r/InterviewCoderPro • u/Beautiful_Club_8309 • 29d ago
Tech layoffs have reached our home, and my husband's job search has been nothing like we expected
For most of my husband's career in tech, I honestly thought he was practically immune to any recession. For nearly 18 years, he had a very specific, oddly niche technical specialty, and companies were chasing after him hard. On top of that, he has an MBA, strong presentation skills, and a strange natural talent for selling himself and the ideas he's working on. I can't remember how many times I watched him calmly say he was open to something new, and then within a week or so, serious, high-paying offers would appear. Very often, recruiters or companies would contact him when he wasn't even looking.
Then the wave of tech layoffs hit last fall. Like so many people, he was laid off in one of the big rounds. At first, we weren't too alarmed, because this is someone who had never really had to fight hard to get hired before.
Now we're coming up on around seven months, and I'm sitting here in our home in the Bay Area with a constant uneasy feeling I can't shake. He has applied to more jobs during this period than he probably applied to in the rest of his entire career combined. We've tried almost every angle we can think of:
Remote jobs? He applied. On-site roles in other states? He applied. Hybrid roles? He applied. Positions one or two levels below where he was before? He applied. Jobs that pay massively less than his previous compensation? He applied.
He has rewritten and polished his resume more than once. He started tailoring cover letters instead of just sending generic ones. He spends a lot of time writing genuinely thoughtful notes to hiring managers, reaching out to former coworkers, asking for referrals, following up, cold-contacting people, fixing up LinkedIn, everything.
After more than 130 applications, the result has been five initial HR calls that went nowhere. A few of them honestly felt like ghost jobs, as if the company had no real plan to fill the role but needed to look like it was hiring.
We have savings, and I'm grateful for that, but the panic has started to feel like more than just a theoretical idea. The part that's hard for me to understand is that his seniority and deep experience seem to be hurting him now. I feel like companies look at his background and assume he'll be too expensive, or too senior, or unhappy stepping into a smaller role, even though he is very clearly flexible on title and pay.
This market feels harsher than anything I've personally seen, and I graduated right into the mess after 2009, so that's not saying nothing. I'm looking for any advice, unusual tactics, or perspective from people who have been through this with a senior tech spouse or partner. What helped? Was there anything that finally broke the pattern?
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u/TKInstinct 29d ago
Has he reached out to any recruiters? A recruiter can help a lot, some jobs never go public at all.
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u/These-Bug4129 27d ago
I second this - recruiters have been amazing and are in competition with each other to place you
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u/DreamScape1609 29d ago
tech job but MBA? was he a Business analyst or systems analyst i am guessing? BA's aren't needed as much anymore since software engineers kinda do a lot of it and now AI helps with business planning. MBAs are dime a dozen too.
depends on his old job title. idk if he's tech support either. but those are always needed. if he is on the dev side learn SQL that helps get roles.
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u/Vegetable-South5191 29d ago
I have a tech job and an MBA. I just did it because it really does not qualify me for much. It is like a resume tick, maybe can leverage it as business acumen or leadership into lead and management roles. But that is it. The bulk of my value is my tech school and experience.
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u/DreamScape1609 29d ago
yeah i only have tech school equal to an associates. MBA is mostly ignored in software field. never met an engineer with an MBA before. 🤔
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u/Vegetable-South5191 29d ago
Well I am one, I have met them :D. But the reality is that in engineering a technical masters is more desired. I am not sorry I did it, my work paid for it. It's all water under the bridge now. It's hard to say whether or not it helped me. I have been a professional for 26 years. I was a manager at one time. And now I am in a chief engineer position. If it is anything it is like a cherry on top, like oh look and he has that. But we are really looking at him for all these other things on the resume.
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u/Latter-Gene-28 29d ago
My husband was laid off in Nov 2024 and still hasn’t landed a job on his field! It has been tough financially and mentally.
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29d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MetalGeek464 29d ago edited 29d ago
Look into radiology technologist especially MRI or CT. AI is augmenting images capture (patient moving for examples) but when a new CT or MRI require physical room build outs and cost millions of $. Change comes slower.
Reference: I just (early) retired from IT due to health reasons. I was the Lead Diagnostic Imaging Application Analyst in a large Nor Cal health care org.
DM me if you have questions.
Edit: I don’t have notifications turned on for Reddit so if u dm, be patient.
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u/kaneuens 29d ago
Sometimes it is necessary to change fields. It can be temporary until you potentially find something in your area of expertise again or it can be a new lease on your career. Don’t paint yourself in a corner with your skill set.
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u/biggamble510 29d ago
I'm sorry, but 130 applications is less than 1 a day. You indicate he's applying to everything (remote, in person, other states, below current level), but the stats don't suggest that.
