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Last November, Jordan Gibbs went to the office for what he thought was another routine workday. For a while: There are meetings to attend, emails to respond to, and co-workers to talk to.
Then the world stopped. Gibbs received an email telling him he was being released, effective immediately. He had four hours before he lost access to his work computer.
“I just sat there in shock for the first hour,” Gibbs, 31, said fortune. “It’s surreal.”
Gibbs worked in human resources at Lyft for just shy of four years. They were part of what was considered the first wave of tech layoffs last year, when Lyft cut 13% of its staff.
Though it didn’t seem like it at the time, Gibbs now considers being fired in early November a blessing. This allows them to start looking for new jobs before the “bloodbath” begins, he said. Since the beginning of the year, more than 210 tech companies have laid off more than 68,000 employees (as of Friday, January 27), according to Layoffs.fyi, which tracks job cuts in the industry.
Not that the search process to find a new role is easy. Getting laid off decimated Gibbs’ self-esteem and made him feel like a failure. He’s still working on those feelings.
“I’ve never felt like more of a fool in my life,” she said. “It’s a shame, but I define myself by what I can do. When this tenant of your personality is gone, it’s like, who am I without this work?”
Layoffs are traumatic. Those affected may suffer from anxiety and depression, and their confidence and self-esteem may drop. Feelings of shame and worthlessness are common. And that’s before financial stress hits. All told, it takes years for people to recover from job loss.
By all accounts, Gibbs has exceeded performance metrics at work. He didn’t understand why he was the only one on his team to be released and was angry. At the same time, colleagues at other companies who were also laid off received more generous severance packages—Gibbs received 10 weeks of salary and vesting time for his equity to rise—which compounded his frustration.
Feeling hurt and angry, he said, is easier than maintaining a positive attitude, especially when there’s no specific reason why something happened that you can control. He also watched job losses pile up in the tech industry, complicating his search process; she lost weight because of all the stress.
“You open through a dark, disgusting rabbit hole of, ‘Why me?'” he said. “It’s death by a thousand cuts, comparison. It’s just too much. You’re really letting the negative stuff in.”
But Gibbs said he was a practical man with bills to pay, so he began recruiting at tech companies. Even if he allows himself to cry and binge Real Housewives The day he lost his job, he started calling and filling out the next application.
Over the next few days, Gibbs applied for 173 jobs. He had 42 interviews—some with several people—and received several rejections from positions he liked. He vlogs about his job search process on TikTok, developing a small community that makes him happy and responsible. Because he was filming looking for a job, he had to wake up every day and do it something.
On day 69, just before his 10 weeks of severance would technically expire, Gibbs received a job offer at the same salary (but less in equity compensation than his previous role) that he had received. He will no longer work for a tech company, which is great.
“I’m very grateful because it taught me humility and resilience,” he said in a TikTok video about the search process.
‘Finding a job is a full time job’
Gibbs declined to share the exact numbers, but said he made well into six figures in his previous role, between base salary and equity. They know that being well paid is a blessing, but it also limits what kind of work they want. They want to make at least the same basic salary, because of the cost.
“It’s going to be a lot to make a living on that salary and then lose money,” he said.
Fortunately, Gibbs has prioritized building emergency savings before the layoff. They also receive their severance pay as one lump sum, so they know how much they have to spend. The financial pressure is not as acute for him as it is for many who face unemployment.
Instead, he experienced many of the indignities familiar to anyone who has lost a job. Dealing with New York’s unemployment system and COBRA health insurance has made Gibbs a more empathetic person, he said.
“Finding a job is a full-time job. Make sure you have health care, file for unemployment and do it every week… “It’s a very scary thing. The government doesn’t easily recognize or get these resources.
She also cut almost all of her trivial expenses, including coffee, dinner, trips to the nail salon, and gym memberships, and moved back in with her parents in California so they could rent an apartment in New York. He recognized his privileged position.
Gibbs’ best advice for people currently going through a layoff is to get help from family, friends, and even strangers, if you can. His parents let him live at home for free. A friend sent her $5 for coffee and a spa gift card; others take her out to dinner. Strangers on TikTok offer to send work clothes for interviews.
But help comes in all different forms, not just financial help. Gibbs attributes some of his success in finding a new job quickly to words of encouragement he received from people who followed his journey.
“You know right now it’s like shit, but it’s okay,” she says of having a support network. “Having a little peace of mind for a moment can help you get through the next four hours of hell.”
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