Life after Spotify: what no one tells you about life after layoffs

In December 2023, I was part of the 17% impacted by the layoffs at Spotify as a User Researcher. Since then, I have been navigating the job market as a junior, alongside the uncertainties and turmoil caused by losing my job.Monday, December 4th, was a day like any other. I woke up before my alarm and rolled over to check the time. I noticed two email notifications from work: one sent to the whole company from Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, and another from HR, which was a 15-minute 1:1 meeting invitation to discuss my role. As we had experienced a smaller-scale reduction in January 2023, I knew from that process what this meeting meant. I was a goner.“For those leaving, we’re a better company because of your dedication and hard work. Thank you for sharing your talents with us. I hope you know that your contributions have impacted more than half a billion people and millions of artists, creators, and authors around the world in profound ways.”I worked at Spotify since June 2022, when I relocated to Sweden and started as a user research intern. I then got hired as an Associate, and last year, I worked my way to a promotion as a User Researcher I. As a Music Psychology graduate, working at Spotify was quite literally my dream job. I could not have imagined actually making it there, and when I did, I pinched myself on a weekly, if not daily, basis. And it so lived up to my expectations. The culture, the people, the fun events, my team, and the projects I was working on— it was all so exciting, fun, and dynamic. I planned to work at Spotify until I was at least a Senior, but little did I know that this was a decision that was very much out of my control.From that day, I was not required to work. It was a day full of crying, disbelief, and many, many phone calls to friends, family, and colleagues. The chaos it caused that day is still difficult to think about, with everyone impacted in different ways, each with their own worries for the future — laid off or not. My world came crashing down, and I was left with so much uncertainty for the future. As a British citizen, I am here in Sweden on a work visa, which adds an extra layer of bureaucratic hell. And with 1.5 years of work experience, I knew I was in for a rollercoaster.A somewhat controversial graphic I designed to aid my layoff announcement on LinkedIn. I was a little hesitant to post it, but with almost 10K likes and 1M impressions, I am extremely proud of the reaction it received and the excitement of it all helped me to process things at the time. No regrets!Losing your job is a complex life event, that leaves behind feelings of rejection, a loss of identity and uncertainty for the future. The truth is, job loss is a significant life change that can cause similar distress to other forms of loss. It’s easy to say, “It’s just a job!” or “There will be better opportunities,” but it does not take away from the turmoil caused by any life event that is not planned. Let’s be real: change is a b*tch. Although the 5 Stages of Grief are not linear, I have experienced all of them at some point since December,  » Read More