Is anybody calculating the damage being done to corporate brands in the technology industry right now? 

I mean, there’s the widespread technology industry layoffs. Compound the layoffs with all the nonsense happening with job hunting, such as companies posting jobs they have no intention of filling. 

There’s also the flurry of smug and condescending rejection emails stating they are passing on you “for a candidate that more aligns with the position” and reposting the job for months.

It adds up for some people.

For example, there was the smug and condescending rejection voicemail I got once. The VM praised me for my experience and qualifications, but they “found a candidate that was just a bit more perfect than me.” The job was at one of the big tech firms that saw heavy layoffs. I hope the recruiter who left me this VM realizes that fortunes can turn and is now experiencing what I have during my job hunt. Plus, the VM soiled the reputation of her (now probably) former employer in my eyes for years to come.

As with other economic downturns, this one will eventually end. Laid off, people will return to work. IT budgets will snap back. These companies that were cavalier with job candidates and layoffs will find themselves in a new business and selling landscape. What happens when somebody treated unprofessionally and without respect by a company during their job hunt finds themselves on the other side of the table? Sure, there’ll be people who say it doesn’t matter. However, there will also be others who won’t be able to shake their distrust of any organization that was untrustworthy to them in the past.

I want to believe that something better will come from the technology industry’s mass layoffs and economic downturn. Unfortunately, I know it rarely works out that way.