38,000 Jobs Cut in 10 Days — How to Be the One Who Gets Promoted Instead

In the first ten days of May 2026, over 38,000 people lost their jobs. Not over a quarter. Not over a fiscal year. Ten days.

PayPal axed 4,760 roles on May 9 as part of a $1.5 billion AI overhaul. Meta announced plans to cut 8,000 on May 20. Spirit Airlines didn't just downsize — it ceased operations entirely, wiping out 14,000 jobs overnight. And those are just the headlines. Over 2,038 companies have announced mass layoffs since January 1, 2026. The running total for tech alone? More than 92,000 workers laid off this year.

If you're reading this and still employed, that's not a reason to relax. It's a reason to move. Because here's what the numbers don't tell you: inside every single one of those companies, while some people were getting walked out, others were getting promoted. Companies don't just subtract during restructurings. They reorganize, consolidate power, and elevate the people they're building the next chapter around.

The question is simple: which side do you want to be on?

The Layoff Machine Is Not Slowing Down

Let's be clear about the environment. According to recent surveys, 55% of hiring managers expect more layoffs in the second half of 2026. And 44% say AI will be the primary driver — not revenue declines, not market corrections, but the simple math that fewer humans are needed when AI handles the rest.

This isn't 2023-style pandemic correction layoffs. This is structural. Companies like Fidelity laid off 800 people while simultaneously prepping a hiring spree in AI-adjacent roles. That's the pattern now: cut in one area, reinvest in another. The roles disappearing aren't coming back. But new ones are being created — and filled by the people who positioned themselves correctly before the music stopped.

The takeaway: anxiety won't save you. Strategy will.

The Warning Signs Are Already Visible

If you're wondering whether your company is next, stop wondering and start watching. Layoffs rarely come without signals. Here's what the lead-up actually looks like from the inside:

• Hiring freezes go quiet. They don't always announce them — you just notice that open roles sit unfilled for months and recruiters stop reaching out.
• Tools and subscriptions get canceled. When finance starts cutting $200/month SaaS tools, it's not about the $200. It's about building a narrative of cost reduction before the big cuts.
• Performance reviews get delayed or go vague. If your company pushed back review cycles or your manager suddenly can't give you specifics on your rating, decisions are being made above their head.
• "Efficiency" becomes the buzzword. When the CEO starts talking about "operational efficiency" and "doing more with less" in every all-hands, that language is laying the groundwork for announcements.
• Consultants appear. If McKinsey or Bain suddenly has people in your office, restructuring recommendations are being drafted.

You don't need insider information. You need to pay attention.

Why Some People Get Promoted During Layoffs

Here's the part most career advice misses entirely: layoffs and promotions are not opposites. They're often part of the same decision.

When a company restructures, leadership isn't just deciding who to cut. They're simultaneously deciding who to build around. They're asking: "If we're going from 200 people to 140, who are the 15 people we need in bigger roles to make this work?" Those 15 people don't just keep their jobs — they get promoted, often with expanded scope and better compensation, because they're being asked to lead more with less.

The traits of the people who land in that group:

• Their impact is quantified, not assumed. Leadership doesn't have to guess what they contribute. They've made it explicit.
• They're connected to revenue. Their work ties directly to money coming in or costs going down. Not "supports the team" — actual dollars.
• They operate above their level. They've already been doing next-level work, making the promotion a formalization rather than a gamble.
• They're known by leadership. Not just their direct manager — their skip-level, cross-functional leaders, and at least one executive can name them and describe their value.

Notice what's not on that list: tenure, loyalty, or working the longest hours.

The Brag Sheet Strategy

If you can't articulate your impact in two sentences with numbers attached, you're invisible to the people making decisions. And invisible people get cut first.

Start what I call a "brag sheet" — a running document where you track everything you do that saves or makes the company money. Not your task list. Your impact list. Here's the difference:

• Task: "Rebuilt the onboarding email sequence."

• Impact: "Rebuilt the onboarding email sequence, increasing 30-day activation from 34% to 51% — worth an estimated $180K in annual retained revenue."

• Task: "Migrated the team to the new project management tool."

• Impact: "Led tool migration that reduced cross-team coordination time by 6 hours/week, saving approximately $75K/year in labor costs across the department."

Update this weekly. When the promotion conversation happens — and it should happen soon — you're not walking in with feelings. You're walking in with receipts.

Build the Relationships That Actually Matter

During normal times, doing great work and having a good relationship with your direct manager is enough. During restructurings, it's not — because your manager might not be the one making the decisions about your future.

You need strategic relationships at three levels:

Your direct manager. They need to be your advocate in rooms you're not in. That means making their job easier, keeping them informed of your wins, and explicitly telling them you want to grow. Don't assume they know. Tell them.

Your skip-level. This is your manager's manager. They're often the person who actually approves or blocks promotions. Find ways to interact with them — volunteer for projects they care about, present in meetings they attend, or simply ask your manager to set up a quarterly career conversation with them.

Cross-functional leaders. When calibration meetings happen, having someone from another team say "we need to keep them — they're the reason our cross-functional project shipped" is worth more than ten self-assessments.

These relationships don't build overnight. Start now.

Have the Promotion Conversation NOW — Not After the Dust Settles

This is the mistake that costs people the most. They see layoffs happening and think: "This isn't the time to ask for a promotion. I should wait until things stabilize."

By the time things stabilize, the new org chart is already locked. The promotions have already been decided. The "dust settling" is the announcement of decisions that were made weeks or months ago.

Right now — while restructuring is being planned — is exactly when your manager and their leadership are deciding who fits into expanded roles. If you haven't raised your hand, they're filling those slots with someone who has.

The framing matters. Don't walk in and say "I want a promotion" like you're asking for a favor. Frame it as alignment with the company's direction:

"I've been thinking about how my role should evolve given where the team is heading. I'm already leading X and driving Y — I'd like to talk about formalizing that at the next level."

This is a high-stakes conversation. And if the idea of having it makes your palms sweat, that's normal — but it's not an excuse to avoid it.

Practice the Conversation Before You Have It

The difference between a promotion conversation that lands and one that fizzles often comes down to preparation. Not just what you say, but how you say it — your confidence, your framing, your ability to handle pushback like "the timing isn't right" or "we don't have budget."

This is where tools like Conquer Your Boss become genuinely useful. It's an AI-powered app that lets you rehearse difficult career conversations — including the exact scenario of asking for a promotion during uncertain times. You can simulate your manager's likely responses, practice reframing objections, and walk into the real conversation having already worked through the hard parts. When the stakes are this high, winging it is a bad strategy.

The Bottom Line

Thirty-eight thousand jobs disappeared in ten days. More are coming. But companies are also promoting people right now — elevating the employees they're building around for the next phase.

The difference between being cut and being promoted isn't luck. It's positioning: making your impact visible, building relationships above your level, owning revenue-connected work, and having the career conversation before someone else has it for you.

The layoff wave isn't waiting for you to get ready. Move now.