Tech Layoffs Rattle B-School Grads

Contraction in the industry could mean less recruiting of MBAs

- Dimitra Kessenides

Up to the very end, Jose Granados held out hope that he’d get a job at Meta Platforms Inc. A 32-year-old pursuing an MBA at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, he’d won a summer internship at the social media giant. Such 12-week stints are often stepping stones to full-time positions after graduation. Granados had heard “rumblings” among colleagues about financial uncertainty in the industry, but he kept his head down and kept working.

As his internship wound down in mid-August, his recruiter said the company would need until December to decide about a full-time offer, rather than the customary two or three weeks.

“They were like, ‘Listen, we understand if you have other opportunities.’ ” But, he says, “I wasn’t super concerned, because I did a very good job, everybody seemed to like me, and I was growing in my role.” Meta’s announcement in November that it would lay off11,000 workers and extend a hiring freeze through March was a blow. “I wasn’t completely dissuaded,” Granados says. But when he finally received word a month later that he wouldn’t return to California, he says, he’d already dealt with his disappointment. “Now I have to commit time to recruiting,” he says.