
Show HN: Layoffs.at – helping people laid off find work - mrburton
https://layoffs.at/
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chank
I'm confused. Is there some aspect about a person being laid off that makes
them more/less desirable that they need a specific service to help them find a
new job? I know some people who have been laid off might be dusty with job
hunting skills and there are services to help anyone that specific area.

Also seeing a trend of _niche_ job websites popping up... Fragmentation in
this industry seems counterproductive.

~~~
rolltiide
> I'm confused. Is there some aspect about a person being laid off that makes
> them more/less desirable that they need a specific service to help them find
> a new job?

Yes. There are stigmas. People solve this by just having their perpetual
consulting company on their resume, or put back on their resume when
convenient. There is bargaining power when you can feign disinterest, as in
you're 'open to opportunities' but not 'looking for a job I'll start next
week' like a new college grad. Less relevant for engineers in this job market
but not irrelevant.

> Also seeing a trend of niche job websites popping up... Fragmentation in
> this industry seems counterproductive.

But that buyout isn't counterproductive.

Also recruiters either earn a tiny referral bonus or like 20% of the agreed
upon salary. The company doesn't pay it from the employee's salary, they just
pay that additional amount equivalent to what 20% of the salary is.

~~~
sokoloff
> just having their perpetual consulting company on their resume

Has this ever fooled anyone? Ever?

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rolltiide
> fooled

That presupposes that it is inaccurate which doesn't have to be proved or
disproved since its irrelevant either way:

It undermines the stigma of 'gaps', 'hopping around', and also shows relevant
experience as much as other roles, if that's what you want it to do. If you
actually had clients then consider listing them too

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thih9
I wish there was an „about” section or something similar.

Right now I see basically two registration forms.

Can anyone provide more context?

~~~
mrburton
There will be an about today.

As a company, we work closely with those laid off to help them find their next
job. We don't charge candidates for this service.

Given our extremely technical backgrounds, we can help people and companies
based strongly on technical experience, past projects, and future interests.
We understand how important it is to work on not just exciting projects, but
interesting technology.

~~~
master-litty
Thank you for taking the time to reply.

>we work closely

How closely? What do you do?

>We don't charge candidates for this service.

So you're a recruiting company that targets layoffs? Why would I use a service
like this over, for example, Triplebyte, which also accommodates the same
scenario? From both perspectives -- The company and the candidate.

>Given our extremely technical backgrounds

How extremely? In what way?

>based strongly on technical experience,

What technical experience?

>past projects,

What past projects?

>and future interests.

What future interests?

~~~
mrburton
One thing that has always felt wrong/broken/dirty, is how little people get to
know about you when applying for a job. In order to correct this, we schedule
a call to learn the following:

Understand experience.

\- Learn more about recent projects and you're personal involvement; role \-
Understand what technologies were used and your depth of those technologies

Understand what you're looking for in terms of: \- Problems excite you \-
Technology and architectures

> So you're a recruiting company that targets layoffs?

A better way of looking at it is, we're a networking platform for candidates
and companies to find one another. In addition to this, we do provide a
concierge service for companies in which we will send out a curated list of
candidates we spoken to personally along with a write up of that persons
experience.

> How extremely? In what way?

Our professional background is in software development. We love talking tech!
What technology do you use?

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themoonbus
What's the benefit of targeting only people who have been part of a high
profile layoffs? Seems like a smaller pool on both sides-less people to
recruit, and less recruiters who specifically are interested in these types of
candidates.

If it's as a proxy to quality of candidate, isn't there a better way to
measure that?

~~~
mrburton
We feel like keeping a very niche focus allows us to do a fantastic job at
helping candidates find their next job. It will enable us to work closely with
the candidates and work on a process that can eventually scale.

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jagged-chisel
> High profile layoffs in $whatever

Does 'high profile' matter? My layoff months ago closed an office locally (25
people laid off) in a country-wide effort affecting about 200 people. It
wasn't in the news, there was no PR around the action. Further layoffs
followed around the world, and still no news (publicly traded company -
doesn't The Market love a layoff?) The former parent company (who had created
the spinoff 9mos previously) wasn't aware (you'd expect networking between
execs to maintain a grapevine, right?)

