Ask HN: Did anyone land a job in FAANG after layoffs and how is it going?

I'm still seeing a lot of open positions in FAANG, so what exactly has changed in FAANG's hiring process after the layoffs started? My friends in Google say it's like 10x less likely to get an offer now, but why would you layoff thousands of people and hire new middle (2+ years of exp.) engineers anyway? Let's hear more than 2 of my friends :)

Laying off then re-hiring at reduced pay and benefits, a common practice not confined to the tech industry or FAANG. Also a way to get rid of troublesome and unproductive people under the guise of a mass layoff. Labor unions exist in part to prevent that practice.

I'll let you work out why companies might prefer hiring people with less experience, or discriminate against older and more experienced people -- a practice so widespread in tech we joke about it. Hint: seniority usually implies higher pay, lower chance of getting blinded by free pizza and dry cleaning, and more independence of thought in the workplace. Less work experience usually means a more compliant employee.

A more cynical take: the tech companies, especially FAANG and the startups that emulate them, over-hired to hoard "talent" and slow down their competitors. And they based their hiring binges on bad ideas like "the metaverse," or more generally sustained crazy growth as if markets never mature. The layoffs then represent the workers paying the price for poor management and short-sighted decisions, and pandering to Wall Street and VCs.

This is a message I received from a Google recruiter.

--

This is *** again reaching out to see if you were open to new opportunities? The team I am on supports Software Engineer III - in most other places this would be more of a Software Engineer IV or V.

Based on your experience in ******, there were a few specialized roles that you would have been a great fit for, which closed earlier this month. With those positions opening up again in no time, I wanted to have a 30-minute conversation and learn more about your background. If you or anyone you know would be a good fit for one of our opportunities, please feel free to reach out.

If you or anyone you know would be a good fit for one of our many opportunities, please feel free to reach out.

--

So they are reaching out to candidates without even having job openings. This is likely in order to keep pipelines open for when positions become available. But it comes off as though they have low retention, or plan to do more layoffs and replace them with lower paid workers.

I know some recruiters not in faang. From what I've been told before they are likely 'pipelining' talent, essentially looking to always have a pool of warm talent for general roles so when a role is approved and ready to hire for they can slot in a good match.

I received this email yesterday, which I found amusing in a sad way.

Hello, Thank you for booking time with me to discuss your background and opportunities at Microsoft. Unfortunately, I need to cancel our meeting because I will be leaving the company due to changes in our business and reduction in force in Talent Acquisition. I am grateful for my time here and recommend Microsoft to anyone. I wish you all the best in your career and your next opportunity!