It was solely the second TikTok video Harris had ever made, however inside a day it had greater than 100,000 views. That quantity has since quadrupled.
She continued to submit about being newly unemployed. In one, she shared how she was saving cash. In one other, she advised her viewers a couple of new facet hustle serving to a good friend flip actual property. (These movies carried out a lot better than the others she later posted, which centered on matters like courting, health and diet.)
“I was like, ‘This is relevant – why not speak about it because I know a lot of people have been going through the same thing?'” she mentioned. The movies, she continued, have been “getting a lot of comments about how people like my attitude toward my situation.”
As tech employees proceed to get laid off throughout the nation – greater than 50,000 workers have been let go from Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft alone prior to now few months – some have turned to TikTok to share their experiences.
An rising microgenre on the platform, layoff vlogs is usually a supply of validation and group, or a vanity increase, for younger employees who’ve not too long ago misplaced their jobs. In these movies, some creators vent about their former employers or expose perceived wrongdoings. Others have a extra sensible goal in thoughts: utilizing the platform to seek out their subsequent gig.
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When mass layoffs happen, former workers will discover an outlet to speak about what occurred to them. When some 9 million Americans misplaced their jobs within the 2008 monetary disaster, these affected might need referred to as one another, met up at a bar, or posted on Facebook and Twitter. And over the past main financial upheaval at first of the pandemic – over a single week in March, greater than 3 million Americans turned unemployed – TikTok was one other obtainable avenue. But whereas some employees did use the platform for speaking about layoffs, a majority of the movies did not resonate as they do now.
“This is the first time employees can get laid off, and press record on their phone and have something go mega-mega-megaviral,” mentioned Gabrielle Judge, a content material creator who helps ladies discover jobs in tech. She famous that platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn, the place disgruntled workers might need gone prior to now to vent, haven’t got the identical viral potential as TikTok.
Calon DiPiero, 30, mentioned that when she was laid off final month from an occasion planning job at Attentive Mobile, an SMS advertising platform, she filmed a TikTok video to maintain her state of affairs in perspective. The caption learn: “When you were laid off so you spent the last 48 hours crying in the same comfort hoodie but then you remember you’re just unemployed not ugly.” Posting the video helped her overcome the disgrace she felt when she was first let go, she mentioned.
“Initially, if this happens, your ego gets bruised,” DiPiero mentioned. “But then if you can take a step back and say, OK, this is happening to a lot of people. It’s not a personal vendetta against me.”
Tech recruiters mentioned TikTok may very well be useful for networking and job looking. Dozens of corporations, together with Target, Chipotle and Sweetgreen, have used the app for hiring.
“If you say in a video that you would love to connect with anyone who has a role for you, a lot of people will see it,” mentioned Jonathan Javier, CEO and founding father of Wonsulting, which helps individuals, particularly those that come from nontraditional backgrounds, discover jobs in tech.
The trick, Javier mentioned, is to strike the best tone: “If you are a prospective employer, seeing someone vent about a past employer can be a red flag. I encourage everyone to stay positive, to focus on the actions you are taking to find a new job.”
Some persons are heeding that recommendation. Harris, for instance, opted to not say which firm she labored for in her movies. “Obviously people can do their research and find out where I worked through LinkedIn,” she mentioned. “But I really wanted to stay positive and not name names.”
Brit Levy, 35, who mentioned she was laid off by Meta in November, used TikTok to speak about her frustrations with the severance settlement she mentioned the corporate was providing, amassing virtually 800,000 views. Dozens of former Meta workers reached out to her after the collection of movies she posted, she mentioned. “We are finding a little community with each other,” mentioned Levy, who lives in Oceanside, California.
She mentioned she has additionally had hiring managers attain out to supply assist and provides her skilled recommendation on the following steps she ought to soak up her profession.
TikTok creators who share particulars in regards to the circumstances of their layoffs, nonetheless, can threat authorized hassle, relying on which they speak about. “There are many companies that require you to sign documents to get your severance package,” Javier mentioned. “If they sign a form, there are legal implications.”
Levy mentioned she wasn’t nervous in regards to the potential penalties of talking publicly a couple of former employer.
“Honestly, they should be worried about ramifications from me,” she mentioned. “I now know how to get eyes on an issue I feel is super important.”
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com