Ask HN: I found out that I'm about to be laid off. How do people find jobs?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48312716

25 20 2 months ago

news.ycombinator.com

Using a throwaway account right now for obvious reasons.

I have a friend at my company that has access to some insider stuff who (subtley) tipped me off that I'm on the chopping block for upcoming layoffs.

Obviously, I'm trying to resume-spam now, but I am pretty sure that cold applying to companies doesn't work anymore, because every job posting is immediately botted to shit (and a lot of job postings are fake anyway).

So...what do people actually do to find work now? Is it really just going through your metaphorical Rolodex and bothering friends/previous coworkers and asking if that can forward your resume?

root-parent2• 2 months ago

Here are the things you should not waste your time on otherwise you find out after months: LinkedIn or applying to vacancies. To get a real sense of what is going on try to talk to people who are on the hiring side like agencies and HR.

But not in the context of showing up as a candidate. The only thing that will work will be personal contacts. Join user groups and do something without the actual purpose of finding a job. Volunteer for things in an IT context.

You might say this will mean weeks to months of wasted activities, but believe it will be way better than weeks or months of applying for non existing jobs.

Here is a tip that I dont find unethical, call agencies but as in the role of a job offer not job seeker. Have a conversation, and you will then have the full picture.

drstewart• 2 months ago

Here are the things you should not waste your time on otherwise you find out after months: LinkedIn or applying to vacancies

Here are things that have gotten my every job ever, including one in the last year: LinkedIn or applying to vacancies

root-parent2• 2 months ago

I recommend you add armor...to your airplane areas with the most damage....

smackeyacky• 2 months ago

I’ve had 3 jobs in the last 3 years. What didn’t work: cold applications mostly were a waste of time. LinkedIn has been a complete farce for job seeking.

However the last cold application did work, although it was to an agency rather than direct to the company.

It’s demoralising work applying for jobs. Good luck!

floor2• 2 months ago

I'm a hiring manager. We post jobs on our website, along with LinkedIn and probably some others. We review applications from that, and interview and hire those people.

We get a lot of bots, but the software itself filters out 99% of that and then our recruiters filter out the rest. Referrals push candidates to the top of the queue for interviews, but otherwise it's literally just hiring people who cold applied to a job posting they saw online.

That's not to say it's not still terrible to be interviewing, just my point is, don't write off applying just because it sucks.

MattDamonSpace• 2 months ago

Have you noticed an increase in valid applications?

Presumably AI is helping some-to-many reasonable candidates apply to many more positions

eYrKEC2• 2 months ago

Why not charge $1 to apply ? Would drastically filter down spam applications.

qsxfthnkp2322• 2 months ago

Going on four months here. Good luck.

I heard from one recruiter they had 800+ applications to a role

It’s rough out here.

Datahenge• 2 months ago

Four months also. The struggle is real.

iamflimflam1• 2 months ago

Use your network. It’s the best way.

brudgers• 2 months ago

Yes, this. Because their network was how they got a head’s up about the possible layoff.

karakoram• 2 months ago

I'll be more blunt.

Use nepotism. If you know someone at a company and have leverage, ask them directly to give you the available position.

moralestapia• 2 months ago

Hmm ... weird question. Nepo usually works more than once. Did you just get lucky last time, then?

sloaken• 2 months ago

Semi related - If USA and you have a FSA - it is like an insurance policy, so there is no REAL balance. Spend it before you are laid off. Glasses etc.

Sorry to hear you are about to be in a struggle.

Get resume out, and start looking. You will get more if you are employed vs unemployed.

If USA apply for unemployment as soon as laid off. Companies have paid into this pot, you deserve the payout. Not collecting does not leave more for others.

sandreas• 2 months ago

I'd say you could try to apply directly over company homepages. Find out about companies that you know existed for longer than 5 years, where you like the concept of what they are doing and look on there official homepages for a career section.

This is not strictly limited to your region, but I would start with companies you can at least call by phone for questions about the job listings.

austin-cheney• 2 months ago

For my current job a corporate recruiter at the employer found me. I had more than the required years of programming experience, the necessary education, a security clearance, and more than the required security certification. This was almost three years ago. Last year my HR reported receiving less than 11,000 submissions for just 19 positions that came open.

Before LLM filtering winning a chance to interview from resume submission online was like winning a lottery. Now I imagine that is still true but with even more keyword matching from your resume.

My best suggestion is get certifications in things like security and cloud infrastructure. The best security certs are not vendor certs, for example: CompTIA certs and CISSP. The cloud certs will be vendor certs from Azure and AWS. Resume filters will absolutely recognize those, but they won’t recognize programming capability beyond language name.

The lower half of software jobs, junior and senior developers, prioritize language experience and tool identification. The upper half, lead and principal, prioritize current capabilities expressed more in terms of accomplishment and business requirements.

untitled-now• 2 months ago

So I was not laid off from Oracle , but I left Oracle just before the layoffs started and I felt lucky to be honest because I left on my own terms.

To be on subject, before I left, I have used Linkedin to find a similar job in my area, that turned to be a success , this is my try from July - August 2025 , but I believe now in 2026 is similar.

My advice: Apply to similar jobs in your area on Linkedin, it will work.

extraextra• 2 months ago

Don't have any meaningful advice for you, but, I hope this new struggle will make you stronger and lead you to better opportunities

gaws• 2 months ago

How do people find jobs?

By tapping into a network you've ideally built over the course of your career. In the 2020s, people get good jobs from whom they know, not what they know.

skyberrys• 2 months ago

LinkedIn worked out for me, but I was being very selective, looking at companies to see if the company research is something I'm really passionate about. Then applied for multiple open positions at the targeted companies repeatedly. This was cold applications I did not know anyone at the companies I found.

Ask HN: I found out that I'm about to be laid off. How do people find jobs?

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