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Starting Over: What to tell Sarah, at the edge of professional oblivion. — LessWrong

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I came across a sad post recently from a woman on LinkedIn— let’s call her Sarah—who spent over a decade, in her words, as a top 2% recruiter, and was now finding it impossible to land even the most basic of roles. It was one of those earnest, help-me / trauma-essays, with the comments below full of support, shock that Sarah was still unemployed, and love-heart emojis — the most potent form of emotional currency we offer, always in silence. I feel for Sarah, who is part of a growing group of professional refugees flooding our feeds, as the snow globe of the global economy is shaken; tariffs, AI, and layoffs — shake, shake, shake. When I imagine myself in Sarah’s shoes — what it would be like, in that moment, as she drafts the words — it feels like a mixture of humility, shame, and survival-driven desperation, the latter of which makes the hairs on my arms stand tall. This late-stage survival instinct perfectly demonstrates how tough human beings can be, but watching it unfold on social

x Starting Over: What to tell Sarah, at the edge of professional oblivion. — LessWrong Careers World Modeling Frontpage 11 Starting Over: What to tell Sarah, at the edge of professional oblivion. by Brad Dunn 15th May 2025 25 min read 1 11 I came across a sad post recently from a woman on LinkedIn— let’s call her Sarah—who spent over a decade, in her words, as a top 2% recruiter , and was now finding it impossible to land even the most basic of roles. It was one of those earnest, help-me / trauma-essays, with the comments below full of support, shock that Sarah was still unemployed, and love-h

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