6 ms·

Show HN: Layoffs.at – helping people laid off find work

95 points by mrburton 7y ago

thih9 7y ago
I wish there was an „about” section or something similar. Right now I see basically two registration forms. Can anyone provide more context?
- mrburton 7y ago
  There will be an about today. As a company, we work closely with those laid off to help them find their next job. We don't charge candidates for this service. Given our extremely technical backgrounds, we can help people and companies based strongly on technical experience, past projects, and future interests. We understand how important it is to work on not just exciting projects, but interesting technology.
  - master-litty 7y ago
    Thank you for taking the time to reply. >we work closely How closely? What do you do? >We don't charge candidates for this service. So you're a recruiting company that targets layoffs? Why would I use a service like this over, for example, Triplebyte, which also accommodates the same scenario? From both perspectives -- The company and the candidate. >Given our extremely technical backgrounds How extremely? In what way? >based strongly on technical experience, What technical experience? >past projects, What past projects? >and future interests. What future interests?
    - mrburton 7y ago
      One thing that has always felt wrong/broken/dirty, is how little people get to know about you when applying for a job. In order to correct this, we schedule a call to learn the following: Understand experience. - Learn more about recent projects and you're personal involvement; role - Understand what technologies were used and your depth of those technologies Understand what you're looking for in terms of: - Problems excite you - Technology and architectures > So you're a recruiting company that targets layoffs? A better way of looking at it is, we're a networking platform for candidates and companies to find one another. In addition to this, we do provide a concierge service for companies in which we will send out a curated list of candidates we spoken to personally along with a write up of that persons experience. > How extremely? In what way? Our professional background is in software development. We love talking tech! What technology do you use?
doctorpangloss 7y ago
So what's with all the recruiting companies?
- PopeDotNinja 7y ago
  Recruiting is a big, fat, inefficient market. If you have N people contacting M companies, and M companies contacting N people, there's a whole lot of inefficiency there. Then you have ridiculous interview processes, a lack of communication about how to improve all around, overloaded in-house recruiters who get swamped and work below peak efficiency, high costs to access premium services like job posting & LinkedIn, and so on. Eventually you throw your hands up and pay big fat fees to people who send you candidates. Any nominal optimization or gimmick can charge a lot of money. Eventually someone will figure out a way to remove all the friction and drive the cost of hiring the old way down.
  - mrburton 7y ago
    You're so on point with this comment. Core to our belief is keeping costs low, do our diligence with the companies and candidates, and work on improving how this business is done. Most people don't know recruiting hasn't changed much since Julius Caesar in 55 B.C. I found an interesting article that you might find interesting. https://www.ere.net/history-of-recruiting-part-i/ https://www.ere.net/history-of-recruiting-part-i/
    - PopeDotNinja 7y ago
      An even more basic point is that most people don't like sourcing, including recruiters. If you try to outsource and/or throw money at a problem to make it someone else's problem, you'll never get close enough to the actual pain points to be aware of them. And when a sourcing superstar does rise above the rest, they will find no one cares to learn what they've learned, let along practice it.
- mrburton 7y ago
  We're not a recruiting firm, and we'll make this distinction very clear on the website soon. The primary purpose of the website is to help people bounce back from being laid off. Given this is our primary mission, we don't do the following: - We don't charge companies a % of a candidate's salary. This feels dirty to us, and it's not in the candidate's best interest. - We don't prevent companies from discovering people who have been laid off. Profiles on the website will be visible to companies, much like LinkedIn. Since we're technical, we want to speak with you. Understand your background, technical expertise, and what you're looking to work on. We are focusing on a niche market and this allows us to focus our energy on actually speaking to each candidate in-depth about their technical experience; we'll be able to represent you and get you that interview quicker.
eximius 7y ago
Seems to have been hugged to death. Also, some of the header links seemed to not work, possibly due to overzealous ad blockers? Not sure, I clicked on something else and got a 502 after that.
- mrburton 7y ago
  Interesting - the server seems to be responding. What browser/os?
  - eximius 7y ago
    Chrome/Ubuntu 18.04
SSilver2k2 7y ago
Grammatical error on the landing page. "Are you a Hiring?" Any github link where we can post issues?
- excalibur 7y ago
  Another: "We connected you with great companies looking for you!" Should probably be revised to something like: "We connect you with great companies, who are looking for great workers like you!" Or something more simple, like: "We connect great companies with fantastic workers!"
  - Igelau 7y ago
    That one really confused me and gives the whole operation a slightly spammy smell.
    - silasdavis 7y ago
      Agreed
- mrburton 7y ago
  Thank you! Updated and rolling out now.
jagged-chisel 7y ago
> High profile layoffs in $whatever Does 'high profile' matter? My layoff months ago closed an office locally (25 people laid off) in a country-wide effort affecting about 200 people. It wasn't in the news, there was no PR around the action. Further layoffs followed around the world, and still no news (publicly traded company - doesn't The Market love a layoff?) The former parent company (who had created the spinoff 9mos previously) wasn't aware (you'd expect networking between execs to maintain a grapevine, right?) Interviewers were often incredulous. I feel like this was a factor in being declined an offer in a few cases.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- mrburton 7y ago
