It seems impossible to get a job because the market is so competitive right now. TikToker @yasamelon jumped on the app recently and shared her story. Can you imagine being laid off twice in four months?
The story starts with the creator in the Detroit airport, getting ready to head to Europe for a fun summer vacation with her now ex-situationship.
While sitting in the airport, she gets on a call with her boss, expecting them to have their weekly one-on-one chat that they always have. However, her boss explained that they needed a conversation requiring a script.
“We all know what that means,” she said.
After Europe, she begins to look for new jobs. Her old job explains that they want to take her PTO and that when she comes back, she’ll work for a day or two, do offboarding, and continue to get paid through the end of June, with access to the internal resources.
Her response to this was simply, “Slay. You’re paying me four and a half months to do what I was already gonna do on company time, which was fine.”
She could still interview during company time and receive Severance. So, she begins to embark on her whole month off while receiving paychecks. She also begins to apply for jobs.
She goes through the interview process at four companies that sound interesting and have great pay. She was rejected from one, which she was going to pull out of at the end of the process, regardless, and another froze their hiring because the company was falling apart.
Another one was a woman-owned start-up that she liked and had great pay. The last one was a construction company in Austin (where she lived at the time) that she has friends who work at.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
Eventually, she received an offer after several meetings with recruiters and hiring managers, and after applying to 50 jobs. So, at the same time, she is signing the exit paperwork from her previous job and her new offer letter.
The latest job would also pay her 50% more than her old job and had many great benefits, such as working remotely.
With all the extra money she has made from Severance and a pre-existing plan of moving out of Austin, she decides to sign a lease on a $3,300 apartment in Los Angeles, where she has always wanted to live. She started her job on July 21st.
So, things are fantastic—a new, beautiful apartment and a great job. But, after three weeks of working (58 days), she returns home from her run on a seemingly average weekday and receives a mass email stating that she has been laid off. Again.
“They let me keep my brand new 16-inch MacBook Pro,” she continued. “Thank god because I didn’t have a laptop.”
Since then, the creator has been picking up odd jobs and hustling to make money.
“I’ve fully done the whole LA thing,” she concluded.
She has dog walked, driven for Uber Eats, been a personal assistant, and picked up freelance and copywriting work. But is still paying thirty-three hundred dollars in rent.
She has a car payment and health insurance, but she has to pay through the state because she is unemployed. She also has to pay 2 dollars a wash and 2 dollars a dry just for laundry.
With a long, exasperated sigh, she closes off the video by saying, “I’m exhausted. But still, I am loving life.”
@yasamelon ask me anything about my unemployment and lay off journey, side gigs, etc #unemployed #sidehustle #layoffs #jobhunting
? original sound – Yas
By Katharina Buczek
Katharina Buczek graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Digital Arts. Specializing in... More about Katharina Buczek
