Affected by layoffs but being picky about next role

I got laid off and I have been getting rejected in my interviews a lot and want to take some time to work on my skills, is it a bad decision? My YOE is 3 years as a SWE

I am 26M with close to 3 years of work experience and a MBA from a tier 1 college. I make decent salary, however I am not really enjoying my job. I am also depressed from working very hard the past 5 years with graduation, Covid and job Etc. I just want to take a few months off and focus on my mental/physical health. I also want to prepare for Product roles and try out some business/freelancing ideas I have. My concern is how Career gaps are treated like a stigma in the industry. Like what was the use of working so hard and getting qualifications, if I cannot take a few months in between jobs to focus on myself. Can someone help me get some perspective?

I was recently laid off. I am applying for jobs. One question that has been a bother for me is on my unfortunate past short stints. Need help from folks on how to tackle these Q's. I am applying for product / strategy roles. 2015 - tier 1 engg 2019 - tier 1 MBA 1.5 yrs - did my own startup...fairly successful but later failed due to covid 11 months - worked in a fairly well known fast growing startup - left coz wanted to move to a product centric startup 14 months - worked in product based big unicorn startup - got laid off 10 months - joined an early stage startup - startup failed and laid off again What should be my interview strategy? How do I portray my story in a positive light?

Have an M.Des from one of the IITs. This is going to be my first switch. Is having a WITCH org going to screw my chances of getting into a product based org. If yes, how can I work on this?

I was recently impacted by layoff and having 20yrs of exp into application support and service management with last 10yrs grown into a middle management role(limited tech hands-on and no dev experience nor CS background) While I am financially ok atm and can manage staying at home for next 12-24 months, I am not financially independent yet. its getting too boring and I want to get back into some sort of work routine as I am keen on retirement yet. Challenges I am seeing with finding a new opportunity: - The job market seems to be quite restricted for senior roles with that experience - Few that came across were at a substantial low salary. - Some others required significant hands-on experience Thought process:: - While salary is not a major concern, I am not sure if I makes sense to take a pay cut. - Given the speed of tech changes, not sure what kind of learning/certification would be helpful - Even if I do tech self-learning, lack of practical hands-on seems to be a drawback - At 40+ while I am open to work hard and learn, i view is to find a job and learn into it , rather than other wat round Any guidance/pointers would be appreciated. As would any leads/introductions on suitable opportunities you know of.

Have any of you taken a career break and got back to work? Did you see any loss? Discrimination? Difficulty? Is it right decision to take a career break? I have no problem with savings I have it plenty. Am just worried about losing everything if there is a gap in my work timeline and if that will impact me from being hired again from say top firms or wherever? Please help.

Hi folks , for sometime now , I have not been very happy with my current role. I was planning to start looking for opportunities this year but seeing the layoff trends , I am skeptical, my company currently is stable and no risks of layoff as such, just that there is not much learning and growth. Please suggest if this is a good time to look out for new opportunities or stay put.

I completed education from tier 1 colleges (MBA and Engineering both from coveted IIM and IIT). After MBA, I joined Wall Street bank and life was really good. Was enjoying the perks of a MNC although the work was also excruciating but was an overall good experience. Left it for a startup (fast growth kida in me led this decision). Worked in the startup across multiple roles, learned a lot of new things. Tried staying away from office politics and earned a good name in the circle. But growth (read pay) was not that enticing and was not growing hence decided to leave. Was naive enough to quote this reason to business head and HR as well. Obviously it didn't go well with anyone. Joined startup2, changed cities and joined it. The role was similar, although my manager was an epitome of a toxic manager. Was doing good but he always was able to find some or the other mistake in my work. If he would not find any mistake then he would suggest some tangential hypothesis and then reprimand me for not thinking about it. Was so toxic that I didn't take leave when my wife was hospitalized and giving birth to our child. Tried doing everything possible but couldn't save the job and got laid off in the 1st lay off wave. Was shattered. Confidence was at rock bottom. Tried searching for roles. Luckily I got into startup3 who had remote work at that time. Although I joined the marketing team (which was not at all related to my previous work) thus creating a mess of my profile. Worked hard but in a "restructuring" exercise got laid off again. Within a year 2 lay offs with random work and no concrete direction in work. Now searching for roles but not able to find anything suitable as I was in non-core roles and in this difficult time everyone is looking for cheap resources with 1-3 yoe and not looking for 7+ yoe with generalist profile. Contemplating starting from zero in Marketing or learning coding/Data science so that can start my career again with right basics.

I got laid off in Jan. I was a senior product analyst at a well known startup. YoE ~4 Pay was 18L + 2L variable + ESOP After months of search I landed an offer at another smaller startup which raised Series B in sept-22 They are offering me 16+2 + ESOP after looking at my payslip and I have no other offer in hand citing economic conditions. How do I go about it? I have 1 other interview going on and few with final round results pending, but uncertain if those will get offered.