I was laid off at Goldman in January. I wasn't a poor performer, but I was an Analyst who was the youngest and least experienced on my team. I was let go purely because I was at the bottom of the food chain. My manager who I had a good relationship with, told me that if I was on a team with more junior employees, I might have survived these layoffs. I had a few good interviews back in April at some decent companies, got to the final round in around 5 of them, but nothing materialized from it (I assume because of how competitive the market is), and since then, I've been getting endless rejection emails and my LinkedIn inbox which was once filled with loads of recruiters reaching out about new opportunities, is now empty. Even recruiters that reach out are ghosting me after a first meeting every time. I am on an F1 Visa with CPT, which is a plus in some ways because it does not force me out of the country if I don't find a job in a certain amount of time, but I have a feeling this visa status is the reason I am getting a lot of rejections and get ghosted by these recruiters. I am trying to get a Canadian permanent residence since I do have a CRS that's close to the last few cutoffs, but this is going to take time, it's a waiting game and I have nothing I can do to change that. I had plans to get married to my long distance girlfriend sometime in the next two years but now that I have no job and have spent the last 9 months burning through my savings with my living expenses in NY and university fees, I feel like I'm further away from my life plans than I ever was. My birthday is this week, and I live far away from my family and everyone I love, and I have never felt this depressed and helpless in my life. I know a lot of this is down to things that are out of my control, but it is hard to not let this affect my self confidence and self worth. There are people I knew at Goldman who were Analysts like me who are in great positions in life right now, purely because they left the company at the right time while I thought leaving the company in my first year was too soon. I used to love my job at Goldman. I know it's infamous for working people to the bone with a terrible work culture, but I had a decent TC and was lucky enough to land in a great team with an amazing manager who did his best to teach me new things and help me out in any way he can. I don't know what I did to deserve this. I've lost the motivation to do anything nowadays, applying to jobs, preparing for interviews and learning new skills to keep up with the industry all seem pointless. I am really trying my best, but I feel like the biggest loser on the planet right now. Just wanted to vent. If anyone has any advice or can help in any way, I would really appreciate it. #depression #layoffs
Understand why you got rejected and learn from your mistakes. Contribute to open source. Some teams in GS are incredibly talented. Dont feel bad
Thanks, it's hard to learn from your mistakes when companies do not provide comprehensive feedback when they reject you. They usually just say they went with a more suitable candidate.
Thanks, I'll try to keep a positive attitude towards this, but it's difficult.
You are not alone. My birthday was 2 weeks ago. Cried for several hours on my birthday. The only thing is I’m in Canada and I’m getting unemployment benefits but my salary was 🥜 so I didn’t have savings. What I have learned from this is we always need to have the courage to start from scratch every time we fall. It’s tough but again you are not alone. At least we don’t have a family to feed. Try contractual jobs if possible. Happy Birthday! Oh yeah I got a part time job on my birthday 😃 I hope something great comes up for you soon!
Thanks for the kind words, I hope your part time job translates to a full time job or something much better for your career, I'll try to keep my chin up and hope for the best.
Happy birthday and go have that drink or dance or your fav food. Depression is what you make of it. Life is too short and you still have a long life ahead.. You'll have fun and success soon
Thanks, I really hope you are right and all this passes soon.
How are you on CPT? internationals are supposed to be on opt right?
So the way this thing works is, I came to the US to get a master's degree on an F1 Visa, and went through the 3 years of OPT, did not get picked in the H1B lottery all three years, and ended up enrolling in a second master's degree where I am allowed to work full-time and study simultaneously, it is called Day-one CPT, the plan was for Goldman to pay the fee through their education benefits and I get another two years of H1B lottery attempts, but because of the layoffs things didn't go as planned, and I ended up paying for this out of my savings.
That's crazy, hope you get an offer soon. Y did ur company not transfer you and bring you back on L1?
Sorry you feel this way. You will get a better job, don't stop hustling and don't lose hope
Thanks, I'll try my best to keep going.
The market is starting to improve now, so don’t give up now. Lots of companies get more budget in September. Keep applying
Thanks for the words of encouragement, I've heard about the market opening up in September, I hope something turns up
Happy Birthday brother. Prayers for your success and well being. Hope you find a way out of this soon.
Thank you, I appreciate the prayers, hope something goes my way
You need to relax and take a deep breathe.. it’s just a phase and it will make you stronger .. such unpleasant situations make you tough.. give it sometime and something good will happen..
I was stuck searching for a job for a long time during COVID lockdowns as well, I really thought I was finished with this phase and I could push on with my career, feels really bad to be back here again
Happened to me in 2021, 2022 and 2023.. market is unstable to say the least..
move to a village and start a farm
Thanks, you are very helpful.