  > Does 'high profile' matter? Not at all. There's really no discrimination based on how big company or layoff is, we'll work with you. This was placed here to appeal to companies. We want to create as much "liquidity" as possible to help people bounce back. I would love feedback on what do you think would be a better phrase? > doesn't The Market love a layoff? The market does love layoffs; but there's no centralized place for companies and candidates to find one another. That's what we provide. We'll also help in the process if you like. When I was younger, I went through this process and really wished I had someone to help me through it. Watching all of these recent layoffs made me want to do something about it. If there's anything you feel like could be done to help those affected by layoffs, I would love to hear it. Thank you for your feedback!
- adamstober 7y ago
  I agree high profile shouldn’t matter, but it helps to grab the attention of recruiters who often pay attention to high-profile consumer companies like “Uber” but not to smaller, more enterprise-facing startups. It’s not necessarily a logical disconnect, but it is real.
bkfunk 7y ago
Similarly: https://www.layoff-aid.com/ https://www.layoff-aid.com/
- adamstober 7y ago
  Thanks bkfunk. All — I launched layoff-aid.com for SF tech talent in 2017. Love the initiative here and happy to help push it forward or do whatever else I can to better solve the problem. Email is Adam@ , mention HN
chank 7y ago
I'm confused. Is there some aspect about a person being laid off that makes them more/less desirable that they need a specific service to help them find a new job? I know some people who have been laid off might be dusty with job hunting skills and there are services to help anyone that specific area. Also seeing a trend of niche job websites popping up... Fragmentation in this industry seems counterproductive.
- adamstober 7y ago
  Great questions. Yes. The job seekers are more desirable to sourcing teams if they are systematically filtered to be sincere about taking a new role, local, and experienced in a given role. Layoffs tend to produce a gold mine in that respect from a talent acquisition perspective. Good point on fragmentation seeming counterproductive. It certainly is, but that’s the way it is since different candidates and different employers have different preferences (e.g. an engineer might prefer maintaining GitHub over LinkedIn, so sourcers can’t just use LinkedIn). Also, people who have been laid off tend to value a specific package of help — not just job leads, but also resume reviews, fast-track processes, and sometimes creative (non-traditional / part-time) leads that fill any potential gap.
- rolltiide 7y ago
  > I'm confused. Is there some aspect about a person being laid off that makes them more/less desirable that they need a specific service to help them find a new job? Yes. There are stigmas. People solve this by just having their perpetual consulting company on their resume, or put back on their resume when convenient. There is bargaining power when you can feign disinterest, as in you're 'open to opportunities' but not 'looking for a job I'll start next week' like a new college grad. Less relevant for engineers in this job market but not irrelevant. > Also seeing a trend of niche job websites popping up... Fragmentation in this industry seems counterproductive. But that buyout isn't counterproductive. Also recruiters either earn a tiny referral bonus or like 20% of the agreed upon salary. The company doesn't pay it from the employee's salary, they just pay that additional amount equivalent to what 20% of the salary is.
  - 7y ago
themoonbus 7y ago
What's the benefit of targeting only people who have been part of a high profile layoffs? Seems like a smaller pool on both sides-less people to recruit, and less recruiters who specifically are interested in these types of candidates. If it's as a proxy to quality of candidate, isn't there a better way to measure that?
- mrburton 7y ago
  We feel like keeping a very niche focus allows us to do a fantastic job at helping candidates find their next job. It will enable us to work closely with the candidates and work on a process that can eventually scale.
Bubbadoo 7y ago
So far seems to be a data mining effort. I create an account and then I'm whisked away to a form that want's my information to build a profile. At this point, I have no idea what the service will specifically do for me, other than compile my information.
- mrburton 7y ago
  Sorry, it's not a data mining effort. We're taking sign-ups now and will start scheduling calls with people. To best help us, getting some information makes this process move faster.
justinzollars 7y ago
Sorry, but this is just depressing. I would never use that.
_RPM 7y ago
To me, this looks like an email collection form. Do you actually have a product built, or are just testing the market?
kemitchell 7y ago
Their privacy policy is in a `<pre>` with `overflow: auto;`. https://layoffs.at/privacy https://layoffs.at/privacy
- mrburton 7y ago
  Thanks for pointing this out. This was fixed.
reilly3000 7y ago
I really got a kick out of this. Its sort of fiendishly brilliant to launch a "layoff" job board in advance of a recession.
thefrog 7y ago
Is... is this satire?
s3nnyy 7y ago
I tried something similar with "rejected.dev" (https://coderfit.com/rejected-dev https://coderfit.com/rejected-dev) but no one was interested. There is some kind of stigma attached to being rejected, it seems. If another firms throws you out, even if it is not your fault, there is still some loser touch attached to you and the perceived value of you drops, sadly.
usr1106 7y ago
Job markets are mostly national, so the site would benefit from stating their coverage on the front page. Especially if they are (mis)using a country top level domain.

