On May 5, 2020, I was laid off from my previous company. On June 30, 2020, I signed the offer from another company that I’m very excited about. I am writing this article to share the experience of some of my coworkers and myself from getting laid off to landing a new job in the midst of the global pandemic. I hope it could be helpful and encouraging to people who are going through layoffs.

From getting laid off to landing a new job during the global pandemic

Due to the global pandemic, many tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area started laying off employees in the early spring of 2020. On May 5th, Airbnb laid off 1900 people, 25% of its employees, and I was one of them.

In addition to the massive layoffs, many companies froze hiring as nobody knows what the future may look like for their business. For those companies that are still hiring, the bar is getting higher, and many companies now only have open positions for very experienced candidates. In April 2020, the official U.S. unemployment rate increased by 10.3% points to 14.7%, which is the highest rate and the largest over-the-month increase in the history of the data (available back to January 1948). You can imagine how competitive the job market became during that time.

The tight job market is just one of the hardships an unemployed person has to deal with. Although people say “getting laid off is not about your performance”, it’s hard not to wonder if I was not good enough. As a H-1B visa holder, I was also worried if I could find a job within a very short time period so that the U.S. government won’t force me to leave the country. In addition, I love my previous company and people there so much that I was sad that I had to leave.

Now I look back to my friends and my own experience through the layoffs and job search, I realized that there was nothing that couldn’t be fixed. If people are strong enough and well prepared, they will still be the ones to decide which company they want to work for, and I want to share a few stories with you.

The first story is about my coworker Tina. Tina had 5 final onsite interviews, got 5 offers, 100% pass rate.

The first offer she received was from a medium-sized company. The recruiter of that company asked her if she was laid off by Airbnb in their first conversation.

How is the fact that a candidate was laid off relevant to the interview process at your company? Or do you think you can get a “good deal” because they need a job?

Sure enough, the company offered Tina a lower level and lower compensation package than her current level. Tina asked the recruiter if they could revisit the leveling. The recruiter told her, “We decided not to change your level. We look forward to seeing your long-term growth at our company”.

I think this company thinks unemployed people are begging for a job. They think they can take advantage of those affected by layoffs and offer them less than their worth. However, you shouldn’t expect your employees hired in this way to be loyal or, let alone, excited about working for you. They won’t stick around. They would most likely leave you in a heartbeat for a better company as soon as this crisis is over.

Fortunately, Tina was very well prepared that she had 4 other onsite interviews and got 4 more offers, including Google, Facebook, TikTok, etc. Thanks to the layoff, she is joining another great company to work with a team of smart people and got promoted to the next level with a better compensation package than she previously had.

The second story is about my coworker Ian. Ian just won the H-1B visa lottery this year. He thought he would work at our previous company until the H-1B visa takes effect. He never knew he would be laid off.

When he got laid off, his H-1B visa was gone as well. What’s even worse, his current J-1 visa did not have any grace period, which meant he needed to join another company before our official last day, which gives him only two months’ time to get a job.

Even though his H-1B visa was gone, and he had a much shorter time to find another job than anyone else, he never complained to me. He has been optimistic and calm throughout the whole job search process.

Ian got his first oral offer after only a few weeks of interviewing. It seems that the company liked him very much. They arranged several people talking to him about the projects he would be working on, but they didn’t give him the official offer to sign. Ian thought he could join a company very soon; however, the company decided not to give him the official offer.

Ian and I thought the reason was that the company has also given an offer to another candidate, and Ian was just a plan B for that position. Had the other candidate rejected the offer, Ian would have got the job. But it looks like the other candidate has accepted the offer.

Even in this case, Ian still didn’t complain, he briefly told me about what happened and moved on to prepare for other interviews.

Among all the people I know, Ian has the most intense interview schedule and the biggest stress. He would have 5 final onsite interviews plus a few phone screens in a week.

After living such a crazy life for a few weeks, he received multiple offers, joined the new company within the two months’ timeframe, and also got promoted to the next level.

Similar to Tina and Ian, many of my other colleagues also achieved similar results. If there weren’t layoffs, they might not have the motivation to prepare for interviews so intensely and efficiently, nor would they get promoted so quickly, including me.

Though I’m not as experienced as many of my coworkers, I at least had a very clear goal of what type of data scientist jobs I was looking for: I want to work as a product data scientist who mainly works on product analytics and experimentation, and can have a direct impact on products.

Since the goal was clear, I analyzed what I needed to work on to get the best result. I focused on reviewing statistics and experimental design, and I didn’t spend time on practicing LeetCode programming questions.

After a few weeks of intensive study and interviews, I had 6 onsite interviews and received 3 offers, all from product data scientist positions. I also got a promotion and a better compensation package, and I’m going to join a company that I like a lot.

(Tina and Ian are not real names)

What I want you to know

1. Getting laid off doesn’t mean you are not good enough

First of all, you must adjust your mindset. Getting laid off does not mean that you are not good enough, nor does it mean that you are begging for a job opportunity. You must keep this in mind.

