Kristina T.’s Post

Losing one's job totally sucks. I've been there myself five times before. The first time, was when I was put on a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) and given 90 days to turn around my performance. I didn't succeed and I was kicked out of that VC firm. The next time, I said something emotionally-driven yet stupid while at Google. I genuinely apologized for my action to the person that was impacted. I admitted I made those inappropriate comments. But that apology and admission did not prevent me from getting walked out of Google. My third termination was at Andela. Leadership wanted access to some sensitive employee information. I refused to provide it. Leadership wasn't so happy about my decison. I was canned the next day. My fourth firing occurred as the political ground shifted around me at Facebook, and I failed to realize this tectonic transformation. I was unceremoniously booted out the door the day after Facebook's NY Holiday Party. My fifth layoff occurred at Salesforce. Despite being warned by some colleagues not to "poke the bear", I didn't heed that warning. I called BS on a senior leader that was harrasing and bullying people on my team and in our larger org. The bear had too much power, and I lost that battle. People can get fired for all sorts of reasons. The real question though is, what will you do when the corporate grim reaper taps you on your shoulder? I recommend: 1. Always Be Prepared 2. Always Be Looking 3. Clarify Your Goals 4. Execute Your Plan If anyone has been impacted by a layoff, firing, termination, etc, I'm hosting a no-holds-bar Pop Up talk later this month. I'll be sharing what I did and how you can turn your Layoff into a Payoff. Want to join? Register here https://hubs.li/Q02GYfQk0 and I'll see you there. Own Your Career. PS: If you know anyone impacted by the slate of recent layoffs at Intel Corporation, Intuit, UKG, or any of the other companies that are laying off people at unprecedented rates, please repost this and let's lift up our community in need. ♻️

Okay, a new portion of #layoffs is there 😑 Snap Inc. PayPal Grammarly DocuSign Discord ... And again, we are talking about hiring signals. ✅ As they are pretty important when you do your outreach. Why? You should focus on the companies that are actively scaling. When company X hires for the Y role, it's your time to say "hi." Let's discuss how LeadsOtter may help you with that via DM. 🧚🏻♀️ 🧚🏻♀️ 🧚🏻♀️ 🧚🏻♀️ 🧚🏻♀️ #hiring #sales #triggers #outbound

This post really resonated with me. As some of you might recall, I've been working as an Spanish interpreter for some time now, and this is the one thing I noticed from the begining as a designer: Yes, AI could do this job (technically), but at the moment it wouldn't be able to work with the cultural nuance required for proper communication, and it also wouldn't be able to navigate the explanation of instructions that were already flawed in the language they were created. It's been a very interesting learning experience and also eye opening as to how inaccessible the language used in these calls is, and then you have to add the extra layer of difficulty with a translation. #opentowork #uxdesign #servicedesign #accessibledesign

LinkedIn is buzzing with reports of Google layoffs. Having faced a layoff in my career, I understand the pain it brings—shattering confidence and inducing demotivation. This situation can affect anyone, not solely due to a lack of skills but also because of changes in business dynamics. So, what steps are you taking to prepare for the worst? I recommend focusing on two key areas: 1) Enhance your skills and showcase your expertise to the world, establishing yourself as a subject matter expert. 2) Establish an emergency fund that can sustain you and your family for at least six months, even if you earn nothing during that period. What else an individual should do? Share in the comments!!

February 2024 laid off — see all February 2024 Tech Layoffs It is time to start your Own Business! #techlayoffs #layoffs #offerletter #careercoaching #myresumeswork #esca #jobseekers #laidoff #careerchange #newjobsearch #resumeservices #resumewriting #coverletter #careertips #resumehelp #resumetips #resumehacks #interviewprep #interviewcoaching #findanewjob #newresume #newsalary #salaryincrease #linkedintips #linkedinoptimization #twitter #techjobs #technews #wearestefanini #stefanini Instacart Announced in an SEC filing that it will lay off roughly 250 employees as part of a restructuring effort. Mozilla Is scaling back its investment in a number of products, TechCrunch has learned, resulting in layoffs that will affect roughly 60 employees. Grammarly Is laying off 230 employees worldwide as part of the company’s efforts to advance its focus on “the AI-enabled workplace of the future.” Getaround Is cutting 30% of its North American workforce as part of a restructuring. Amazon Is reportedly cutting jobs in its healthcare businesses One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy. The number of impacted roles is currently unknown. DocuSign Announced plans to eliminate 6% of its workforce, largely impacting the company’s sales and marketing divisions. Snap Announced plans to cut 10% of its workforce, impacting roughly 500-plus employees, in an effort to “reduce hierarchy.” Polygon Labs Has laid off 60 employees, or about 19% of its staff, CEO Marc Boiron announced in a blog post. Okta Is laying off approximately 400 employees. The layoffs come almost exactly a year to the day after Okta announced plans to cut about 300 employees.

I'm always sad to write a post like this, but it hits extra hard when it's another round of Twilions experiencing a layoff. To those who were abruptly laid off from Twilio and Spotify today, I can emphasize greatly with the confusion and upset you must be feeling. When I was first laid off from Carta in April 2020, I was in utter panic, alternating between drifting in despair and scrambling to apply to new jobs starting from that very same day. I later regretted not giving myself ample time to process the news and how it impacted my sense of self. Then I was laid off again from Twilio in September 2022, and it turns out you only need to be laid off once to learn your lesson! I didn't immediately jump into revising my resume or saving jobs to apply to at 3 AM. I took that precious time provided by severance to contemplate what the next step in my career looked like. And I was fortunate enough to take a 3-week vacation in Seoul before the year ended, though I'll admit I did take a couple of interviews during the trip 😅 For those who are embarking on this emotional rollercoaster, I urge you to be kind to yourself and take that time to reflect. Reconnect with past colleagues and friends, or make that lifestyle change you've been putting off. Spend some time doing things that bring you joy, even if they're not "productive." Also - don't hesitate to reach out to me if you see any opportunities at DocuSign that catch your eye, and best of luck in your future job search! #layoffs #techlayoffs #jobhunting

