Life after a layoff
There’s no sugarcoating last week’s layoffs.
Amazon is cutting 16,000 corporate jobs, pushing thousands of workers into a job market already crowded with tech talent. Business Insider was all over the news, with scoop after scoop, including internal messages revealing which teams and jobs were affected.
The layoffs followed the 14,000 job cuts Amazon announced back in October.
And it’s not just Amazon.
UPS expects to eliminate 30,000 roles, on top of the 48,000 cuts it announced last year. Home Depot is laying off 800 corporate employees. Pinterest said it’s cutting 15% of its staff.
So, what happens next?
My colleague Jacob Zinkula, who covers the economy, has spoken with dozens of laid-off workers over the past year, many from Big Tech companies, including Amazon.
A clear theme has emerged. Many built careers years ago when opportunities felt endless. Now, even strong résumés and big-name employers don’t guarantee a quick bounce-back.
Part of the reason is simple math. US businesses are hiring at one of the slowest rates since 2013.
And the early impact of AI is starting to show up, too. Companies are finding ways to run leaner. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said AI can now let one employee do the work of entire teams — a shift that’s shaping how companies think about hiring.
Still, it’s not all doom and gloom.
Jacob recently spoke with Iren Azra Zou, a 27-year-old former Amazon employee in New Jersey, who was laid off in October. She explained how she landed a new job just two weeks later.
Her advice for other laid-off tech workers:
Take time to process and grieve, if you need itReflect on what you actually want in your next roleReach out to your network. Ask for help
“Looking back, I see the layoff as a turning point because it helped me clarify what I wanted in my next role,” she said. “It was still difficult, but I felt more grounded and optimistic as time went on — and ultimately landed a role I feel great about.”
