Layoff announcements are one of the best signals in recruiting. When a company cuts staff, dozens of skilled people start looking for work at the same moment, and the recruiters who reach them first win.
Meet Priya, a Tech Recruiter in Austin
Priya places software engineers and product managers at mid-size tech companies. Her clients are always asking for the same thing: experienced candidates who are actively looking and available now.
The problem? By the time Priya heard about a layoff through LinkedIn chatter or a news article, three days had already passed. Other recruiters had already messaged the best candidates.
She needed a way to hear about layoffs the moment they were announced, not after the dust settled.
The Manual Approach Was Killing Her Time
Every morning, Priya was checking four or five tech news sites, scrolling LinkedIn, and searching Google for things like "tech layoffs this week." It took 30 to 45 minutes and she still missed things.
She also had no system. Some mornings she skipped it entirely. On busy days, she would go two or three days without checking. Those were the days she found out about a big layoff a week late.
How She Set Up AIDular in About Two Minutes
Priya signed up at aidular.com and created her first scheduled search using plain English. No code, no complicated settings.
Her prompt looked like this:
"Search for tech company layoff announcements in the US from the past 7 days. Include the company name, number of employees affected, the roles most impacted, and any source links. Focus on software, product, and data teams."
She set it to run every Monday morning. AIDular searches the web on schedule and emails her a clean, sourced report before she starts her week.
What She Gets in Her Inbox
Every Monday, Priya gets an email that lists:
- Which companies announced layoffs that week
- How many people were let go and in which departments
- Links to the original news sources so she can verify before acting
If a cloud infrastructure company cut 200 engineers, she knows about it before her Monday coffee is finished. She can pull up LinkedIn, search for affected employees by company and title, and send personalised messages while most candidates have just started updating their CVs.
The Result
Priya says she now contacts newly laid-off candidates within 24 to 48 hours of an announcement, instead of a week later. Her reply rate on outreach went up because the timing feels right to candidates who are fresh into their job search and still feeling motivated.
She also uses the report to advise her clients. If five fintech companies cut their product teams in the same week, that tells her something about where the market is heading. She passes that context to hiring managers, which makes her look sharp.
She runs a second AIDular search too, a monthly one tracking broader tech hiring trends by role type. Together, the two reports give her a full picture of the market without any daily manual searching.
Why Timing Is Everything in Recruiting
A laid-off candidate who is a week into their job search has already had five conversations. A laid-off candidate on day one is still choosing who to talk to.
Being first is not about working harder. It is about having better information, faster.
If you are a recruiter and you are still finding out about layoffs through LinkedIn gossip, you are always going to be playing catch-up. A scheduled search that lands in your inbox every Monday morning changes that.
Try AIDular free at aidular.com. The Lite plan costs nothing and takes two minutes to set up.