When Toni Sykes began interviewing for biotech jobs after being laid off several months ago, she didn’t initially think much of it. As a clinical research professional in Long Beach told SFGate, she knew her worth as an employee and understood that her layoff was beyond her control. She was a high performer, and she assumed that companies interviewing her—some of which had also experienced layoffs—would be sympathetic. However, each time she mentioned being laid off, she noticed a sudden shift in how she was treated.
The first time it happened, the interview was going well. But when she mentioned her layoff, the hiring manager quickly lost interest, she told SFGATE. What was supposed to be a 30-minute conversation was abruptly cut short to just 12 minutes. “It was obvious they weren’t feeling good about it,” she said.
A new role at a startup in California
Then it happened again with another company. As soon as she mentioned her layoff, she noticed the hiring managers began messaging each other. She knew they were discussing her, she said, because one of them was wearing glasses that reflected their computer screen. “You could see the lines of text,” she told SFGate with a laugh. Eventually, she began questioning whether she should even mention the layoff in interviews and started to reframe her language more positively. Months later, she finally secured a new role at a startup in California.
“It’s been tough,” she said. According to corporate recruiters, this type of bias is likely more common than people realize. For the thousands of California tech companies view laid-off workers, it can make the job application process feel even more brutal and dehumanizing than it already is.
‘There’s an Unspoken Bias’told SFGate
Over the past two years, the tech industry has seen significant layoffs. Major companies across the state have let go of highly paid workers, forcing employees at Google, Meta, and billion-dollar biotech firms to clear out their desks and leave their badges behind. Even tech recruiters have found themselves struggling, with some taking on jobs in catering and online retail just to make ends meet, as one recruiter told SFGATE earlier this year. Others have sent out hundreds of applications, only to be ignored or ghosted by recruiters. Now, to add to their struggles, it appears that some companies view their unemployed status as a scarlet letter.
Brian Creely, a tech recruiter and career coach, notes a subtle yet widespread bias against people who have been laid off. Over his 20-year career, he’s observed clients hesitate to hire workers who are struggling to find jobs, even when they’re skilled and fully capable.
“There’s definitely an unspoken bias,” he told SFGATE in a phone interview. He explained that directors and C-suite executives in their “ivory towers” are often disconnected from reality and fail to understand that layoffs usually aren’t a reflection of an employee’s performance. Despite this, job seekers are likely to continue facing stigma during the hiring process.
Creely recalls a conversation with a senior director at an automotive tech company in California, for example, who refused to hire laid-off workers, viewing them as “damaged goods.” Despite Creely’s best efforts, he couldn’t change the director’s mind. He encountered a similar situation while recruiting for a San Diego-based tech marketing company from 2022 to 2023. At that time, Creely and other recruiters were keeping an eye on companies conducting layoffs to find potential new software developers.
When Meta began laying off thousands of workers that year, a recruiter mentioned the opportunity in a private Slack channel. However, the company’s chief human resources officer quickly intervened, advising them to avoid hiring former Meta employees, dismissing them as “somebody else’s table scraps.” Creely chose to ignore the comment.
Getting a job at Meta is one of the hardest achievements in the tech industry, Creely said, so the notion that Meta hired “a bunch of jokers” is something he strongly disagrees with.
In one of his most popular YouTube videos, where he discusses what not to say to recruiters during an interview, Creely advises candidates to avoid expressing their need for a job. He explains that showing urgency will only push recruiters away.
“What an employer hears is that you’re desperate,” he said in the video. He often sees candidates try to justify their situation or overcompensate, which he believes can make hiring managers suspicious and provide an excuse to offer lowball salaries to struggling job seekers.
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