We’ve been seeing thousands of recent layoffs in the tech industry that cannot be ignored. The cause behind these dismissals at famous companies such as Tesla or Meta is the faltering economy we are being faced with. If you’re looking for a new job due to this, find your next tech job through Lensa.
Another company that fell victim to the economic crisis earlier this year is Apple Inc. Apple is one of the largest companies in the world, worth around $2.5 trillion. The company’s C.E.O. is Tim Cook, a popular name in the industry and a liked individual in tech-savvy circles.
Many have been dismissed from tech companies lately. We’ve heard of Elon Musk firing many important engineers from Twitter or Meta firing thousands due to slow growth. Apple, as well as many other tech companies, have been laying off recruiter employees or at least freezing hires.
Graphic:
The reason behind the sudden change and those affected
The reason for tech companies stopping hiring is due to the influx of candidates and new employees trying to find work after the massive resignation wave that hit the market post-pandemic and earlier this year.
The most affected generation by this recent event is Millennials, who made up the majority of resignations during the pandemic. This demographic has been affected by these layoffs due to the high number of resignations during the pandemic, which led to many Millenials finding jobs during this time.
The majority of layoffs have been affecting recruiters who started their jobs during the pandemic, showing that companies have been keeping old-timer employees as long-term investments.
Apple’s statement
Apple’s Tim Cook has partaken in recent interviews weighing in on the company’s reasoning behind the sudden freezes on hiring. As with all corporations, Apple has felt the economic pressure. Thus, the C.E.O. has recently stated the company is being more “deliberate” with its hiring habits.
What this means is the company hasn’t completely halted hiring, but rather it’s focusing on research and development with its current employees over finding new ones. The company believes in investing long-term, and the C.E.O. expressed his beliefs in not saving oneself into prosperity but rather investing in it.
With Apple being one of the largest job providers in the tech industry, this slowing of hiring could mean many different things for the recruitment industry.
What this means for the recruitment industry
Approximations have stated that almost half of all recruiters and HR staff have been laid off industry-wide. Many former employees are backing these claims up by sharing their personal experiences.
Some employees have been dismissed after longer periods of working for a company. Reports say the employees that were in recruitment didn’t have much work due to the previous influx of resignations globally.
Most parts of life are cyclical, making this chapter for the tech world that as well. Businesses go through constant cycles of growth, now we’re simply seeing it slowed down.
When a company is first started, its main focus is on hires and their skillsets to quickly be able to start the company with high growth. Fresher companies also get a myriad of investments when starting. These investments slow down as the company’s success progresses.
With things slowing down with older companies, they need to start focusing on how to get themselves to market and how to create the best strategies for productivity and innovation. Innovation is the core of tech companies, making its decline of it devastating. This devastation is what we’re seeing at many companies, such as the above-mentioned Meta layoffs.
The cycle goes from rapid growth paired with rapid hiring to a peak, decline, then either a rebirth or the end of a company. The decline section is where companies first consider laying employees off.
Recruiters are often laid off first, thanks to their line of work being disadvantageous in declining cycles since companies don‘t need new hires, paralyzing a recruitment team from that point on. This begs the question: Should companies start laying employees off during a decline?
Should you lean into layoffs?
Whether a company should start firing employees during a decline depends on its previous hiring practices. If the company decided to go for quality over quantity during its rapid growth, chances are they should simply freeze hiring any new employees. The handling of this unpleasant event should be done by management through communication and a few budget cuts.
Whether your employee retention will stagnate depends on the company’s work culture and how satisfied workers are with their jobs, as well as whether they will accept the pay cut in order to maintain their current job.