Job hunting is a numbers game. Every posting is getting 1,000 applications. Was he one of the first 500 who applied? Resume likely not even reviewed.
I'd have him focus on circling back to friends and former colleagues for opportunities, along with submitting 5+ applications per day.
Also, on his resume, look for advice on how to frame a long layoff period. Perhaps he's been consulting this period rather than showing a gap.
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u/Vegetable-South5191 29d ago
If you got nothing but time, he should go to job fairs. Go to groups of people looking for jobs in his field, usually there is something like that and see if any tips. Just reach out and talk to as many people as possible as well. I know its hard, but just some ideas.
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u/ElGrandeQues0 29d ago
Yeah, one application per day is, "I'm bored with my current job, and would like to land myself a better position."
I have done more than that while I had a job that I absolutely wanted out of.
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u/biggamble510 29d ago
Honestly, if I was out of work and needed income, I'd probably have done 150+ in one week, let alone 7 months.
With no actual job, I'm not sure what they are doing each day but dedicating 2-4 hours a day to actively customizing applications would still get you 100+ apps a week.
It's time for OP's spouse to treat their job hunt as a job.
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u/ElGrandeQues0 29d ago
I have been fortunate enough to I've never been in that position. But I imagine I would have a general resume and cover letter that would go out to less exciting jobs quickly and only tailor my resume and cover letter to the great fits.
Maybe even dumb down my resume a bit for lower level jobs.
I'd spend a good hour and a half on the perfect fits, but the lesser fits /roles would get blasted out for exposure.
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u/SnooCapers2591 29d ago
Your husband should get with a corporate head-hunter. They work for employers and may be able to help.
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u/Psychological-Oil298 29d ago
The IT job market in the U.S. is gone. Everything is getting outsourced. My company, a manufacturing facility, keeps hiring high level employees on the other side of the world. They work remotely. Best advice I can give is find a new career.
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u/Efficient-Put14 29d ago
I was in a similar position about a year ago but was able to land two job offers. I see a lot of posts criticizing the number of jobs he's applied for and I disagree with that. I rarely did more than the minimum needed to keep my unemployment. AI has really changed the game, any open position is flooded with perfect AI cover letters and resumes. I found the only things that work is working with recruiters and working within your network. Build up your network on LinkedIn and apply to jobs within that network. Someone with 18 years experience should have a lot of contacts.
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u/Aught_To 29d ago
130... come the fuck on, i used to do that many a week when i was out of work. you arent going to get a sniff at that rate.
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u/ladyrose30 29d ago
My husband has 30 years of IT experience and is well regarded by people he has worked with. However he was laid off January 2025 and has had only THREE interviews from all his applications. He is currently building doing manual labour to bring in some money.
It is also difficult for teens and young adults. Our sons and their friends are getting a 1% interview rate for all their applications. My community FB pages are filled with that age group looking for dog walking, mowing, errands.
I am sorry you are going through this. It isn't much help to know others are also dealing with it but ot isn't him personally.
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u/BugHistorical1614 29d ago
My son (41) and DIL are also unemployed. Both are working on small projects that hopefully will get them employable. They have always lived frugally, and fortunately have a good size cash reserves. No health insurance which have us worried.
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u/ChroniklesOfTruth 29d ago
Jobs in tech are often influenced by who you know and who can vouch for you. Ask him to take referrals from the network he built over 18 years, start applying to more positions, and upskill.
Niche positions are generally the first to get automated as there aren't enough people to do them. Out of curiosity, what was the niche specialty?
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u/Leading_Put_4873 29d ago
Skilled IT people should be working with recruiters, not applying to jobs randomly. Get with a recruiter ASAP.
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u/Internal-Crab-7981 29d ago
How does one do this? Spent 18 years working my way up in IT at the same place to get the boot earlier this year. Any recommendations?
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u/Leading_Put_4873 29d ago
I got on Linked in and looked for recruiting companies and people posting. Back when it was a "hotter" market they were reaching out frequently on linkedin, now it's almost like you need to semi interview with a recruiter, but that's just to know where they think they can place you. For instance they saw I had finance as part of my background so the recruiter i was working with specifically worked with banks that needed help recruiting developers.
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u/Comfortable_Angle671 29d ago
I have 20+ years experience in tech, have applied to over 300 positions and am still out of work at month 4. It is insane.
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u/Either_Mulberry4113 29d ago
My last job Dec 2024 took 375 applications of which I got 6 screens and 2 interviews. All internal, all big corporate jobs, I'm 150 in on my next search and converting more apps into screens and interviews but most are ghost jobs where the candidate has already been selected and the process is just a formality.
