Series A Startups Are Still Hiring; How to Handle a Layoff

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Welcome to the fourth edition of Work in Progress, The Org’s toolkit for job seekers of every stage and style. 🧰🛠🪜

While layoffs in tech are top of mind, the latest U.S. labor department numbers paint a more hopeful picture. Unemployment rates remained at a healthy 3.6% for the third month in a row, and employers added nearly 400,000 jobs last month.

Nonetheless, financial uncertainty is rocking the tech boat: 10% of Tesla workers lost their jobs last week as CEO Elon Musk espoused his “super bad feeling” about the economy, and late-stage startups like Carbon Health, Policygenius and crypto exchange Gemini also slashed staff. Countless other enterprises are freezing—or tapping the brakes on—hiring.

Don’t despair. Tons of companies are still hiring, as underlined by the latest U.S. jobs report. To help you better understand the current labor market, here are today’s newsletter highlights:

• Open roles at Series A startups with fresh VC funding💸
• A step-by-step guide for workers who’ve been recently laid off 💕
• The Great Resignation meets the land of wine and cheese (aka France) 🍷

🏢 Orgs of the Week

Putting a spotlight on high-growth startups and some of their coolest open roles. Hiring freezes and layoffs are sweeping tech, but you can still find a job at an early stage startup. Enterprises that’ve raised cash in the last few months are safer bets—here are three promising Series A startups with fresh VC dollars in the coffers.

🏠 RentRedi

Latest funding: $12 million (Series A), April 2022

Key investors: TIA Ventures, RiverPark Ventures, K1 Investment Management

Pitch: RentRedi is building property management software for small landlords and tenants. Remote (and very recent) job postings in engineering, product, sales and marketing. Org chart | Open jobs

🧬 Seismic Therapeutic

Latest funding: $101 million (Series A), February 2022

Key investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Polaris Partners, GV, Boxer Capital, Samsara BioCapital

Pitch: Seismic Therapeutic aims to advance machine learning for immunology drug development. After a monster Series A earlier this year, the Massachusetts startup is hiring scientists and researchers. Org chart | Open jobs

🖥 ZERØ

Latest funding: $12 million (Series A), March 2022

Key investors: Streamlined Ventures, 468 Capital, AltaIR Capital, PBJ Capital

Pitch: ZERØ lightens lawyers’ paperwork with an AI-driven email management software. The startup lists dozens of technical and non-technical roles in California, Canada and Armenia. Org chart | Open jobs

📎 Curriculum Vitae

Much like your resume, this section is the backbone upon which you can build your job search. Read the latest deep-dive articles by The Org’s team of journalists to stay informed and prepared for anything your career throws at you.

→ Employment Rates Hold Steady as Tech Layoffs Stack Up

→ So You’ve Been Laid Off--Now What?

→ French Workers Have Led the World During the Great Resignation. Why?

→ How Much Does Salesforce Pay?

💡 Additional Skill: It’s important to go into every job interview with some of your own questions. Here are our top ten picks.

📊 By the Numbers

Numbers don’t lie. We comb workforce + career data to bring you a relevant infographic each week.

Less than 8% of employees who work remotely these days have the pandemic to blame, indicating that the remote and hybrid workers of the future are choosing the setup for other reasons, like greater productivity and a stronger work-life balance.

Source: Statista

📖 Recommended Reads

Congrats, you’ve made it to the best part. Here, we scour the internet for the tastiest content morsels, so you don’t have to.

→ TaskRabbit, the Ikea-owned app that connects gig workers with household tasks, is nixing its office leases for good. [The Washington Post]

→ Messaging software Slack isn’t just for office chatter. It might be the key to networking your way into a new job altogether. [The Wall Street Journal]

→ Remote work’s rise has left local employers scrambling to compete with out-of-state companies offering big-city salaries. [Bloomberg]

→ Nike’s tech workers are sounding the alarm about “inept” leadership as talent leaks out of the Oregon-based sportswear giant. [Insider]

📌 The Final Round

Thanks for joining team WIP this week! Have suggestions or feedback?

I’d love to hear from you: eliza.haverstock@theorg.com.

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