Help Wanted: Finding new roles for laid off startup employees

TL;DR: If you’ve been laid off from a startup, fill out this form, and we may be able to help you find a new job (for no fee, no strings attached)

Help Wanted Project
3 min readApr 1, 2020

Our Twitter feeds are full of Google Sheets and AirTable lists of employees let go due to COVID-19. We’ve combed through a lot of these lists and want to help by offering individually tailored job search assistance to some of these candidates. So, we’re kicking off the Help Wanted project.

We plan to match great talent to open roles by reviewing candidates, highlighting their skill sets, and leveraging our networks. We’re looking for ~15 startup employees in search of full or part-time roles for our first group.

Here’s our plan:

  1. Candidate submissions: Startup employees impacted by COVID-19 layoffs or contract cancellations (both part-time and full-time) can apply in a few minutes via our form. Due by Friday 4/10/20.
  2. Selection: We will select ~15 people to feature in our first group. Our selection goal is to have a broad range of roles, levels of experience, and locations if possible.
  3. Candidate profiles w/ audio or video: We want it to be immediately obvious how candidates can add value in new part-time or full-time roles. So, we’ll help them create a mini video (or audio) interview, in addition to overview information like role, startup stage, and years of experience.
  4. Candidate page: Profiles will go up on flipround.com/helpwanted for hiring companies to view.
  5. Matchmaking: We will work hard to get these candidates interviews. Employers can also reach out to them directly.
  6. Repeat?: If this works, we’ll do this again with another group.

If companies or candidates are happy with our work, we will encourage them to donate to a cause. We are figuring out that cause now, if you have suggestions please let us know.

How to participate

  • Candidates: Here’s the application. It takes a few minutes and is due by Friday 4/10/20.
  • Hiring managers: If you want us to reach out with matching candidates fill out our form or email us.
  • Volunteers: We’d love to have other experienced hiring managers review candidates who apply, and leverage their network to help find roles for these candidates. Email us at hello@flipround.

Who are we and why are we doing this?

Emily Kramer and Deva Hazarika have deep experience growing startups and connecting people to startup jobs. Collectively, we’ve interviewed hundreds (maybe thousands) of candidates. We’ve helped fill a broad range of roles from entry-level marketing through C-level executives.

We are currently consulting with early-stage founders and working on some (stealthy) products, but these are uncertain times for everyone. So in the short-term, we want to use our expertise to help people right now. No fees, no catches, just doing our part to help the startup world because that’s what we know best.

More about Emily

I’ve built, scaled, and led marketing teams from the ground up at Carta, Asana, Astro (acquired by Slack), and Ticketfly. I’m also a champion for equal pay and getting more women and URMs in leadership and founder roles. I co-authored the first gender equity gap study with #ANGELS and created the Table Stakes initiative while at Carta, volunteer with AllRaise, and advise 81cents.

My favorite interview question is a 3-parter: “What is your favorite product or customer experience?, Why?, How could you improve it?” My favorite answer is the car wash — but that’s another blog post.

More about Deva

I’ve founded, built, and advised multiple bootstrapped and venture-backed startups. I’m currently advising a number of companies ranging from fintech (LiveOak) to cell-based meat (LabFarmFoods). I’ve used my experience interviewing and hiring hundreds of candidates to also help many friends find the right new roles, and I want to put those skills to work to help people beyond my network.

My favorite interview question — What is your dream job after this one?

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Help Wanted Project

Free compensation reviews for employees and candidates at venture-backed startups. From @emilykramer @devahaz