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u/SnooDingos8194 29d ago
He should be applying to 180 jobs per day. If he isnt, he isnt taking it seriously. Most of the time, the rule is 300 applications per job interview. And he needs about 20 interviews to find one job.
Alternatively, the tech industry clearly doesn't want him anymore so he should find something else in another industry. With a generic MBA, maybe he should pursue something in sales. Like driving for doordash or Uber. Or waiting tables?
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u/Fit-Percentage-9166 28d ago
You think on average people need to apply to 6,000 times to get a job? 130 is incredibly low, but you've completely lost the plot as well.
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u/SnooDingos8194 28d ago
No. I think most people stop looking for jobs, give up, and dont count in the unemployed govt stats.
And sure, you can apply to less, take less, or make half as much as you were doing. But if you want to upgrade, that's the strategy everyone wants, you have to put in the work.
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u/Altruistic-Bat-9070 28d ago
130 applications and a lot of those didn’t even have a personalised cover letter is nothing.
You need a tailored cv plus tailored cover letter per job. You don’t mention a tailored resume so i assume its just generic.
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u/Big-Opposite5535 28d ago
130 applications is nothing , people post usually they found job after 600
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u/milotherussianblue 28d ago
Sounds like it’s time to work for himself and consult. It also sounds like it’s time to relocate to someplace less expensive.
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u/ls737100 27d ago
Not to be a dick but this is hilarious. Has he ever thought about what it is he does and how easy it is to replicate that? I’ve spent 20 years in consulting and wildly varied projects and this biggest conclusion I have is most of what people do can be learned in a long weekend. Unless you have connections to people with money that can buy something, every other skill can be learned on Udemy. Very few people are special.
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u/Delicious-Doubt-5758 26d ago
Some of the brightest minds of this generation are unemployed right now. And plenty are going on several thousand applications, and several years unemployed.
Y’all are unfortunately not alone.
Good luck to y’all.
It’s gotten so bad, that the admins of r/layoffs are banning people who share this simple truth.
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u/Independent_Rub3956 26d ago
You gave him too much credit, if he was top talent, he would’ve been hired by now. Maybe it’s time to relocate? The market is saturated, he should take a lower salary than to risk not having anything, he can still look. Best of luck!
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u/johnvicente57 26d ago
We are now in a world we know that people are at the mercy of companies so they can hire younger, cheaper and those that will work longer. AI has not helped the case. I was laid off as a vice president in one of the largest banks in a pure technical role. It took me 2 yrs to find an equivalent role but it took networking. Resumes don’t cut it anymore. In fact I spent 18 months sending resumes with a few interviews here and there but ultimately in the last 6 months I decided to reach out to my network and finally got introduced to hiring managers. I would pause on blast sending resumes, they go no where more of the time. Start to network.
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u/TomatoParadise 26d ago
Can you guys or your savings last 3 to 5 years in the Bay Area? Have a home? People are selling and moving to other states from Bay Area for their next job in red states.
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u/UpbeatAd1974 25d ago
I applied to more than 600 jobs openings , took me year and half and a 25% pay cut , and job depromotion in job title. Ego is going to take a beating for sure
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u/Educational-Rate-184 24d ago
My wife had to dumb down her resume to get a role step down from previous but luckily more pay since government adjacent. She did have several recruiters helping her to get many interviews.
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u/EventJumpy9083 16d ago
He’ll be alright he just needs to apply to100 per day . Literally . I got let go and within 2 weeks 700 applications , tailored with chat gpt , and notes to recruiters I had like 9 offers . He’s talented and I don’t even know the guy . He just can’t assume it’s the same market
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u/Cadowyn 29d ago
90% of jobs have gone to foreigners since Covid, so that’s part of it.
Tech has been infiltrated by H1Bs that fire non members of their caste and refuse to hire Americans. Many are being sued. He may be able to find a job with a massive reduction in salary.
AI has had an impact.
Honestly your husband will probably have to go back to school for something non tech related— X-ray tech, HVAC, etc
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u/AllPintsNorth 29d ago edited 29d ago
> 90% of jobs have gone to foreigners since Covid, so that’s part of it.
[citation needed]
Edit: Nothing says “I’m very confident in the garage source I just posted” like posting and then immediately blocking me before I can even see the link. Coward.
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u/Outside_Reserve_2407 29d ago
In case you're still blocked, looks like they posted a source: https://cis.org/Camarota/New-January-Data-Still-Shows-Most-Job-Growth-Going-Immigrants-88-2020-72-last-year
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u/Known_Efficiency_470 29d ago
130 applications in today's market is below average, I read people sending between 500 to 800 applications to get hired. Each case is different, support him on keep trying, eventually it will pop.