👋 Welcome, Jobseekers

"Rejection isn’t a verdict; it’s data. Use it."

Welcome to this week’s Offboard drop. Inside: a field guide to outsmarting ageism in tech, a 60-second AI prompt to tailor your résumé for any role, the latest layoff headlines from EA, Meta, and more, plus salary trend data that could shape your next negotiation. We’re also spotlighting three jobseeker tools worth trying this week—don’t miss them.

• 📉 Layoff Report: EA Cuts 300, Meta Cutting 100 Employees Across Reality Labs Unit

• 🧑‍✈️ Career CoPilot: Outsmarting Ageism: A Guide for Seasoned Pros

• 📈 Trends & Data: Pay Is Still Rising—But Will It Keep Up With Prices?

• 🔧 Jobseeker Tools: Makerbox, Lovable, Coach

• 🤖 AI Prompt of the Week: Tailor Your Résumé to a role in 60 Seconds

📉 EA Cuts 300, Meta Cutting 100 Employees Across Reality Labs Unit

• EA Cuts Around 300 Roles, Including Roughly 100 at Respawn 

• NetApp Layoffs Cloud New Data Security Capabilities 

• Expedia Restructures Product and Tech Teams, Will Lay Off 3% of Workforce 

• Cars24 lays off 200 employees, to tighten hiring plans 

• NetEase Executives Step Down as CEO Pulls Back From Games 

• Meta Lays Off Over 100 Employees Across Reality Labs Unit 

Outsmarting Ageism: A Guide for Seasoned Pros

Tech’s age problem is measurable, not anecdotal. Fresh federal data plus new surveys show seasoned pros being squeezed out of the fastest-growing, best-paid part of the U.S. economy. Below is the evidence and a field guide you can share with anyone feeling the gray-hair tax.

The Numbers

• Median employee age: Meta 29, LinkedIn 29, Google 30 (PayScale)*

• Workers 40 + fell from 55.9% in 2014 to 52.1% in 2022 in high tech, sliding below their 53.1% share of the overall workforce*

• Just 3.8% of high-tech workers are 65 +, compared with 4% economy-wide; ages 55-64 are 13.6% inside tech versus 16.3% outside*

• A 2024 LinkedIn–Fast Company pulse survey pegged the 50-plus cohort in modern tech firms at only 8%*

• 43% of tech workers worry they’ll lose a job because of age and 36% say they have already been dismissed or ignored for being “too old” (Indeed survey, 1,000 respondents)*

Why Founders and Boards Should Care

1. Innovation math – Mixed-age teams file more patents and deliver more bug-free code. Pattern recognition plus fresh frameworks beats monoculture every time.

2. Cost of churn – Swapping out a senior engineer for a junior hire saves salary today but can cost up to 150 % of that salary in lost tribal knowledge and tech-debt risk.

3. AI roll-outs stall – Harvard Business Review warns that sidelining domain veterans slows successful AI adoption because models need the context those employees hold.

How to Navigate (and Fight) Age Bias

If you’re 40-plus and job-hunting

• Signal skills, not birthdays. Move “Last commit: April 2025” or a recent cert to the top of your résumé.

• Cut the dates that date you. Graduation or first job dates are optional under U.S. law.

• Lead with outcomes. “Scaled infra from 5 M to 200 M users” is ageless impact.

• Find mixed-age communities. OSS projects, niche Slack groups, and Offboard’s talent lounge turn one-click intros into real referrals.

If you hire, manage, or ally

• Audit postings. Words like “digital native,” “recent grad,” or “high-energy” correlate with EEOC age-bias claims – swap in real skill verbs.

• Try blind screens. Strip age clues for the first résumé pass. Free scripts exist for Greenhouse, Workday, and Lever.

• Make mentorship two-way. Pair Gen Z power users of new frameworks with Gen X system thinkers. Everyone levels up.

Many members hit walls not because they lack chops but because ATS filters read tenure like spoil dates. If you are in this demographic, leverage these tips to find yourself in the interview seat where you can show your true prowess.

