Mariana Kobayashi was laid off from LinkedIn in May 2023. After traveling for six months, she found a better-paying position at Google. Kobayashi mentioned that being laid off was difficult, but it taught her not to take work so personally. This is an essay based on a conversation with Mariana Kobayashi. The following has been edited for clarity.
I found out I was being laid off from LinkedIn in May 2023. It was a company I had always wanted to work for, and it felt like my dream job. Before starting my grad scheme in July 2022, I had been rejected from several other roles at LinkedIn. I had other jobs in the meantime, but it all felt like I was heading towards the tech world. I think I had built up an idealized image of LinkedIn as the ultimate place in the industry. I was very happy there, so when the layoffs occurred, I was shocked. I don’t follow the news, so I wasn’t aware of the rumors. The email just appeared in my inbox out of nowhere. In one day, it felt like everything changed. Initially, I was just shocked and confused because I felt like I hadn’t done anything wrong. I was doing my job properly and was genuinely happy at the company. It felt like a part of my identity was taken away from me because, consciously or not, I had built up this job as a dream, and now that was fading away. Living in a bubble I later realized that I had been living in a bubble while working at LinkedIn. I went to the gym there, I went into the office every day, my friends all worked there, and even my partner worked there at some point. It made me question who I was without my job and what success really meant. When my friends would check in on me, it felt like I had nothing to contribute to the conversation because I wasn’t doing this thing that made me worthwhile anymore. The experience taught me not to tie my self-worth to my job like that again or become so attached to a company. I felt like LinkedIn could have avoided the layoffs by making better hiring choices. It certainly felt like they had hired too many people after the COVID-19 pandemic and weren’t prepared for tough economic times. Layoffs really influence the culture of the company. Many of my friends who worked at LinkedIn and Google have also left their jobs in the last eight months due to the low morale.
Layoffs can be an opportunity My best advice for those who get laid off is to take it as an opportunity. Something more aligned with you will come your way eventually. I look at myself now and am proud of everything that happened. I have advanced two levels in my career, my salary has almost doubled, and I’m in a company that is much more suited to me. I decided to travel after being laid off and eventually secured a role in Google’s Dublin office.
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