FAST COMPANY: Could companies avoid layoffs if they hired for this?

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March 2, 2023

By Suneil Kamath

Thousands of tech workers have been laid off recently with the number still climbing, yet some of the same companies are still looking for workers. In an internal layoff memo, Google, which laid off 12,000 workers, said they are hiring for “a very limited number of critical roles.” Similarly, Meta laid off 11,000 employees in November, yet is still recruiting for hundreds of positions according to their careers portal.

Why are companies still hiring, though, if they laid off workers?

Often, this boils down to whether an employee is considered a specialist or a generalist. At a high level, if a worker is too specialized in an area the company has decided to downsize, that worker might not have the necessary skills to work in another area of the company that has open positions.

In recent years, there’s been a push at companies to hire workers with niche skill sets. According to a research study from The Burning Glass Institute, an analysis of 228 million job ads revealed that cloud computing and artificial intelligence are some of the skill sets in highest demand. … 

https://www.fastcompany.com/90858975/could-companies-avoid-layoffs-if-they-hired-for-this