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?
It will be questioned, but you have a good explanation. The tricky part is explaining it elegantly. Hiring managers kinda glance at resumes so you should add a sentence at the end explaining that you were let off due to internal company reasons. You should also try and get a letter from the company explaining that it wasn’t for performance reasons. Even better would be to get letters of recommendation from your coworkers and manager. Hopefully they’ll be extra nice to you due to your situation, but you need to be proactive about it.
Excellent advice.