After mass layoffs, Meta pulls back full-time job offers

For the first time ever Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta has rescinded full-time employment offers as the company surfs through a tough time amidst fears of a global recession.

“As we continue to reassess our hiring needs, we’ve made the difficult decision to withdraw offers to a small number of candidates,” a Meta spokesperson told U.S-based tech focused website, TechCrunch.

“While this decision did not come lightly, it allows us to remain thoughtful as we readjust our hiring through 2023 to align with our highest-priority work,” the report added.

This comes after Zuckerberg let go off 11,000 employees globally in November 2022.

According to a tweet by engineer and writer Gergely Orosz, about 20 recent grads had offers rescinded to work in Meta’s office.

Meta had previously rescinded the 2023 summer internship offers at its London office. The interns were due to start in January 2023 at the London office. Orosz had also reported that a software engineer with an employment offer got on the phone with a recruiter at Meta to find out if their full-time position is safe, or if it could also be rescinded. He was then informed that the full-time job offers were not at stake.

Trouble began with Meta in mid-2022 when the company posted a rise in its overall costs and issued weak guidance for the holiday quarter. The reason for increased costs was Zuckerberg's ambitious Metaverse that hasn't been a fructifying project yet. One of Meta's biggest investors, Altimeter Capital had written an open letter expressing concerns about the company's fitness and growth. The shareholder suggested cost-cutting measures like job cuts and reducing capex.

Meanwhile, in India, the business has been good, with the social media giant reporting $2 billion in gross advertising revenues for FY22 (a jump of 74 per cent year-on-year) but it has been hit by some top-level exits.

First, Ajit Mohan, who was Vice President and Managing Director of Meta India, left the company in early November, after close to four years at the helm. A little over a week later, Abhijit Bose, who was Head of India, WhatsApp, also stepped down after a stint of nearly four years. Along with Bose, Rajiv Aggarwal, who was Meta India’s Director of Public Policy, also quit.
 

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