Could Hiring Slowdown, Layoffs Be On The Horizon At eBay?
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@ValueAddedRS on Twitter, LinkedIn, or send me an email.
UPDATE 1-23-24
eBay has announced they will be laying off 1,000 employees, about 9% of total workforce as CEO Jamie Iannone says "overall headcount & expenses have outpaced the growth of our business."
Liz Morton
UPDATE 1-23-24
Open job postings have remained relatively steady in the ~70-75 range, but eBayers appear to be getting restless as we're seeing increasing chatter on Blind and The Layoff about possible workforce reductions, with some rumors saying it could happen as early as tomorrow.
EBay might do a round of layoffs soon. I am really scared. How do I deal with this?
https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1qkfLpBO
New rumor is layoffs to be announced Jan 24.
If you work at eBay and have information you'd like to share, messages are open on Twitter @ValueAddedRS and LinkedIn and emails are always welcome - requests for confidentiality will be respected.
UPDATE 12-17-23
Calcalist is reporting eBay is laying off 20-25 of its 250 employees in Israel.
Meir Orbach
E-commerce giant eBay is laying off around 20-25 of its 250 employees in Israel, Calcalist has learned. The layoffs aren’t connected to the current war in Israel and are part of a global reorganization.
This is the second round of layoffs at eBay Israel this year. In February, eBay announced that 500 employees globally, representing 4% of its total workforce, will be laid off. The cutbacks included dozens of employees at eBay’s R&D center in Israel, which was set up in 2005 following the acquisition of shopping.com for $620 million.
UPDATE 12-5-23
eBay is now down to 71 open job positions with 39 in North America, 22 in Europe and the Middle East and 10 in the Asia Pacific region.
UPDATE 11-29-23
Open job positions at eBay are now down to 82 with 42 in North America, 23 in Europe and the Middle East and 17 in the Asia Pacific region.
UPDATE 11-17-23
eBay continues to shed open job positions, now down to 110 with 62 in North America, 26 in Europe and the Middle East and 22 in the Asia Pacific region.
Blind is also increasingly reporting a hiring freeze, with only a few roles still open depending on VP approval.
Got onsite done but the positions are on temporary hold. Is the hiring freeze permanent?
For the rest of the year, yes...that's what I heard in the Q3 All hands. Maybe some teams still have exceptions in place.
Some positions can still be approved but need to be approved by vp. All other positions are on hold.
UPDATE 11-3-23
eBay's open job positions have fallen to 138, a reduction of ~30% from the 196 active posts just 2 weeks ago.
The previous regional breakdown has still not been restored, but using the country filters when viewing the full list of open jobs provides the data to compare.
On October 24, the last day the regional breakout was shown, eBay had 106 jobs in North America, 48 in Europe and the Middle East, and 25 in the Asia Pacific Region.
Today they are showing 77 job in North America, 39 in Europe and the Middle East and 24 in Asia Pacific.
A recent posting on Blind also suggests eBay is currently in a hiring freeze, at least in some orgs.
UPDATE 10-30-23
Open job positions at eBay have now dropped to 144 and eBay is still obfuscating where the reductions are happening by only showing a consolidated total instead of the previous regional breakdown.
UPDATE 10-27-23
eBay open job positions have dropped again down to 156 from 196 just over a week ago. The animated ticker on the main careers page still no longer shows the regional breakdown.
eBay further reduced the open job positions by the end of day, now standing at 149 for a ~24% reduction in just over a week.
UPDATE 10-26-23
Open job positions at eBay have fallen to 162, with regional breakdown still missing from the main careers page.
UPDATE 10-25-23
After 6+ months of consistently having over 200 jobs posted, eBay is starting to show another reduction in open positions in the last week.
On August 16, 2023 there were 220 openings posted - 149 in North America, 48 in Europe and Middle East, and 23 in the Asia Pacific region.
As of October 19, 2023, that number had been reduced to 196 openings - 117 in North America, 47 in Europe and Middle East, and 32 in Asia Pacific.
October 24, 2023 reduced to 179 - 106 North America, 48 Europe and Middle East and 25 Asia Pacific.
And today, October 25, 2023, it is down to 167 open positions, with eBay once again removing the regional breakdown from the ticker on their careers page.
We'll be keeping a close eye on these stats and any other signs eBay may be pulling back on hiring and/or considering another round of layoffs in the near-term - stay tuned!
UPDATE 4-9-23
Open job postings at eBay are on the raise, especially in the US.
UPDATE 3-4-23
eBay has once again added the regional break down to the careers page. I'm sure the decision to show only the global total a week before Q4 2022 earnings report & then change back to regional a week after is totally coincidental. 😉
UPDATE 2-19-23
eBay has once again changed the careers page to show one consolidated number instead of the previous regional breakdown.
After the most recent round of layoffs, is eBay once again trying to hide the fact they are slowing US hiring at a much faster pace than Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia Pacific regions?
