--- title: "Desperate Tech Worker Hangs Up Hundreds of Flyers Looking for Job Outside Facebook and Google" description: "As the tech industry sees more and more layoffs, one desperate tech worker resorted to putting up flyers outside of Google." date: "2024-09-20" modified: "2024-09-20" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/desperate-tech-layoffs-flyers" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Future Society" - "Google" tags: - "labor" - "Programming" - "tech industry" - "the digest" --- # Desperate Tech Worker Hangs Up Hundreds of Flyers Looking for Job Outside Facebook and Google ![As the tech industry sees more and more layoffs, one desperate tech worker resorted to putting up flyers outside of Google.]() *Close up of Businessman looking at job search website on a laptop computer. Job type, location and Find jobs buttons. A cup of coffee and An office can be seen in the background \Image: courtneyk/Getty Images\* ## Frequent Flyer As the tech industry sees [more and more layoffs]() in the age of AI, one desperate programmer has resorted to good old-fashioned flyering to get the job done — literally. In an [interview with the *Wall Street Journal*](), former eBay marketing staffer Glenn Kugleman said that after he was said off, he resorted to throwing up hundreds of physical flyers in Manhattan. "RECENTLY LAID OFF," scream the 30-year-old's flyers, which also included a QR code to his LinkedIn profile, screamed. "LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB." Posted outside the headquarters of Facebook, Google, and other companies, the tech worker's situation echoes that of many others who were once in high demand for high-paying jobs — and now feel like cold product. "I thought that would make me stand out," Kugelman said. "The job market now is definitely harder than it was a few years ago." Fascinatingly, it seems that the sheepish scheme worked — Kugleman told the *WSJ* that posted his last flyer in May of this year, when a head-hunter who found him on LinkedIn recruited him for a six-month contract gig that he hopes will become full-time. ## Many Men While things went well for *that* guy, the same can't be said for the [hundreds of thousands]() of other laid off tech workers who are doing things like [selling their plasma]() to make ends meet as more and more companies try — and [often fail]() — to [replace their human staff]() with AI. Indeed, in a [tally from *TechCrunch*,]() August 2024 appeared to be the second-worst month of the year for tech layoffs after January, when more than 34,000 workers in the industry lost their jobs. Last month, that figure was still soaring at just over 26,000. Chris Volz, a 47-year-old Bay Area industry veteran whose career stretches back to the late 1990s, told the *WSJ* that despite living through many a "boom-bust cycle," things now feel "very, very different." While he used to be regularly contacted by recruiters for high-paying gigs in the past, Volz said that most of his work has "dried up." "I applied to, I want to say, about 120 different positions," he told the newspaper, "and I got three call backs." Volz did ultimately land a job this past spring after being laid off last August, but he did so at a five percent pay cut that's made making mortgage payments difficult. While most established tech industry types made enough money in the past to theoretically have good nest eggs to coast on now, this downward spiral of firings in a sparse job market bode poorly — especially as younger generations keep [paying way too much]() to [learn to code]() with the [promise of jobs]() that in many cases no longer exist. **More on the tech industry:** [*AI Datacenters More Than 600 Percent Worse for Environment Than Tech Companies Claimed*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()