiring in Bay Area tech and media? How are CPG brands evolving post-pandemic? Are retail and food companies shifting toward hybrid or remote? Who’s investing in creative talent and brand innovation? 🎯 Role & Fit What do hiring managers look for beyond the resume? How can I pivot across industries—say, media to tech? What resume mistakes do you see most often? How do I stand out in a crowded startup market? 🧠 Career Strategy Which companies offer strong mentorship or mobility? How should I approach a career pivot? What’s your take on using AI tools for resumes? Are there emerging roles I should be watching? 🤝 Networking & Outreach What’s the best way to follow up after applying? Should I reach out to hiring managers directly? How do I build authentic industry connections? Any local events or meetups you recommend? If you’re job hunting, curious about the market, or just want to chat—I’m here. Let’s make your next move a meaningful one :)
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Jody Atkins
1st Avenue Power • 2K followers
TA at the Table: Aligning Talent Strategy with Business Strategy This time of year, many companies are deep in Annual Operating Planning defining priorities, investments, and what success looks like for the year ahead. Too often, Talent Acquisition is brought in after those plans are set. The headcount is already fixed, timelines are compressed, and the focus becomes “how fast can we hire?” But the real value of TA happens when we’re involved early, as part of the strategic conversation with CFOs, CEOs, and business leaders. In my past roles, I’ve partnered directly with executive teams during AOP to: **Map out what growth actually looks like; by region, function, and critical skill area. **Align workforce planning with revenue goals and product roadmaps. **Build hiring scenarios that model cost, timing, and talent availability. That kind of alignment transforms TA from a reactive function into a strategic enabler of the business plan. It also helps leaders make smarter decisions, because talent availability, market data, and hiring velocity all impact what’s realistic to achieve. When TA has a seat at the table, workforce planning becomes a competitive advantage.
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Saud Hameed
Synapse • 3K followers
There’s so much noise about layoffs these days. Every other day, we hear people saying that the job market is done and AI is killing jobs. It makes me wonder; - Why is no one talking about thousands of open engineering roles in San Francisco alone? - Why is no one talking about insane amounts of commissions companies are willing to pay to recruiters just to find good talent? - Why is no one talking about the sky-high demand for great accountants, lawyers, admin staff etc? Are we being sold fear again? Do we not know that this isnt the first time that the market is shifting? Do we not remember the move for example, from print to digital or from .com boom to social media explosion? Are we too naive to understand that journalists, marketers and salespeople who were good at their crafts were winning in 60s in the times of print media, just as the journalists, marketers and salespeople who know how to bring value are killing it in todays day and age? It’s never been about the platform, its always been about value that one brings. Yes, AI is a tool. Of course, it will disrupt some industries, but it'll also bring way more opportunities to explore and exploit. It's not replacing jobs, it’s reshaping them. The accountants using AI tools, lawyers leveraging AI for research and Engineers who are learning cloud are outpacing their competitors. So, instead of selling fear, shouldn't we be talking about what really matters? Like; - How not to resist change but stay to stay on top of trends instead. - How people who are going to adapt early are going to have long lasting advantage. - How the ones who will keep bringing value will always be in demand And if we really have to talk about the adversities of technology, why not talk about; - How it's making us less of humans and more of robots? - How it's killing us by depriving us of human interactions? - How transparency and authenticity have become scarce in today's fast paced world? - And most importantly, how us human should be in control and in charge of it, not the other way around. Am I the only one having these thoughts? Would love to hear your take. #FutureOfWork #AIandJobs #ArtificialIntelligence #JobMarket #TechCareers #EngineeringJobs #AccountingCareers #LegalTech #RecruitmentLife #CareerGrowth #AdaptToChange #LifelongLearning #ValueCreation #StayRelevant
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