Introducing Layoff-Aid for SF tech talent
What is Layoff-Aid.com? The new online service that we wish had existed when our SF startup laid people off. Layoff-Aid connects newly-available startup talent with hiring startups that can make offers quickly. Our initial solution offers affected talent exclusive access to accelerated interviews, and we’re researching others that serve our mission: “help people affected by layoffs.”
Long term, we have a bigger vision than connecting SF talent with local startups. We’re building software that doesn’t just shorten an unexpected job-search, but may also connect talent with other timely services: Resume reviews? Online coursework? “Layoff loans”? In-person education? Interview coaches? Health insurance? Re-location? We believe the trillion dollar unemployment market is big enough — from a business opportunity perspective — to be worth disrupting with new software solutions.
Thinking about the various problems that arise in the wake of layoffs, it’s hard to know where to start. But, even the longest journeys start with a single step. After learning from some “lean” first-hand research (more on that in our inaugural blog post), we’re excited to publicly move beyond our password-protected private beta, and expand to all tech startup roles.
Starting today, Layoff-Aid is excited to launch a new chapter. Though we started focusing exclusively on Product Managers — our data showed us that PM roles generally take the longest to fill — we now offer accelerated interviews for all SF startup talent, whether you’re a product manager, engineer, or business job-seeker. If you happen to get laid off, you can now come to LayoffAid.com to get interviews and offers, more quickly, for free. With each passing day, we’re growing our list of hiring companies in San Francisco and on the Peninsula.
Speaking of hiring startups: if you’re an SF founder, hiring manager, or recruiter, you can help attract new team members by applying to receive our exclusive email digest. Employees too — get your referral bonus! In less than a minute, you can receive talented, local, experienced candidates as soon as they’re ready to make a career move. Why sign up? You’ll be first to access great candidates eager to “join” their startup “sequel.” #SQL #CodePun
Special thanks to our early adopters currently hiring in SF: awesome, dynamic, growing startups like Flexport, Dropbox, Coinbase, eShares, Square, Airbnb, Udacity, SoFi, Legalist, Snapdocs, Doximity, Plangrid, Human API, and Code for America. We appreciate your leap of faith — many of you signed up before we even had a website! — and we know that recruiting quickly won’t always be easy. But, your ability to expedite your interview process will help you snag talent in a highly competitive battle for great people, and we’re dedicated to helping you grow your teams and your businesses.
One last thing: we realize that layoffs are a complex topic. Although we hope that downsizing never occurs, good companies can and do trim their workforces from time to time. Accordingly, we will design software and services that reward companies which treat their candidates and employees exceptionally well. As one example, we’re tracking which startups interview our candidates quickly and which hire from us most often, so we can reward the startups that have the best hiring practices by giving special perks.
We’re a mission-driven startup, and we’re confident that future candidates, employees, hiring partners, and investors will reward our people-first approach. Until downsizing becomes obsolete, we’ll be building Layoff-Aid: “software for people affected by layoffs.” We applaud the U.S. Labor Department for noting:
And, we’re excited to launch our own software solutions by startup people, for startup people. We welcome suggestions, and we encourage you to follow our growth here on Medium, on Facebook, or on Twitter.
UPDATE 7/28/2017: Please upvote and join the conversations!
What’s next on the Layoff-Aid blog? “What to do when you get laid off from your SF tech gig” and “How to talk about getting laid off and what you want next.” Onward and upward!