95 points by mrburton 7y ago

I wish there was an „about” section or something similar. Right now I see basically two registration forms. Can anyone provide more context?

mrburton 7y ago
There will be an about today. As a company, we work closely with those laid off to help them find their next job. We don't charge candidates for this service. Given our extremely technical backgrounds, we can help people and companies based strongly on technical experience, past projects, and future interests. We understand how important it is to work on not just exciting projects, but interesting technology.
- master-litty 7y ago
  Thank you for taking the time to reply. >we work closely How closely? What do you do? >We don't charge candidates for this service. So you're a recruiting company that targets layoffs? Why would I use a service like this over, for example, Triplebyte, which also accommodates the same scenario? From both perspectives -- The company and the candidate. >Given our extremely technical backgrounds How extremely? In what way? >based strongly on technical experience, What technical experience? >past projects, What past projects? >and future interests. What future interests?
  - mrburton 7y ago
    One thing that has always felt wrong/broken/dirty, is how little people get to know about you when applying for a job. In order to correct this, we schedule a call to learn the following: Understand experience. - Learn more about recent projects and you're personal involvement; role - Understand what technologies were used and your depth of those technologies Understand what you're looking for in terms of: - Problems excite you - Technology and architectures > So you're a recruiting company that targets layoffs? A better way of looking at it is, we're a networking platform for candidates and companies to find one another. In addition to this, we do provide a concierge service for companies in which we will send out a curated list of candidates we spoken to personally along with a write up of that persons experience. > How extremely? In what way? Our professional background is in software development. We love talking tech! What technology do you use?

doctorpangloss 7y ago

So what's with all the recruiting companies?

