I took ~1.5 years off after 12+ years of FAANG. 1 month ago, I decided I was ready to work again and started talking to recruiters for real. It's been very slow. Most positions I've applied to, I've heard nothing back, even when referred by a current employee. I've had some flat rejections without even a recruiter chat. One recruiter called me to say they were on a temporary hiring freeze, and then she got laid off.
I've had a handful of tech screen interviews, but only one* has progressed all the way to a full interview loop so far, and I got a generic rejection a few days later. I have been waiting 2.5 weeks and counting for a phone screen result from another (larger, public) tech company. Nothing close to an offer yet.
I'm considering just taking more time off until things speed up again - I can afford it, but I worry about how hard it will be to get hired again with a "long" gap of 2+ years.
* for "Senior Software Engineer" at a medium-sized pre-IPO tech company
I have also been out of work for ~8mo for various reasons, and while I’m sorry for your situation, it’s heartening to hear I’m not the only one. I’ve only actually gotten one tech screen in which I was asked a LC “hard” question, which I didn’t pass (I’m pretty good with “easy” and “medium”, but come on, hard?).
So far, I have one other interview from an internal referral, but haven’t heard anything back from the ~10-15 other applications I’ve sent out. I’m getting a bit discouraged and feel similarly as you - it would be nice to take more time off (maybe I don’t actually love working in tech?), but I have the same worried as you. Feels good to vent in this thread, though :)
I felt a bit bad about posting here, because the thread is ostensibly about layoffs, while I quit voluntarily, so any feelings I'm feeling about the situation now are my own fault :)
But it's somehow comforting to see I'm not the only one marveling at the sudden slowdown. It eases the inevitable fear that it's just something unattractive about me or something I'm personally doing wrong.
In 2017 I had taken two years off and went back into the job market after very solid employment history. Only one major company would interview me, and I passed. I got ghosted by regular companies I was "too good for" previously. Before taking time off I was a premium candidate. So yeah it can be hard, you do need some sort of explanation, even in a good market.
Well, I might be over-worrying. But yes, for the last few years I certainly felt like a "premium candidate" as your sibling commenter described it. The last time I changed jobs in the mid 2010s, I applied to 2 FAANGs (only) and had offers from both. Contact with the actual hiring market this month has disabused me of that perception, at least for now!
I've had a handful of tech screen interviews, but only one* has progressed all the way to a full interview loop so far, and I got a generic rejection a few days later. I have been waiting 2.5 weeks and counting for a phone screen result from another (larger, public) tech company. Nothing close to an offer yet.
I'm considering just taking more time off until things speed up again - I can afford it, but I worry about how hard it will be to get hired again with a "long" gap of 2+ years.
* for "Senior Software Engineer" at a medium-sized pre-IPO tech company