Ex-Meta Recruiter Says She Did "Nothing" But Was Given a $190,000 Salary During Layoffs

Former Meta employee is pulling the curtain back on the tech giant and revealing insight as to how the company works behind the scenes, and plenty of people have a lot to say about it. Maddie Machado, a "career finesser" who posts helpful job tips and encouraging advice for people who have been laid off, worked at Meta for a short time as a recruiter, and got paid big bucks to do "nothing." At the end of February 2022, she was fired after six months, and shared her experience on TikTok, but received so much backlash she turned the comment section off according to SFGATE, who Machado spoke with about her story. 

Why the Job Entailed "Nothing to Do"

In a upfront video, Machado stated she got paid $190,000 and explained what her job was about, which in the beginning was just about "learning." She said, "We weren't expected to hire anybody for the first six months, even the first year. This is something they tell you when you start." She added, "That really blew my mind. Like 'Perfect, I'm just going to ride this out for a year,' obviously I didn't make that." She shared that what she did all day was learn. "They have amazing onboarding and training I've seen from any company ever." Machado said that the "expectations" her bosses had at the beginning of her tenure at Meta were "learning and taking it all in because "you're drinking from a fire hose." She went on to say the "crazy part" was all the team meetings she sat through. "Why are we meeting? We're not hiring anybody?" But added, she misses the job. 

Meta Didn't Like Machado Posting Content on Social Media About the Company

Machado wasn't active on social media much before she got the Meta gig, but did start posting shortly after, which became a problem. "After I started my job at Meta, I posted a TikTok about Meta and my benefits. I worked remotely, so I didn't have free food [like other employees who went into the office], but I had a really cool benefits package. So, I made a TikTok and it just happened to go viral. It was maybe my third TikTok that I've ever made." She clarified that she never talked about work before on social media because "work was work," but she posted about her impressive benefits and people thought it was "an ad for Meta." She said, "I was just sharing my benefits because they give you $4,000 in baby cash. If you have a baby, they will give you $4,000 in cash." Besides that, Machado explained they also give you $3,000 for child care reimbursement." She went on to say that a lot of people from Meta saw it and it "wasn't a big deal until it was." 

Machado Was Written Up For Posting a Story About an Aspect of the Job

Machado soon realized that Meta was watching her every move on social media, including her stories. "I got written up for something that was on my story", she revealed in a clip. "I wasn't necessarily talking crap about the company, but I was just sharing how challenging it was working there because as a recruiter you would reach out to people and they would just cuss you out. I posted about that on my story and I got written up." She said that she didn't even have a following at that point and "maybe had 2,000 followers on Instagram. I was shook! I was scared," she said. 

Machado Was Asked to Create Content Promoting Meta

Machado said after getting written up, she was never going to mention Meta online again. Instead, she focused her attention on TikTok and posting about "recruiting and careers, but not Meta." She shared that she was talked to about her social media "three times" so she wasn't going to talk about them at all. "But they asked me to talk about the company on LinkedIn and share about our hiring. They even wanted me to host a workshop on how to use LinkedIn to build your personal brand at Meta simultaneously while complaining about my social media. It was insane." Machado said she declined because she didn't want to talk about the company at all after getting into so much trouble previously. 

"I Felt Like I was Being Watched All the Time"

In the three minute video, Machado said, "I was so miserable. I felt like I couldn't even talk. I couldn't post on my stories. I couldn't post on TikTok. I felt like I was being watched all the time." She said she knew she was going to get fired so she quit, "but I was fired the net day."She told SFGATE "I just realized I couldn't be at a company that controlled everything I post," and explained she had to endure a  "dehumanizing" process where everything she did on social was criticized. 

Not Employee Likes to Sit Around and Not Work

Machado noted that while some people may be okay with taking a big check and not having much to do work wise, that's not the case for everyone. In the interview with SFGATE she said, "Some people really do pride themselves in their work, and it's not fair for you to take someone from a company, place them in this new company and not give them any work to do, where they're not able to advance their skills and advance their training and get more experience under their belt," she said. "They're just wasting time."

Anyone is at Risk of Being Fired

Although some people feel the layoffs are justifiable, Machado says that's not the actual root of the issue. Massive layoffs are happening not only in tech, but many other industries and Machado told SFGATE, "You could be the hardest-working person, getting it by your bootstraps, and still be let go after 10, 15, 20 years of work with no explanation, or you could be a really mediocre worker who gets let go, and you still get the same level of severance as that person who gave it their all," Machado said. "I don't want my story to be, 'Oh my gosh, she's ruining it for other people who are trying to stay under the radar.' I think it's more that, as corny as it sounds, you need to be the CEO of your career, and you need to take your career and your skills seriously."  She added, "I don't want people to use this story to justify what is really poor management at companies like Meta and Amazon and Google to hire so many people without the intention of them doing any work… I think they're being very intentional about the layoffs, and I wish they would have been as intentional about the hiring."