PopeDotNinja 7y ago
Recruiting is a big, fat, inefficient market. If you have N people contacting M companies, and M companies contacting N people, there's a whole lot of inefficiency there. Then you have ridiculous interview processes, a lack of communication about how to improve all around, overloaded in-house recruiters who get swamped and work below peak efficiency, high costs to access premium services like job posting & LinkedIn, and so on. Eventually you throw your hands up and pay big fat fees to people who send you candidates. Any nominal optimization or gimmick can charge a lot of money. Eventually someone will figure out a way to remove all the friction and drive the cost of hiring the old way down.
- mrburton 7y ago
  You're so on point with this comment. Core to our belief is keeping costs low, do our diligence with the companies and candidates, and work on improving how this business is done. Most people don't know recruiting hasn't changed much since Julius Caesar in 55 B.C. I found an interesting article that you might find interesting. https://www.ere.net/history-of-recruiting-part-i/ https://www.ere.net/history-of-recruiting-part-i/
  - PopeDotNinja 7y ago
    An even more basic point is that most people don't like sourcing, including recruiters. If you try to outsource and/or throw money at a problem to make it someone else's problem, you'll never get close enough to the actual pain points to be aware of them. And when a sourcing superstar does rise above the rest, they will find no one cares to learn what they've learned, let along practice it.
mrburton 7y ago
We're not a recruiting firm, and we'll make this distinction very clear on the website soon. The primary purpose of the website is to help people bounce back from being laid off. Given this is our primary mission, we don't do the following: - We don't charge companies a % of a candidate's salary. This feels dirty to us, and it's not in the candidate's best interest. - We don't prevent companies from discovering people who have been laid off. Profiles on the website will be visible to companies, much like LinkedIn. Since we're technical, we want to speak with you. Understand your background, technical expertise, and what you're looking to work on. We are focusing on a niche market and this allows us to focus our energy on actually speaking to each candidate in-depth about their technical experience; we'll be able to represent you and get you that interview quicker.

eximius 7y ago

Seems to have been hugged to death. Also, some of the header links seemed to not work, possibly due to overzealous ad blockers? Not sure, I clicked on something else and got a 502 after that.

mrburton 7y ago
Interesting - the server seems to be responding. What browser/os?
- eximius 7y ago
  Chrome/Ubuntu 18.04

SSilver2k2 7y ago

Grammatical error on the landing page. "Are you a Hiring?" Any github link where we can post issues?

excalibur 7y ago
Another: "We connected you with great companies looking for you!" Should probably be revised to something like: "We connect you with great companies, who are looking for great workers like you!" Or something more simple, like: "We connect great companies with fantastic workers!"
- Igelau 7y ago
  That one really confused me and gives the whole operation a slightly spammy smell.
  - silasdavis 7y ago
    Agreed
mrburton 7y ago
Thank you! Updated and rolling out now.

jagged-chisel 7y ago

> High profile layoffs in $whatever Does 'high profile' matter? My layoff months ago closed an office locally (25 people laid off) in a country-wide effort affecting about 200 people. It wasn't in the news, there was no PR around the action. Further layoffs followed around the world, and still no news (publicly traded company - doesn't The Market love a layoff?) The former parent company (who had created the spinoff 9mos previously) wasn't aware (you'd expect networking between execs to maintain a grapevine, right?) Interviewers were often incredulous. I feel like this was a factor in being declined an offer in a few cases.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
mrburton 7y ago
> Does 'high profile' matter? Not at all. There's really no discrimination based on how big company or layoff is, we'll work with you. This was placed here to appeal to companies. We want to create as much "liquidity" as possible to help people bounce back. I would love feedback on what do you think would be a better phrase? > doesn't The Market love a layoff? The market does love layoffs; but there's no centralized place for companies and candidates to find one another. That's what we provide. We'll also help in the process if you like. When I was younger, I went through this process and really wished I had someone to help me through it. Watching all of these recent layoffs made me want to do something about it. If there's anything you feel like could be done to help those affected by layoffs, I would love to hear it. Thank you for your feedback!
adamstober 7y ago
I agree high profile shouldn’t matter, but it helps to grab the attention of recruiters who often pay attention to high-profile consumer companies like “Uber” but not to smaller, more enterprise-facing startups. It’s not necessarily a logical disconnect, but it is real.