Today is bittersweet. It's my final day of parental leave and as it ends, I'm returning to an entirely different workplace. Many of my friends and colleagues were affected by the layoffs at Intuit and I feel compelled to say the following about them. I don't have access to performance reviews, however, everyone I know who has been affected has never been anything but brilliant, compassionate, creative, and most importantly, genuine! These attributes are the same reason they were ever hired in the first place. I urge every hiring manager and recruiter who sees this post, to strongly consider hiring one of these incredible individuals. You won't be disappointed To all of my friends trying to digest and understand how you got here, know that this has nothing to do with who you are as a person or an employee. I feel deep empathy for all of you. I was suddenly laid off nearly 1.5 years ago. In the moment it felt devastating. I had no idea what I was going to do. I already had a 2 yo and a baby on the way. Despite feeling overwhelmed I found a way to get through it, and I did it by doing the following: 1. Prioritized time with my family: I spent every waking moment making up for the time I lost with my wife and daughter because of my tenure at a demanding startup. I spent every single second I could with them. 2. Disconnect and reflect: I spent the majority of my time away from a computer and phone, except for 2 hours in the morning to make updates to my resume and conduct my job search. It helped me reflect internally about what I wanted to do next. 3. Leaned on my network: I took time to reconnect with former colleagues, not just to ask for referrals, but also to seek advice, mentorship, or to catch up. The benefits were tenfold. It brought me back to Mailchimp, where I've been able to spend time building with incredibly talented and amazing people. I know that everyone affected is in different situations and might not have all of these affordances, but know that you have an entire network of friends here to support and be a resource for you. If you need anything from me, and I mean ANYTHING, please do not hesitate to reach out. Myself and everyone else are here for you!

A couple of weeks ago, I was part of the Intuit Mailchimp layoffs. It's always hard to lose a job, but to find out your job has been eliminated thanks to AI was especially difficult. This layoff hit me in a very personal way; writing is not just my chosen career, but a passion. I've always been proud to tell people that I'm an English major who has used my degree in every job I've had. I believe in the power of words, and the ability to choose the right words for the right moment. As AI has been introduced into the content world, my response has been that while it's a great tool for fighting the fear of the blank page, it can't replace the human mind for knowing which of the AI-created piece is the best one, or how to tweak it to make it perfect for the time and place. Writing is subjective. It takes nuance and the ability to understand why one word can totally change the tone of a sentence. Tone is one of the hardest and most important parts of writing, and as of now, AI is pretty pants at figuring it out. My last big project at Intuit Mailchimp was training our internal AI writing tool with Mailchimp's voice and tone, but the one element we didn't train it on was humor. Mailchimp's humor is incredibly specific and there was no way we could trust an algorithm to understand the right moment to use it. I still believe in the power of words and the importance of content designers to know how to use them. I'm excited to start my job hunt for a place that knows that value!

To those impacted by the latest #googlelayoffs and continued wave of tech layoffs - you WILL get through this. Having been impacted by Google's RIF last January, here's some things you can do at whatever time makes sense: Acknowledge your feelings: Layoffs suck - they feel like a personal attack on your worth, value, and contributions. You deserve to feel however you're feeling, & those feelings will come & go, and show up at the weirdest of moments (like my dog running to my WFH desk for weeks while I was unemployed). Do something for yourself: I'm talking about today, this weekend, and even though you may not want to, planning something for yourself a few weeks out. You HAVE done great work, & you deserve to take some time for yourself Once you have the energy to start thinking about what's next: - Capture your work accomplishments via perf, calibration notes, peer reviews, manager comments - go into g/thanks to capture the spot bonuses and recognition you've received: Put all of this in an external doc to come back to in the future - Make a list of people's first/last names & corp emails so you can reach out to them once you're officially no longer an employee (no corp access, no problem: ask a trusted former teammate to run through this info live with you on a call) - Do something similar for any external clients/vendors/contacts you have worked with - Create a LinkedIn post (when you're ready) sharing a reflection + clear CTA's for people in your network to reshare, contact you about XYZ, and make an e-intro for you to people in their networks. - Craft an email to Googlers/former teammates and a separate note for your external contacts. If you need a confidence boost - trust me when I say people you reach out to will start sharing the warmest reflections and words about you. Lots of feels, bittersweet for sure, but a great reminder that this layoff says nothing about who you are (nor does any job). - Reach out individually to anyone/everyone who follows-up, & anyone who has written you a peer review/spot bonus/etc before, asking them to recommend you on LinkedIn. Making it super easy for them - you can give them the snippet they've written in the past and say "I'd really appreciate if you could focus on X - here's what you've shared in the past" - Maximize your benefits: Take advantage of these while you still can by setting up visit to your PCP, Dentist, Optometrist, etc. Tell their front office in advance about your change in employment to ensure they bill you within the time period that you need. - Maximize Google's financial benefits: Determine if you want to change contributions to your 401K/Roth; do you want to max out your HSA/FSA or have more cash on-hand? Do you want to continue your donations via go/give (check out benevity and make adjustments); Have you done anything that could use the education reimbursement (make those claims before you exit) I hope even one thing here is helpful. I know you'll get through this

Yes. Do you like constantly jump on and off unemployment benefits, and try to figure out state medical insurance to pay for your dr appointments? When was the last time you worried about your grocery bills? Time to cut back on the comp of your own so-called leaders, Google. How about a quick social experiment for your execs with some of the above? ;)