- Jermaine Murray is a job recruiter who’s worked with companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft.
- As tech experiences a downturn, Murray says it’s important for job seekers to ask hard questions.
- This is how Murray suggests job seekers navigate layoffs, as told to reporter Jessica Xing.
I’m the founder of JupiterHR, a recruiting firm that’s helped place over 700 tech workers at companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Google since 2019.
Just a month ago, I saw how candidates had an unprecedented amount of leverage in the job market. Candidates came to me with lucrative offers and counteroffers from firms like Meta, Reddit, and Uber. In fact, most candidates had multiple offers, leaving companies scrambling to distinguish themselves fast. If companies couldn’t do it with cash, they tried other enticing benefits like four-day workweeks or permanent work-from-home arrangements.
Yet within the past two weeks, I’ve seen how quickly things changed. The pendulum has swung the other way, and now companies are facing hiring freezes, layoffs, and trying to figure out how to make do with the talent they have. People I placed just five months ago have already been affected by layoffs.