‘A big reset in 2023’: After Big Tech’s mass layoffs, job candidates face intense competition

Economic headwinds are gathering and casting a specter over the balance sheets of companies across the industry.

In such a climate, terms such as layoffs, restructuring, or “reduction in force” are (tragically) all too common with such measures taking a human toll, and predictably, the trickle of “RIFs” that emerged in Q3 is turning into a downpour as we close out the year.

The current round of layoffs is notable given that some of the industry’s household names — read Big Tech — are also letting people go in considerable, some would say unprecedented, numbers. For some, this is a marked indication that the pain of the downturn to come is likely to be felt far and wide.

After all, industry watchers have grown used to reports from outfits such as Facebook and Google that their revenues have defied gravity during earlier economic downturns. Although, the last round of quarterly results from such players demonstrated how the halcyon days of the duopoly’s dominance of the ad industry are on the wane. Albeit, they do still represent the majority of the market.

Data compiled by Compensate, a start-up that provides HR-related services, suggests that Big Tech players have laid off close to 25,000 employees in the last number of weeks, as the markets brace themselves for tough times.

The direct reasons for these cutbacks vary on a case-by-case basis with Meta and Snap’s recent layoffs deemed to be directly related to the impact of Apple’s spate of privacy overhauls in recent years making it difficult for advertisers to target and track iOS device users. Meanwhile, the goings-on at Twitter is a more root-and-branch, not to mention chaotic, affair but nonetheless, advertisers are turning away from that platform (even if it is just temporarily).

Sources told Digiday that Amazon’s reported 10,000 cutbacks in headcount largely hasn’t impacted its burgeoning advertising division. Microsoft, which had a less severe trimming of its workforce recently, is also understood to have plans to grow its ads division, albeit rumors persist that Google-owner Alphabet may also look to trim headcount.

These measures serve as a stark contrast to late 2020 and early 2021 when the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the “digitization” of economies across the globe and demand for employees in the media sector was rampant.

Swollen talent pool

And now many are beginning to question just what impact the influx of 25,000-plus former Big Tech employees will have on the talent market. While a tenure at one of Silicon Valley’s household names will stand out on any resume, some question how those candidates will be able to perform outside of the industry’s largest players?

After all, the pool of available talent is simultaneously being swollen by former employees of smaller outfits that similarly have fallen victim to the drive for “corporate efficiencies” as outfits such as Amobee, Infosum, LiveRamp, NextRoll, Permutive, Quantcast, Taboola and VideoAmp have all made similar cutbacks recently.

Digiday understands the cutbacks at Big …read more

Source:: Digiday