Lay-offs soon?

It isn’t that banks are lying, it is that banks (and basically most firms out there) don’t know what will happen, so they are basing information off of today. To be clear, new hires and interns aren’t the expensive people and are usually in a decent spot in times like this.

That being said, all firms will be looking to see how this plays out, how much revenue might be lost, when (and how quickly) a recovery will happen, etc. If firms are taking big hits, there isn’t work, or any other serious conditions they will begin exploring ways of cutting costs. In a standard scenario this can happen through regular attrition (slow down/freeze hiring, don’t replace the people who leave and maybe shift people to where there are projects, trim some expensive benefits/perks), in a more serious scenario there will be layoffs (again less impactful for new people, although you also can’t add value as a new person and are expensive to train), and a very serious scenario will see large layoffs and rescinding offers, etc. I had friends during the financial crisis that were hired just to be laid off 4 months later, this isn’t to be alarmist or worry you, it is just that firms manage to the situation, the information they have, and their best guess of how it will play out.

Just think about it this way: what do you think will happen over the next 4 months? Have you seen the projections? They are all over the place. Firms don't have any magic 8 ball, so they are giving information based on what they know, what they are predicting and how they see this play out. But judging by projections out there, inevitably some people are wrong (a few will be very wrong) people just don’t know. Also, firms won’t say layoffs until they are sure they are doing them, you won’t get an email saying “hi new hire, we are seriously considering rescinding your offer and implementing layoffs, but we’re still thinking about it”, nope, you will be notified that until further notice all is as planned, which is true, the question is how close to flipping that are they? Is it 90% chance it goes, or 51%? Again not alarmist, just trying to share perspective on how these things work.