The ticker on the main careers page is also once again not updating in a timely fashion - the correct current number should be 143 (10 per page x 14 pages = 140, plus 3 on page 15).
UPDATE 2-7-23
eBay has just announced they will be laying off ~500 employees due to the "macro-economic situation around the world."
Liz Morton ~ Founder
UPDATE 2-6-23
eBay is working overtime to get the word out that they are hiring Web3 positions for their KnownOrigins NFT marketplace in an attempt to signal "all is well" ahead of Q4 2022 earnings.
Liz Morton ~ Founder
However, despite adding a few new positions, the total number of open jobs is still on a downward trend, showing serious belt tightening efforts are ongoing as eBay tries to avoid undertaking any significant layoffs.
UPDATE 1-18-23
And just like that - magically, the regional breakdown has been restored! 😉
UPDATE 1-12-23
eBay has made another interesting change to the careers page ticker graphic - it's now consolidated with one global total instead of breaking it out by region.
I wonder why they don't want use to see the breakdown any more? 🤨
UPDATE 12-31-22
eBay will end the year with 180 openings showing on the ticker, but only 172 actual job postings listed on the careers site - a significant drop from the peak of 696 in July.
UPDATE 12-13-22
The ticker has been stuck at 200 for about a week now, actual job postings down to 191 (19 pages at 10/page, plus 1 on page 20).
And anonymous reports continue on Blind that eBay may have frozen hiring in some departments.
Had an on-site interview with eBay and the recruiter is ghosting me , I have sent 2 reminder emails asking for the outcome and have received no reply. What should I do ?
Ebay is on soft freeze so maybe that’s why
UPDATE 11-28-22
The ticker is still stuck at 278 but the actual number of job openings has dropped even further, now down to 204 (20 pages at 10/page, plus 4).
And more reports on Blind from job seekers saying they've been told the position is no longer available after passing interview - this one is definitely concerning as it appears to have been in eBay Motors which is supposed to be one of the main focus growth vertical categories.
Was in final eBay interview stages and recruiter said role was removed.
Recruiter didn’t go into too much detail, but said that for some reason eBay Motors lost funding for the role until next year, but they might recommended to another team.
Is this a unique/one off? Or is something happening at eBay?
UPDATE 11-24-22
eBay appears to be taking the time to remove more jobs while they think no one is looking over the holiday.
The ticker still shows 278, actual count has now dropped to 222.
UPDATE 11-23-22
Once again the ticker is lagging behind the actual count...at this point one might have to wonder if it isn't intentional. 🤨
Current ticker shows 278, actual job listing count is at 250 (25 pages at 10/page).
That means eBay has shed almost 2/3 of open job positions from the peak of 696 in early July - again to be fair some of those positions were likely filled but it's clear eBay has pulled in the reins on hiring in the last 6 months as well.
UPDATE 11-15-22
It would appear once again the jobs ticker is frozen - it's been stuck at 310 for several days, but the actual job postings continue to drop.
eBay thought they were being sneaky removing the running total on the actual jobs page, but at 10 postings per page, it's not hard to do the math. 😉
29 pages x 10 plus one page with 2 = current actual open job postings 292.
UPDATE 11-9-22
Open jobs at eBay now down to 316.
UPDATE 10-31-22
There have been several interesting changes to the eBay careers page in the last 24 hours.
First, they've added a large graphic and search box which pushes the ticker graphic down below the fold so you have to scroll to see it.
They've also changed the search page so it no longer shows the total number of open positions.
And even more interesting - they've changed the URL for the careers page, which means if you search the current URL in the Internet Archive, you won't see the previous history. 🤯
https://careers.ebayinc.com/ now redirects to https://jobs.ebayinc.com/us/en.
It sure looks to me like someone at eBay is trying to quietly make it harder to track the status of open job positions at the company. 🤨
As of yesterday, 10-30-22, the ticker was showing 350 and the search page was showing 347.
I'm also seeing several reports on Blind from anonymous users who say they've recently applied at eBay and been told there is a hiring freeze in the department they applied to.
I am currently based in Spain but I've been applying to positions in Netherlands and Europe.
I had interviews with eBay and Uber. Both told me that I've passed the interviews but they can not give me an offer due to hiring freezing (it may or it may not be possible in Q1 next year).
Passed interview. Was negotiating for a few days, and then the position was eliminated.
Is eBay on hiring freeze for software positions?
Same happened with me . Recruiter mentioned about hiring freeze.
Is this normal? Had a short phone interview which went very well and the guy told me he’s gonna approve me to move on to the next interview. It’s been 3 weeks and recruiter keeps telling me they’re “still deciding on the next steps”
While it doesn't appear there is a company wide hiring freeze at this time, there is clearly some belt tightening going on behind the scenes.
The total of open job positions has fallen from 696 to 350 in ~4 months.
