Hi everyone!
As companies continue to make layoffs in 2023, I've been feeling increasingly guilty for not offering more help and support to those of you who want/need it. I wish I could be holding office hours every week for y'all and making as many intros as I possibly can, but I'm inching closer to the arrival of our second kidlet (and unsuccessfully fending off colds and flus... 😒), so I just don't have a lot to give right now. I'm sorry that the timing is so 💩!
That said, I've managed to catch up with a few friends who've been laid off recently and think there's a takeaway that might be helpful to share...
Never lose sight of what the employee/employer relationship really is. Getting fired or laid off can feel like a betrayal, especially if you've been a good performer and have been with your company for multiple years. But you have to remember that employment is a business transaction –– you are trading your time and skills for money –– and to not take it personally!
Employers are a group of people (a leadership team, board of advisors, investors...) who have a legal and financial responsibility to their customers and shareholders. They have to make tough business decisions, which sometimes means letting go of committed, talented, and loyal employees. While you might form close bonds with your managers and coworkers, they are not your employer, and these relationships are completely separate from the business agreement you made with the company.
While employment is transactional, being a part of a team can be much deeper and richer. The idea that a company is your family is misleading, IMO, but I do think the people you work, learn, fail, and succeed with can absolutely grow to be like family. ❤️
When you're looking for a new job, you're weighing both of these things: a professional business contract and a group of humans that you might develop close personal relationships with. They are separate and their relative importance depends entirely on you. Some people only care about exchanging their time for money and don't want to develop friendships or deeper relationships with colleagues. Others prioritize camaraderie and social bonding above all else. There's no right or wrong (and where we fall on the sliding scale changes over time), but it's both helpful and healthy to maintain this perspective on "your work."
Employment contract (how much you get paid, what benefits are included, the exercise window for equity compensation...) versus team culture (finding potential mentors to learn from, genuinely enjoying the company and working styles of your peers, sharing the same values as your teammates...). Decide what you care about and evaluate all of the above so that you have a full picture of what's on the table.
Whether you're gainfully employed or currently job searching, remember that companies change, and so do people. Evaluate and then re-evaluate again. Make sure you're (still) in the right place for you. ✊
And with that, let me tell you a little about some employment opportunities and teams you might want to be a part of:
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Modern Treasury (profile) 📍 San Francisco, New York, or Remote (US)
Provide relocation support. Sponsors work authorizations on a case-by-case basis.
Modern Treasury is a payment operations platform for businesses. When people think of fast-growing startups, this is what they're describing: they've seen explosive growth with relatively small team, processing billions of dollars per month. They provide upfront salary ranges, generous benefits (like 4 months of paid parental leave), and balance promoting internal team members and hiring externally. 👏
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Course Hero (profile) 📍 Redwood City, Vancouver, Toronto, or Remote (Israel/India)
Provides relocation support. Sponsors work authorizations.
Course Hero is an online learning platform. Last month, they decided to create a corporate parent (like Google did) for itself and its other business units. This encourages additional acquisitions as well as entrepreneurs to create additional services. After all, they believe everyone is (and should be) a lifelong learner! If you want a company that cares about internal mobility and work/life balance, take a look.
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Cocoon (profile) 📍 Bay Area or Remote (US)
Provides relocation support. Does not sponsor work authorizations.
Cocoon is an employee leave platform. As a highly regulated space and with the growing distributed workforce, it's become increasingly difficult for employers to deal with the complexities of managing employee leave in accordance with multiple state and local laws. They're making employee leave more transparent and leading by example internally compassionate leave, too. Get to know 'em here!
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Doppler (profile) 📍 San Francisco or Remote (US)
Provides relocation support. Sponsors work authorizations.
Doppler provides encrypted tools for developers to manage app secrets at scale. Since announcing their $20M Series A last April, they've been hiring consistently, looking "for artists, not assassins." They know that high employee retention is about value alignment above all else, and make sure to keep their customer (the individual developer) in mind while giving employees a tremendous amount of ownership. 🧰
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Jane (profile) 📍 Remote (US/Canada)
Provides relocation support. Sponsors work authorizations.
Jane is an e-commerce platform that brings confidence and transparency to the cannabis shopping experience. They use data to help customers find products that are uniquely suited to their tastes, and since raising a $100M Series C in 2021 (and then launching an iOS app last year) they’re now doing over $3B in transactions! Their close-knit and growing team highly values EQ and hopes you apply!
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Indent (profile) 📍 San Francisco, CA or Remote (US)
May provide relocation support. May sponsor work authorizations.
Indent provides audit trails and security controls for data access within a company. Whether customers need access to certain tools for 30 mins or 30 days, they’re innovating on best-in class technologies (think Kubernetes, Cadence, Presto, and Flink) to deliver solutions for both small companies and Fortune 500s. While they’re growing quickly, their founders are resolute about not overworking. 🙌
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There have been times in my life where all I wanted was to clock in and out, and I made zero effort to make friends or get to know my peers –– these were my consulting days. I think I was over-correcting for past errors (I had just left a job where I was waaay too emotionally invested and naive about where the boundaries were between personal and professional obligations). It's all part of living and learning. So no matter how challenging or difficult things seem at the moment, just remember that it's part of your story and journey, and that you'll someday look back at this [*waves hands around in circles*] as a learning moment.
38 weeks and counting...!
✌️,
Lynne (@lynnetye and @keyvaluesio)
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