bkfunk 7y ago

Similarly: https://www.layoff-aid.com/ https://www.layoff-aid.com/

adamstober 7y ago
Thanks bkfunk. All — I launched layoff-aid.com for SF tech talent in 2017. Love the initiative here and happy to help push it forward or do whatever else I can to better solve the problem. Email is Adam@ , mention HN

chank 7y ago

I'm confused. Is there some aspect about a person being laid off that makes them more/less desirable that they need a specific service to help them find a new job? I know some people who have been laid off might be dusty with job hunting skills and there are services to help anyone that specific area. Also seeing a trend of niche job websites popping up... Fragmentation in this industry seems counterproductive.

adamstober 7y ago
Great questions. Yes. The job seekers are more desirable to sourcing teams if they are systematically filtered to be sincere about taking a new role, local, and experienced in a given role. Layoffs tend to produce a gold mine in that respect from a talent acquisition perspective. Good point on fragmentation seeming counterproductive. It certainly is, but that’s the way it is since different candidates and different employers have different preferences (e.g. an engineer might prefer maintaining GitHub over LinkedIn, so sourcers can’t just use LinkedIn). Also, people who have been laid off tend to value a specific package of help — not just job leads, but also resume reviews, fast-track processes, and sometimes creative (non-traditional / part-time) leads that fill any potential gap.
rolltiide 7y ago
> I'm confused. Is there some aspect about a person being laid off that makes them more/less desirable that they need a specific service to help them find a new job? Yes. There are stigmas. People solve this by just having their perpetual consulting company on their resume, or put back on their resume when convenient. There is bargaining power when you can feign disinterest, as in you're 'open to opportunities' but not 'looking for a job I'll start next week' like a new college grad. Less relevant for engineers in this job market but not irrelevant. > Also seeing a trend of niche job websites popping up... Fragmentation in this industry seems counterproductive. But that buyout isn't counterproductive. Also recruiters either earn a tiny referral bonus or like 20% of the agreed upon salary. The company doesn't pay it from the employee's salary, they just pay that additional amount equivalent to what 20% of the salary is.
- 7y ago

themoonbus 7y ago

What's the benefit of targeting only people who have been part of a high profile layoffs? Seems like a smaller pool on both sides-less people to recruit, and less recruiters who specifically are interested in these types of candidates. If it's as a proxy to quality of candidate, isn't there a better way to measure that?

mrburton 7y ago
We feel like keeping a very niche focus allows us to do a fantastic job at helping candidates find their next job. It will enable us to work closely with the candidates and work on a process that can eventually scale.

Bubbadoo 7y ago

So far seems to be a data mining effort. I create an account and then I'm whisked away to a form that want's my information to build a profile. At this point, I have no idea what the service will specifically do for me, other than compile my information.

mrburton 7y ago
Sorry, it's not a data mining effort. We're taking sign-ups now and will start scheduling calls with people. To best help us, getting some information makes this process move faster.

justinzollars 7y ago

Sorry, but this is just depressing. I would never use that.

_RPM 7y ago

To me, this looks like an email collection form. Do you actually have a product built, or are just testing the market?

kemitchell 7y ago

Their privacy policy is in a `<pre>` with `overflow: auto;`. https://layoffs.at/privacy https://layoffs.at/privacy

mrburton 7y ago
Thanks for pointing this out. This was fixed.

reilly3000 7y ago

I really got a kick out of this. Its sort of fiendishly brilliant to launch a "layoff" job board in advance of a recession.

thefrog 7y ago

Is... is this satire?

s3nnyy 7y ago

I tried something similar with "rejected.dev" (https://coderfit.com/rejected-dev https://coderfit.com/rejected-dev) but no one was interested. There is some kind of stigma attached to being rejected, it seems. If another firms throws you out, even if it is not your fault, there is still some loser touch attached to you and the perceived value of you drops, sadly.

usr1106 7y ago

Job markets are mostly national, so the site would benefit from stating their coverage on the front page. Especially if they are (mis)using a country top level domain.