Total Changes since July 5, 2022 - breakdown by region:
- North America - 509 down to 237
- Europe & Middle East - 109 down to 92
- Asia Pacific - 78 down to 21
UPDATE 10-5-22
Today's count shows 388 on the jobs ticker, 381 on the actual careers page.
Here's the 3 month break down by region:
- North America - 509 down to 260
- Europe & Middle East - 109 down to 76
- Asia Pacific - 78 down to 52
UPDATE 9-28-22
It looks like the counter is out of sync again, or still, currently showing 402 when the actual number is 396.
Drops in all 3 regions the last two weeks
North America - 320 down to 277
Europe & Middle East - 91 down to 71
Asia Pacific - 79 down to 54
UPDATE 9-13-22
The ticker is still a bit out of sync, showing 490 open job positions when the actual number is 484.
Total number of open positions has dropped from 696 to 484 in 2 months and as previously noted, the largest drop is in North America going from 509 to 320 in that time.
UPDATE 8-26-22
The ticker is once again out of sync, showing 558 open jobs when the actual number is 549, again down from 696 on July 5.
But what's really interesting is to compare where the changes have occurred.
On July 5 there were 509 open positions in North America now 377, Europe Middle East & Africa was 109 now 93 and Asia Pacific was 78 now 88.
So North America is down 132 open positions, EMEA is down 16 and APAC is up 10. That definitely looks like some belt tightening going on to me. 🤨
UPDATE 8-19-22
And once again, the eBay careers ticker is magically fixed and finally reflecting accurate numbers again - currently at 573.
UPDATE 8-17-22
The ticker is still mysteriously "stuck" at 612, but search all jobs shows open positions down to 574.
UPDATE 8-11-22
The ticker graphic on the main eBay Careers page is still there, but appears to be a bit behind in updating.
Today it's showing a total of 612 open positions, but clicking through to "get started" shows only 583. Either way it appears to still be on a downward trend from the 696 observed on July 5.
UPDATE 7-26-22
Open job positions at eBay continue to taper off, down to 625 today vs 696 3 weeks ago.
UPDATE 7-15-22
An eBay spokesperson responded:
Our team is doing some web maintenance and the ticker has been temporarily removed while we make updates to our careers page. In the meantime, you can reference our total number of current job openings at https://jobs.ebayinc.com/search-jobs
What kind of maintenance could have been needed that would require completely removing only a single graphic from the page and why would it take over a week to complete?
It must not have been a very difficult problem to solve - coincidentally the ticker was restored just a few short hours after that response was sent and it appears to be accurately reflecting the drop in openings observed during the time it was "down for maintenance."
I have a sneaking suspicion there might still be more to the story - stay tuned! 🕵️♀️
UPDATE 7-15-22
I've confirmed the jobs ticker on the eBay careers page was removed sometime between July 7th-14th.
It's not clear what the reason for removal is at this point, but it does appear to have been intentional. I've reached out to eBay for comment and will update if they provide an explanation.
Luckily, unsuckEBAY has been tracking the numbers manually to provide a snapshot of where things stand since the graphic was removed.
7-14-22
As the pandemic fueled ecommerce boom wanes and Q2 earnings reports are approaching, many tech companies are slowing hiring, rescinding offers and/or announcing layoffs.
eBay is in a particularly tough spot, with years of executive mis-execution and lagging legacy tech still weighing heavily on the organization.
Despite trying to paint a rosy picture in recent earnings calls, CEO Jamie Iannone and his current leadership team have been unable to hold onto the pandemic era growth or, in fact, even pre-pandemic growth, as active buyers on the platform have fallen all the way back to early 2018 levels.
There's also been troubling turnover in key executive roles at the company in the first half of this year with Chief Product Officer Pete Thompson leaving in March, VP Buyer Experience Product & Engineering Mohan Patt leaving in April (taking 16 years of institutional eBay product knowledge with him to Meta/Facebook), VP Buyer Experience Bradford Shellhammer jumping ship to Etsy-owned Reverb in June, and Head of Europe Rob Hattrell set to leave this month.
Pete Thompson was replaced by an outside hire, Eddie Garcia who had previously been at Sam's Club and Facebook.
However, replacements for Patt and Shellhammer have not been named and eBay intends to simply expand current SVP GM Americas Jordan Sweetnam's role to absorb Rob Hattrell's position rather than recruiting to fill the gap.
Does the seeming reluctance to bring in replacements at the top possibly signal deeper problems that don't bode well for job prospects at the company?
Another interesting note - the "ticker" on eBay's jobs page that usually shows the number of current job openings has disappeared very recently. It was still there on July 5th, but is no longer showing on the page, at least as of today.
One very informal and not at all scientific Twitter poll didn't reveal much confidence in the job outlook at eBay either. 😉
Obviously I can't give anyone career advice, but just a general note for all the workers of the world...it never hurts to make sure those LinkedIn profiles and resumes are updated and ready, just in case. 🤞
What do you think? Will eBay be forced to announce a hiring freeze or employee layoffs before end of year? Let us know in the comments below!
