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Take Advantage of Big Tech Layoffs

Simple tactics to secure the right talent in times of economic uncertainty.

Tech layoffs have been making the news over the past year, with thousands of Big Tech employees having been laid off. After years of record low unemployment in IT, many leaders are looking to take advantage of these layoffs to fill their talent gaps.

However, IT leaders need to determine their response – wait and see the impact of the recession on budgets and candidate expectations, or dive in and secure great talent to execute today on strategic needs. This research is designed to help those IT leaders who are looking to take advantage employee effective talents to secure talent.


  • With the impact of the economic slowdown still unknown, the first question IT leaders need to ask is whether now is the time to act.
  • Even with these layoffs, IT unemployment rates are at record lows, with many organizations continuing to struggle to attract talent. While these layoffs have opened a window, IT leaders need to act quickly to secure great talent.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

The “where has the talent gone?” puzzle has been solved. Many tech firms over-hired and were able to outcompete everyone, but it wasn’t sustainable. This correction won’t impact unemployment numbers in the short term – the job force is just in flux right now.

Impact and Result

This research is designed to help IT leaders understand the talent market and to provide winning tactics to those looking to take advantage of the layoffs to fill their hiring needs.


Take Advantage of Big Tech Layoffs Research & Tools

1. Take Advantage of Big Tech Layoffs Storyboard – A snapshot of the current talent market in IT and quick tactics IT leaders can employ to improve their hiring process to find and attract tech talent.

Straightforward tactics you can execute to successfully recruit IT staff impacted by layoffs.

2. IT Talent Acquisition Optimization Tool – Use this tool to document the current and future talent acquisition process.

To hire efficiently, create a clear, consistent talent acquisition process. The IT Talent Acquisition Process Optimization Tool will help to:

  • Map out the current talent acquisition workflow
  • Identify areas of opportunity and potential gaps in the current process

Use this tool to document the current and future talent acquisition process.


take-advantage-of-big-tech-layoffs

Take Advantage of Big Tech Layoffs

Simple tactics to secure the right talent in times of economic uncertainty.

Why are the layoffs making the news?

After three years of record low unemployment rates in IT and organizations struggling to hire IT talent into their organization, the window appears to be opening with tens of thousands layoffs from Big Tech employers.

Big brand organizations such as Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Twitter, Netflix, and Meta have been hitting major newswires, but these layoffs aren't exclusive to the big names. We've also seen smaller high-growth tech organizations following suit. In fact, in 2022, it's estimated that there were more than 160,997 layoffs across over 1,045 tech organizations. This trend has continued into 2023. By mid-February 2023, there were already 108,754 employees laid off at 385 tech companies (Layoffs.fyi).(1)

While some of these layoffs have been openly connected to economic slowdown, others are pointing to the layoffs being a correction for over-hiring during the pandemic. It is also important to note that many of these workers were not IT employees, as these organizations also saw cuts across other areas of the business such as sales, marketing, recruitment, and operations.

(1)This global database is constantly being updated, and these numbers are changing on an ongoing basis. For up-to-date statistics, see https://layoffs.fyi

While tech layoffs have been making the news, so far many of these layoffs have been a correction to over-hiring, with most employees laid off finding work, if they want it, within three months.

IT leaders need to determine their response – wait and see the impact of the recession on budgets and candidate expectations or dive in and secure great talent to execute today on strategic needs.

This research is designed to help IT leaders understand the talent market and provide winning strategies to those looking to take advantage of the layoffs to fill their hiring needs.

Three key drivers for Big Tech layoffs

Economic uncertainty

Globally, economists are predicting an economic slowdown, though there is not a consistent prediction on the impact. We have seen an increase in interest rates and inflation, as well as reduced investment budgets.

Over-hiring during the pandemic

High growth and demand for digital technologies and services during the early pandemic led to over-hiring in the tech industry. Many organizations overestimated the future demand and had to rebalance staffing as a result.

New automation investments

Many tech organizations that have conducted layoffs are still in a growth mindset. This is demonstrated though new tech investments by these companies in products like chatbots and RPA to semi-automate processes to reduce the need for certain roles.

Despite layoffs, the labor market remains competitive

There were at least 160,997 layoffs from more than 1,045 tech companies last year (2022). (Layoffs.fyi reported as of Feb 21/2023)

But just because Big Tech is laying people off doesn't mean the IT job market has cooled.

Between January and October 2022 technology- focused job postings rose 25% compared to the same period in 2021, and there were more than 375,000 tech jobs posted in October of 2022.
(Dice: Tech Jobs Report.)

Info-Tech Insight

The "where has the talent gone?" puzzle has been solved. Many tech firms over-hired and were able to outcompete everyone, but it wasn't sustainable. This correction won't impact unemployment numbers in the short term – the job force is just in flux right now.

So far, many of the layoffs have been a market correction

Tech Layoffs Since COVID-19

This is an image of a combo line graph plotting the number of tech layoffs from Q1 2020 to Q4 2022.

Source: Layoffs.fyi - Tech Layoff Tracker and Startup Layoff Lists

Tech Companies Layoffs vs. Early Pandemic Hiring # of People

This is an image of a bar graph plotting Tech Companies Layoffs vs. Early Pandemic Hiring # of People

Source: Yahoo Finance. Q4 '19 to Q3 '22

Tech Layoffs between 2020 Q3- 2022 Q1 remained very low across the sector. In fact, outside of the initial increase at the start of the pandemic, layoffs have remained at historic low levels of around 1% (HBR, 2023). While the layoffs look significant in isolation, when you compare these numbers to pandemic hiring and growth for these organizations, the figures are relatively small.

Take Advantage of Big Tech Layoffs preview picture

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Author

Carlene McCubbin

Search Code: 100994
Last Revised: March 30, 2023

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