Data Sources:

1. https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2024-09/20240910_Diversity%20in%20the%20High%20Tech%20Workforce%20and%20Sector%202014-2022.pdf

2. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rachwill_employers-believe-this-is-the-age-youre-activity-7216590998649331713-DQVW

3. https://www.indeed.com/lead/tech-ageism-report

4. https://www.payscale.com/data-packages/top-tech-companies-compared

Pay Is Still Rising—But Will It Keep Up With Prices?

March’s Employment Cost Index shows that private-sector paychecks are still getting bigger, but the pace is easing—up 3.4 % year-over-year versus 3.7 % last quarter. Union workers remain ahead with 4.6 % gains, while non-union raises hover around 3.3 %. The catch: sweeping new tariffs threaten to push everyday prices higher, so those modest wage gains could vanish if inflation re-accelerates. Bottom line: the labor market is cooling, benefits matter more than ever, and locking in cost-of-living protection during salary talks is a smart move.

Takeaways

• Paychecks are still growing, but more slowly. Average private-sector wages rose 3.4 % over the past year—down from 3.7 % three months ago.

• Union workers are ahead. Union employees got a 4.6 % bump, compared with 3.3 % for everyone else.

• Prices might catch up. New import tariffs could push everyday costs higher; if that happens, today’s pay raises may no longer feel like real gains.

• We’re not back to “normal” yet. After accounting for inflation, wages are still about 5 % below the path they were on before COVID.

Why it matters to you

• When you negotiate, ask about inflation protection. A cost-of-living clause or mid-year review can keep your pay from falling behind if prices jump.

• Look at the full package. Benefits (healthcare, retirement matches, remote-work stipends) are rising faster than base pay—factor them into your decision.

• Stay tuned to price news. If tariffs start raising costs this summer, be ready to revisit your budget—or your salary expectations.

Tailor Your Résumé in 60 Seconds: The Role-Sniper Prompt

Turn any job posting into a laser-focused résumé update that screams “I’m the perfect fit.” Copy the prompt below into ChatGPT (or your favorite AI sidekick) and watch your bullet points sharpen themselves.

Prompt

“Using the target job description and my current résumé below, rewrite:

• My Professional Summary (≤ 120 words)
• My top 5 bullet points (≤ 20 words each)

so they align tightly with [Target Role Title] and spotlight my achievements in [Key Skills]. Quantify impact wherever possible and keep language energetic, action-oriented, and free of clichés.

Target Job Description:
[paste JD]

My Résumé Excerpt:
[paste your current summary + bullet points]”

Example

Professional Summary

Product designer with 8 years guiding ed-tech interfaces that serve 10 M+ learners. Expert in user-centered design, AI-driven personalization, and rapid prototyping. Led cross-functional teams that boosted engagement by 35% and cut dev cycles 20%. Eager to bring data-informed creativity to a growth-stage SaaS team.

Bullet Points

• Redesigned tutoring dashboard—drove 35 % jump in daily active users.

• Piloted AI-powered A/B tool, slashing test time by 65 %.

• Facilitated 30+ design sprints, accelerating feature delivery 20 %.

• Mentored 6 junior designers, reducing QA defects 15 %.

• Secured $500 K budget by presenting ROI models to execs.

MakerBox

Generate professional bios, covers, and posts that earn 3.5x more engagement and 87% more connections — in just 30 seconds.

www.makerbox.io

Lovable.dev

It’s about time we have something for our Vibe Coders out there. Lovable (formerly gpt-engineer) is one of the OGs in the vibe coding space that leveraging AI code generation to take a simple prompt all the way to the full stack application or website.

lovable.dev

Coach

Meet Coach, a research-backed AI career coach designed for colleges, workforce programs, and online learning platforms to scale guidance, close skill gaps, and improve outcomes.

www.aicareercoach.org

🔧 Browse the Offboard Tool Directory →