Job offer from a place which recently held layoffs - how do I interpret? [closed]

Question

I received an offer from a prospective employer recently, with competitive terms that I am considering accepting. One interesting detail is that they recently had layoffs, particularly in the department I would be working for. This is a novel situation for me and I am not totally sure how to interpret it. If I may briefly play the devil's advocate for each side -

In favor of the offer: The company was forward about this fact and made sure I was aware of the layoffs during the interview process. They say that they were due to a reorganization of the department. It is not unreasonable to think that increased responsibility and opportunity would come with the offered role which - so long as compensation were commensurate - would be good developmentally. The idea that they want to hire in the midst of this is also telling that they are willing to invest in the new organization structure and thus is a good omen for this being a long lasting job.

Against the offer: Layoffs suggest the company is unstable and has leadership which perceives the proposed department as at least partly expendable. They may be fickle about the new organization and decide that this role is unnecessary after all or simply face more financial troubles and require more layoffs. Even if the job is not 'on the chopping block' any time soon, there is a good chance that you are stepping in to take over the responsibilities of several people who have been let go - meaning the role could be very stressful and the position could be overworked.

Can anyone lend some insight on this situation and maybe spin it in a way I haven't thought of? I am torn about whether this represents a good opportunity or an unnecessary risk.

Answer 1

Since the company is willing to be up front with you about the layoffs, I'd ask for more information.

It's not unusual for a large company to be laying off employees in one area at the same time as it's hiring in another, but it's less common for this to be happening in the same department.

As Jeanne Boyarsky mentions in her comment, the two most likely scenarios are:

A) There has been a shift in the skills required, and they are hiring people with needed skills while at the same time laying off people with less applicable skills

B) They are trying to hire young "cheap" employees to take the place of more experienced (expensive) employees, whom they are laying off.

Scenario A is fairly common, and part of the normal course of doing business in some companies. You might want to ask how often layoffs happen, and what measures they take to try to re-assign someone to a more compatible position, or offer them training to update skills, before laying them off. I'd ask the company to get a little more specific than "reorganization" but I wouldn't be terribly worried about it if this is the scenario.

Scenario B is unethical, and likely illegal in many places. You would want to be very careful about working for a company like that.