Interviewers were often incredulous. I feel like this was a factor in being
declined an offer in a few cases.

~~~
mrburton
> Does 'high profile' matter? Not at all. There's really no discrimination
> based on how big company or layoff is, we'll work with you. This was placed
> here to appeal to companies. We want to create as much "liquidity" as
> possible to help people bounce back.

I would love feedback on what do you think would be a better phrase?

> doesn't The Market love a layoff? The market does love layoffs; but there's
> no centralized place for companies and candidates to find one another.
> That's what we provide. We'll also help in the process if you like.

When I was younger, I went through this process and really wished I had
someone to help me through it. Watching all of these recent layoffs made me
want to do something about it.

If there's anything you feel like could be done to help those affected by
layoffs, I would love to hear it.

Thank you for your feedback!

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Bubbadoo
So far seems to be a data mining effort. I create an account and then I'm
whisked away to a form that want's my information to build a profile. At this
point, I have no idea what the service will specifically do for me, other than
compile my information.

~~~
mrburton
Sorry, it's not a data mining effort. We're taking sign-ups now and will start
scheduling calls with people. To best help us, getting some information makes
this process move faster.

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bkfunk
Similarly: [https://www.layoff-aid.com/](https://www.layoff-aid.com/)

~~~
adamstober
Thanks bkfunk. All — I launched layoff-aid.com for SF tech talent in 2017.
Love the initiative here and happy to help push it forward or do whatever else
I can to better solve the problem. Email is Adam@ , mention HN

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_RPM
To me, this looks like an email collection form. Do you actually have a
product built, or are just testing the market?

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doctorpangloss
So what's with all the recruiting companies?

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mrburton
We're not a recruiting firm, and we'll make this distinction very clear on the
website soon.

The primary purpose of the website is to help people bounce back from being
laid off. Given this is our primary mission, we don't do the following:

\- We don't charge companies a % of a candidate's salary. This feels dirty to
us, and it's not in the candidate's best interest. \- We don't prevent
companies from discovering people who have been laid off. Profiles on the
website will be visible to companies, much like LinkedIn.

Since we're technical, we want to speak with you. Understand your background,
technical expertise, and what you're looking to work on.

We are focusing on a niche market and this allows us to focus our energy on
actually speaking to each candidate in-depth about their technical experience;
we'll be able to represent you and get you that interview quicker.

~~~
master-litty
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recruitment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recruitment)

>Recruitment refers to the overall process of attracting, shortlisting,
selecting and appointing suitable candidates for jobs (either permanent or
temporary) within an organization.

It appears this is indeed what your organization is, based on your own words:
"we'll be able to represent you and get you that interview quicker."

Are you avoiding the recruitment buzzword, or are you truly something
different? I'm having a hard time telling it apart.

~~~
mrburton
The reason for avoiding the usage of the word "recruiter" is certainly
intentional. We don't feel like that term lends itself well to what we're
trying to do honestly.

We're not sure exactly what term best expresses this, but more on the lines of
a concierge service. The business model is structured in a way that ensures we
do what's best for both candidate and company.

Please don't slap me for using an "X for Y" analogy, but we're CarMax for
Hiring. We need to work on translating that into words.

CarMax has fix prices and aims to ensure that your experience as a car buying
isn't tainted with a feeling that you got ripped off. We want candidates to
know we're on their side and are not motivated working against their best
interest.

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s3nnyy
I tried something similar with "rejected.dev" ([https://coderfit.com/rejected-
dev](https://coderfit.com/rejected-dev)) but no one was interested. There is
some kind of stigma attached to being rejected, it seems. If another firms
throws you out, even if it is not your fault, there is still some loser touch
attached to you and the perceived value of you drops, sadly.

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kemitchell
Their privacy policy is in a `<pre>` with `overflow: auto;`.

[https://layoffs.at/privacy](https://layoffs.at/privacy)

~~~
mrburton
Thanks for pointing this out. This was fixed.

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SSilver2k2
Grammatical error on the landing page.

"Are you _a_ Hiring?"

Any github link where we can post issues?

~~~
excalibur
Another: "We connected you with great companies looking for you!"

Should probably be revised to something like: "We connect you with great
companies, who are looking for great workers like you!"

Or something more simple, like: "We connect great companies with fantastic
workers!"

~~~
Igelau
That one really confused me and gives the whole operation a slightly spammy
smell.

~~~
silasdavis
Agreed

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eximius
Seems to have been hugged to death. Also, some of the header links seemed to
not work, possibly due to overzealous ad blockers? Not sure, I clicked on
something else and got a 502 after that.

~~~
mrburton
Interesting - the server seems to be responding. What browser/os?

~~~
eximius
Chrome/Ubuntu 18.04

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usr1106
Job markets are mostly national, so the site would benefit from stating their
coverage on the front page. Especially if they are (mis)using a country top
level domain.

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justinzollars
Sorry, but this is just depressing. I would never use that.

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reilly3000
I really got a kick out of this. Its sort of fiendishly brilliant to launch a
"layoff" job board in advance of a recession.