Even when the United States’ unemployment rate has soared to the highest record in history, if you are well prepared, you can still choose among multiple opportunities.

Some companies may think that there are more job seekers and fewer job openings now, and they can spend less money to recruit exceptional talent. I want to say, if you believe you deserve a better opportunity and higher pay, then you deserve it. You don’t need to settle for less. You have to believe in your own value because no one else knows you better than yourself.

2. Be well prepared for interviews

When preparing for data science or software engineering interviews, people usually need to spend weeks to months reviewing technical knowledge. For example, if you are interviewing for data science positions, you need to review: advanced SQL, basic Python/R data manipulation, statistics, experimental design, machine learning algorithms, product/case analysis knowledge. If you are interviewing for machine learning engineering positions, you will also need to go through Leetcode coding questions.

I usually start interviewing as soon as I decide to look for jobs because I use taking interviews as a way to evaluate how well I’m prepared for interviews. However, during this challenging time, there are fewer companies that are still hiring. A better strategy in these times is to take some time to review all the knowledge needed and then take interviews to not waste interview opportunities.

But remember, you will never be 100% ready, don’t wait until you feel like 100% ready because that day will never come.

3. Optimize your job search conversion funnel

It’s true that the job search conversion funnel is different between people with work experience and people without. However, I believe the difference is in the level of difficulty to get a job, not a determining factor of whether or not someone can get a job.

When I was switching to data scientist two years ago, my job search conversion funnel was:

475 applications → 50 interviews → 8 onsite interviews → 2 offers

My job search conversion funnel this year was:

30 applications → 13 interviews → 6 onsite interviews → 3 offers

The conversion rate between every two steps looks like below:

Analyzing the job search conversion funnel is just like a typical case study question in data science interviews. The goal is to increase the number of offers. The metric is the conversion rate between every two steps in the interview process. It should be straightforward for you to tell which steps you need to optimize.

If the total number of interviews is low, you should try to optimize the top of the funnel. e.g., modify your resume, apply for more jobs, find more referrals, publish your information on as many platforms as possible to let more people know that you are looking for a job, etc.

If you failed many interviews, you should break down by interview type for more in-depth analysis. Taking data science interviews as an example, you can break down to see if you need to brush up statistics knowledge or case study knowledge, practice more SQL or Python, etc. After you understand which steps have the biggest drop-offs in the conversion funnel, focus on improving those steps.

4. Only focus on things under your control

People talk about how difficult it is to get a job because companies raised their bars. People complain about some companies having job postings on their website but they are not seriously hiring. Yes, they might be correct. But I think it isn’t worth spending time complaining about these external factors.

Would you stop looking for jobs if the hiring bar is getting higher?

Would you check every company carefully to see if they are seriously hiring before you submit your applications?

Rather than spending time worrying about things out of your control, you can use the time to study more interview questions instead. If you study one more question, you might reach the hiring bar of a company. If you whine about things out of your control, you are just collecting excuses for your failures.

The same logic applies to how you treat failed interviews. It’s okay to feel sad for a few minutes when you fail an interview, but it isn’t worth more than a few minutes. When you fail an interview, you should think about why you failed. Was it because some answers you gave were not good enough? Or maybe you were just unlucky? If you think you failed because you didn’t answer some questions well, try to get better at those questions next time. If you feel that you got unlucky, then even better, you don’t need to think about it at all!

Never lose self-confidence because you failed an interview. You have to believe that you are amazing. Anything that you didn’t do well can be improved. You will just get better and better as you get more practice.

Rather than doubting yourself because some companies rejected you, it is better to thank them for giving you an interview opportunity, so that you get to practice your interview skills. With better interview skills, you will be able to catch better job opportunities when they come to you.

5. It doesn’t matter how fast other people get a job

Some people prefer a high-intensity job search process, and they like to spend only a few weeks doing interviews from morning till night. Some people prefer to balance interviews and their personal lives, so they prepare more slowly.

Some people have years of work experience and excellent foundation knowledge; thus it doesn’t take them much time to get a new job. Some people have less experience or need more time to solidify their foundation knowledge; therefore they need more time to prepare.

Everyone has their own pace and timing. You just need to move forward steadily on your track. There’s no need to compare yourself with others or get yourself affected by other people’s achievements. Your ultimate goal is to find a job that you are willing to stay for a few years, not to clutch at whatever straw is handed to you.

6. Every cloud has a silver lining

My colleagues and my experiences have shown that layoffs can lead to better job opportunities and even promotions. This experience reinforced my belief that everything that looks like misfortune in life is a blessing in disguise. The most important factors that made the turnaround happen are knowing your value, having self-confidence, and focusing on things under your control. “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” I hope you stand up even higher against something that tries to pull you down, and I know you CAN if you want to. Cheers.