I accepted a position at a start up around three months ago. This company was located in New York and I was located in California. They mentioned that I could work remotely for now but I would eventually have to move out to New York. I was okay with this, as I always dreamed of working in New York.
They had me work as a contract worker for the first month to see if I was a good fit. Once that passed they hired me full time, and I worked remotely for around a month and a half, then moved out to NYC last week. However, just this Friday they told me that I was laid off, they said it had something to do on their end. This was totally out of the blue and I didn’t believe them at first. At the office the day before we were talking about how I would get a week off for Christmas.
I’m in a total panic right now. I’m in a city I don’t know without a job and I have about 5 weeks to find a new position or I have to move back in with my parents in California. I’m not even sure if I should include it on my resume, as having only worked three months at my first job might look bad.
The job market for tech is so rough right now I’m terrified. I’m really hoping for any advice on how to go about this, what should I do?
This is already said, but it cannot be too emphasized: This is not your fault. This is entirely on them. Three months is far too short to evaluate someone even if they were secretly unhappy with your performance. It might be worth talking to an employment lawyer, but likely you’ll have to take this on the chin. In the immortal words of the great Captain Picard: “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life.”
As everyone has said, you can expect to get questions about it, and I would definitely have a prepared, rehearsed statement. Some recruiters and hiring managers make a big deal about these sort of things, some won’t even care. Again: this is not your fault and do not be apologetic about it.
Five weeks is not a lot of time to get a new software job, even in a hot market. This is the unfortunate reality and I would start making contingency plans. If living in NYC remains a goal, then this is a setback but a far smaller one than it may seem right now. You don’t have a mortgage or a family hanging over your head. Moving back to NYC will be in play, likely sooner than you think.
Spending time on career development is a good idea. Something with a firm outcome like AWS Solutions Architect is also good. I have the associate certification which I started working on while at Amazon. It hasn’t really done much for me, but I’m not seeking positions where it would hold much weight.