Maja Hitij/Getty ImagesĪmazon will lay off more than 18,000 workers Suddenly, the normally staid professional network has become both a vital lifeline for recently laid off workers and a surprisingly lively social platform.Ī worker pushes a cart laden with ordered items among shelves at an Amazon warehouse on Novemin Brieselang, Germany. Even as the overall job market remains strong, there has been a wave of recent layoffs in the tech and media industries - which just so happen to make up a core part of LinkedIn’s user base. If the first year of the pandemic was marked by widespread layoffs in lower paying retail and services jobs, the past few months have been defined by something different: the prospect of a white-collar recession. Even bosses who are doing the laying off have turned to LinkedIn to explain themselves and seek support or advice, as one marketing CEO did in a post alongside a tearful selfie last year (to mixed results). One LinkedIn group of employees affected by the November layoffs at Facebook-parent Meta, for example, now has more than 200 members.

Some LinkedIn users affected by recent layoffs have formed groups on the site aimed at providing assistance, coordinating around signing exit paperwork and aiding with connections for new jobs. But mixed in are many others about job hunts, offers of support for laid off friends and colleagues, and advice for coping with career hurdles in an uncertain economic environment. In a normal year at this time, a typical LinkedIn feed might be full of posts about year-end reflections on leadership and professional goals and suggested lifehacks for the year ahead - possibly with a few posts from CMOs offering tips on brand strategy, for good measure.

Linkedin is