Just wanted to share my recent experience working for a startup company which I believe used a ‘hiring spree’ as a mechanism to siphon the best candidates from the industry… only to let maybe 10-20% go after a few months of employment.
A quick backstory: I graduated with my B.S. in Spring 2021 but didn’t get an offer until around June and accepted thinking it was an incredibly exciting opportunity for what would be my first full-time position out of college (aside: emotionally this was a dream job for me). I would end up packing all of my belongings and moving from New England to Texas to start in this position. Fast fwd to my first week and there were some glaring red flags, including a comically outdated company-issued laptop that couldn’t even run essential software, a corner desk (no not that type of corner), and general lack of initial training/communication.
Regardless of these , I pushed forward with my tasks and tried my best to familiarize myself to the new environment which I found myself within. Fast fwd another 3 months and without any notice I was approached by the manager one morning and he informed me that due to ‘company cutbacks’ and ‘performance issues’ I was to be terminated effective immediately. I was in complete shock, as I had never been brought aside to discuss these so-called ‘performance issues’ (and later found out my team lead didn’t even know I was getting fired until after the fact)
Struck by the immediacy of the termination and the fact that I had just lost what I considered to be a golden opportunity; I pleaded for some type of compromise to no avail… I had vacated the office within an hour of receiving my notice.
I later found out that this had happened to several people who were hired during, and had worked in a similar timeframe as I had.
Now 6 months have passed and I have thankfully received a much better opportunity that pays nearly 10k more and has more appropriate expectations for work/life balance. I was sure in my interviews to ask the right questions to discern this fact, ontop of other crucial questions.
Now I know termination is more complicated than I can really perceive as I don’t have insider info. But the red flags were there and I believe I was too ignorant to fully acknowledge them as I was too starry-eyed in working for such a seemingly great company. The lesson I wanted to share with this story is ESPECIALLY important for young college grads; be cautious of exuberant offers (I.e. outrageous equity, broad titles and responsibilities), and be careful to not fall into the trap of companies hiring X people and firing Y of them to retain the best talent.
I know every experience and industry is different, but make sure that when you’re interviewing you ask the right questions and fully understand what it is you’re getting into. I also know sh*t happens sometimes and not everything is in your control, but please be careful in weighing the risks of accepting a cross-country move to a new city where you know nobody in order to work for a ‘dream’ company that will just toss you out with no notice. All this because I (likely) just didn’t match up to the person next to me. You hired me, so I expect to be provided adequate training, equipment, and assistance.
If I’m willing to invest my time working for you, you should be willing to invest the time to help me succeed.