If you're at all aware of the news of the world, then I'm sure you've heard about the recent layoffs in the technology sector. Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, all laid off significant portions of their workforce in recent weeks, but they weren't the only companies to do so. For a couple years now I've worked in the tech space (in sales) and I too was impact by a mass layoff. No PIP, no performance or disciplinary issues, just "hey we needed to cut 40% of our workforce, and even with that the company may not make it 6 months."
It's tough. I spent a year closing deals and building a kick ass pipeline that would have netted me near $100k in commissions (maybe more) in January. I loved the team I worked with, loved the software I was selling, and loved the work from home lifestyle. And I also hate job hunting. I'm sure the rest of the people looking for work right now feel much the same way.
It's also an absolutely terrible time to be unemployed. Not only for the obvious inconvenience of being stressed around the holidays, but November and December are the usually the worst time to look for a job. Recruiters and hiring managers are out of office, companies freeze hiring until the new year, we might be heading into a recession, and now of course you're competing for a job with all the other laid off folks.
Thus the stage is set for the world's scumbags to rear their ugly heads.
Anyone who has spent time on LinkedIn knows it can be nauseating at times. A lot of hustle culture porn, thinly veiled sales pitches, and news about who's been promoted or moved to a new company. There are good people on there though, and a lot of well meaning recruiters and talent acquisition folks have made posts trying to connect people who are hiring with jobseekers. I commented on one explaining how I was an experienced sales guy who was recently laid off and that I was looking for a sales role in tech preferably in my market or remote. Unfortunately I (along with several others) was met with a barrage of responses from LinkedIn members hocking their MLM schemes. One of them was trying to get me to buy $2600 worth of air purifiers that I (allegedly) could then sell for $1400 a piece. Another wanted me to sell overpriced life insurance products. I'm sure by the time I log in tomorrow I'll have several more.
I have two words for these folks: Fuck. You.
Seriously. I'm not here to judge anyone's business model or tell you that selling air purifiers or life insurance or whatever is not a viable business, or that you can't make money doing it. I'm sure you can and I'm sure people have. But soliciting people who just lost their income, at a very tough time of the year, who are probably hurt and scared, and maybe even desperate, and asking them to sink their money into a commission-only sales role in an industry they've never worked in before, is a douche move. You have got to get out of here with that bullshit. Even if I was so inclined as to believe in the job, what in God's name makes you believe that I would be successful selling air purifiers during the holiday season to the point that you would advise me to put in almost three grand into the endeavor? The sad part of it is someone will buy into it. It just won't be me.
If you're reading this, don't let it be you either.
