The Bloom Newsletter: Resumes, Layoffs, and a Wake-Up Call for Hiring Managers
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Your week-ahead preview from Career Bloom Solutions. Mama Said Season continues, the layoff wave keeps cresting, and we are talking to both sides of the desk this week.
Notes from Lauren
Sweetie, this week is a big one. Buckle up.
We are publishing three blogs in four days. That is not normal for us. The news is moving fast, the labor market is loud right now, and there is too much worth talking about to space it out across the rest of the month.
Tuesday is our regular Career Bloom Day. The podcast and the resume blog both drop at 7 AM CT and they are companion pieces. If you have ever sent a hundred applications and heard nothing back, this is your week.
Wednesday morning, the day Meta begins laying off 8,000 people, I am publishing a spicy one. Real talk about what 100,000 lost tech jobs in five months actually means and what we should be doing about it.
Friday is for the business owners and HR leaders on this list. A piece on how to audit your own hiring process before it costs you the candidates you want.
Whatever side of the desk you sit on, there is something for you this week. Pour yourself a cup. We are going.
— Lauren
What's New in the Market
The 2026 layoff wave is officially historic. More than 100,000 tech jobs have been cut this year and we are not even halfway through May.
Meta begins companywide layoffs on Wednesday May 20. About 8,000 people, with 6,000 additional open roles frozen. PayPal announced 4,760 job cuts on its May 5 earnings call. Coinbase cut 14 percent of staff and rolled out a structure of "AI-Native pods" that may include one-person teams where engineers, designers, and product managers are all the same human. Cloudflare cut 20 percent. Upwork cut 24 percent. LinkedIn is laying off 5 percent of its own workforce. Spirit Airlines, which collapsed two weeks ago, put more than 13,000 employees on the street.
The combined AI capital spending at Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta this year is roughly $725 billion.
The money is going INTO AI. The people are coming OUT the door. At the same companies. At the same time.
"If your industry has not been touched yet, do not assume you are safe. Assume you are next on the list and use the time to prepare."
The full breakdown drops Wednesday morning on the blog. Pour a strong coffee. It is a real one.
Tips You Need to Know This Week
Your resume has three readers. Most resumes are written for the wrong one.
Reader 1: The Robot. The Applicant Tracking System reads your resume first. It wants keywords from the job description, matched as closely as possible, in a format it can parse. Columns, graphics, headshots, and skill bars will get you scrambled or rejected.
Reader 2: The Recruiter. If you survive the robot, a recruiter scans your resume in about seven seconds. Almost all of that time is in the top third of page one. If your best material is buried on page two, she will never see it.
Reader 3: The Boss. If both said yes, the hiring manager gets three to five minutes with your resume. She wants a clear career story with outcomes, not duties.
Write for all three or you write for none of them.
The full breakdown is in Tuesday morning's podcast and blog. Both drop at 7 AM CT.
Mama Said Season Continues on The Career Bloom Podcast
New episodes every Tuesday at 7 AM CT. Here is what is dropping this month.
Mama Said Go to College. The Hiring Market Said Show Me the Skills
How a skills-based hiring manager actually reads your degree in fifteen seconds. Introducing the SART Scan: Skills, Articulation, Relevance, Time.
Mama Said Print Your Resume on Nice Paper.
The Robot, the Recruiter, and the Boss. The three readers your resume has to win in 2026. Five mistakes that get good candidates rejected before any human sees them. And a story about the most beautiful resume that never got an interview.
Mama Said Don't Talk About Money
Pay transparency, salary negotiation, and the script for when they ask what you currently make. The most expensive piece of dinner-table advice mama ever gave you.
Mama Said Stay Loyal to One Company.
Loyalty is a one-way street now. We close the season.
Free This Month
Three free consultation tracks. Thirty minutes each. No catch.
Free Career Consult. For anyone navigating a job search, career pivot, or layoff. Bring your questions. Bring your situation. We will talk through where you are stuck.
Free Resume Consult. A working session on your actual resume. We will identify what is killing your callback rate and what to fix first.
Free Interview Skills Consult. If you are getting interviews but not offers, this is the one for you.
If you were laid off from Spirit Airlines, my offer from earlier this month still stands. Put "Spirit" in the booking notes.
This Week on The Bloom Blog
Three pieces. Four days. Whatever side of the desk you sit on, there is something for you.
Tuesday May 19 — 7 AM CT
Mama said print your resume on nice paper... The robot at the door said HAND IT OVER.
The full companion piece to Tuesday's podcast. The three readers, the five mistakes, and the story of the brilliant designer whose beautiful resume was killing her career for five months.
Wednesday May 20 — 7 AM CT
Mama said work hard. Meta, PayPal, and Coinbase just said hold our beer.
100,000 jobs gone in five months. The deal mama described is dead. Here is what is actually true now. Real talk for anyone watching the news and wondering if their industry is next.
Friday May 22 — 7 AM CT
Your hiring process is rejecting the candidates you actually want.
For the HR leaders and business owners reading along. Six things quietly breaking small business hiring in 2026 and how to audit your own process before it costs you the candidates you want.
That is your week ahead.
If any of this hits where you live right now, the free consults are open at careerbloomsolutions.com/free-consultations.
If you are new here and want to catch up, the Bloom Blog has the full archive at careerbloomsolutions.com/blog.
If you would rather listen than read, The Career Bloom Podcast is on every major platform. Find it at careerbloomsolutions.com/podcast.
Follow @lonestarflower on TikTok and Instagram for the daily takes.
I am rooting for you, sweetie. Always.
— Lauren
Your Brand. Your Career. Your Business. In Full Bloom.
Comments