They're turning the job search into a group project

• Job seekers are turning to friends, support groups, and online communities to navigate the challenging market.
• These collaborations have helped some job seekers network, prepare for interviews, and stay positive.
• Support has helped job seekers remain motivated, but many are still struggling to land offers.

After being laid off from his AI product manager role last September, one of Aman Goyal's first moves in a tough job market was to buy a book.

With the 26-year-old's purchase of "Decode and Conquer," author Lewis Lin provided Goyal with access to a private Slack community with more than 20,000 professionals and job seekers.

Over the next six weeks, Goyal conducted about 40 mock interviews through the community with fellow job seekers, some of them current product managers from major tech firms like Microsoft and Amazon. Goyal said the practice helped him prepare for interviews at T-Mobile, where he accepted an offer in November.

"I think it's a good community for you to practice and also find some good network connections," said Goyal, who lives in Seattle. "The mock interviews helped with my confidence and just building that muscle of answering those questions spontaneously."

Over the past year, I've spoken with more than a dozen people who have found ways to turn job searching into a group project. While networking is a time-tested job search strategy, these job seekers have taken it a step further: forming layoff support groups, joining exclusive networking circles, or turning to social media for feedback and encouragement.

They hoped the added support would help them break through in a market that has grown more challenging in recent years, with employers now hiring at one of the slowest rates since 2013.

5 Berkeley grads helped each other land interviews — and jobs — in Big Tech

When Sreeja Apparaju began looking for a job in the fall of 2022, she turned to her most trusted network — a close circle of four friends.

After the University of California, Berkeley students realized they were applying to many of the same software engineering roles, they decided to join forces: trading job leads and recruiter contacts, swapping interview tips, and offering each other moral support along the way.

Apparaju said the collaboration helped her land two interviews — and ultimately, a job offer. In one case, a friend told her about a role at Palantir they'd interviewed for and shared the recruiter's email. Within a week of reaching out, Apparaju received an online assessment that led to an interview with the company. In another instance, a friend's cousin provided a referral for a software engineering role at Snap — the company behind Snapchat — where Apparaju later received and accepted an offer.

Her friends also found success, with one landing a role at Amazon and another joining Salesforce.

"There can be a culture of keeping to yourself because you want to be ahead of people," said the 24-year-old, who lives in New York. "But in my experience, just sharing what you know and helping each other out was a lot easier and faster for all five of us."

A group chat of former Microsoft employees or an army of TikTok fans

Looking for work alongside your closest friends is an experience that's arguably unique to a college senior. But outside that bubble, some job seekers are finding new ways to make their searches more collaborative.

After 14 years at Microsoft, Deborah Henderson was laid off from her user researcher role last May. After learning the news, she messaged colleagues to see who else had been affected and added them to a group chat. Over the following weeks, more than a dozen people shared job leads, helped one another prepare for interviews, vented frustrations, and celebrated successes.

"The fact that we could immediately build community was just incredibly helpful," she said. In August, Henderson accepted an offer for a user experience role at Meta — a position she learned about through her network and was referred for.

In the absence of formal support networks, some job seekers have turned to social platforms for help. That includes career-focused sites like LinkedIn, where many have publicly announced layoffs or added "open to work" badges — as well as broader platforms like TikTok.

Last May, Andrew Z. Chen was just weeks away from earning his computer science degree from the University of California, San Diego — and still didn't have a job lined up. So when Amazon invited him to interview for a software engineering role, he didn't want to waste the opportunity. His plan: hole up in his room to study — and document the process on TikTok to hold himself accountable.

Chen said the videos — which racked up as many as 2.6 million views — drew a wide range of reactions. Some viewers were skeptical he could land the role given his limited prep time. But others, including people who'd interviewed at Amazon, offered encouragement and shared advice on the types of technical questions to expect.

"The videos brought a lot of doubt from viewers, but thankfully also a lot of advice and encouragement," said Chen, who's in his 20s and lives in New York.

Weeks later, he accepted the role at Amazon.

Support helps — but it doesn't always lead to a job

Support from others navigating the job market has helped some job seekers stay motivated; however, many are still struggling to secure job offers.

Last July, Sriram Ramkrishna was laid off from his developer relations role at Intel. He's struggled to find work, but said he's leaned on the support of former Intel colleagues who were laid off around the same time — and has helped some of them land interviews.

"Many of us have been helping each other with our job searches — sharing opportunities and offering support," said Ramkrishna, who is in his 50s and lives in Portland, Oregon. "It feels like we're all looking out for each other."

Beyond those connections, Ramkrishna said he's also leaned on private developer relations Slack channels and Discord servers he was invited to through conferences and past professional relationships. Some include job-specific channels where hiring managers post openings directly, he said.

Apparaju said that while securing her role ultimately came down to how she performed in the interviews, the support of her friends helped her stay focused and confident throughout the process.

"Having people who were cheering for you and also working hard with you was honestly so motivating," she said. "Every win for my friends felt like a personal win, and it was an inspiration to keep pushing to crack that one job offer."

Apparaju knows she'll never be able to replicate her college experience of job hunting alongside close friends, but she believes her network can still be valuable. She recently mentioned some potential openings at her company to a friend — one example, she said, of how she can keep that spirit of support alive.

"Given how tough this job market is, everybody and anybody is super happy to help," she said.