On November 1, 100 employees at recruiting software company Gem woke up to the worst kind of email: They were being laid off, effective the next day. Many of them, according to a spreadsheet compiled by Gem’s head of engineering recruiting, Salehah Hassan, worked in sales and recruiting roles.

“The extremely difficult decision to reduce our workforce came as a result of a volatile macroeconomic situation in which many of our growth-stage tech customers are reducing or stopping their hiring altogether—conditions we expect to persist for multiple quarters,” CEO Steve Bartel wrote in an email to HR Brew via PR representative Lindsey Scott.

For HR professionals, this news might feel like a big, flashing warning sign: Are layoffs at a company like Gem—with over $100 million in funding and a $1.2 billion valuation—a bellwether for recruiting as a whole?

Hiring is in a weird place right now. Surveys suggest that many top executives have at least been mulling downsizing their workforces for months. Some 81% of 657 executives, including 100 senior HR leaders, surveyed by PwC between October 12 and 18 said they had ​​plans to reduce their headcount through hiring freezes, layoffs, or another tactic.

But that doesn’t mean they’ve actually made deep cuts. Julia Lamm, workforce strategy partner at PwC, told HR Brew that companies that take steps to reduce their headcounts are likely to be conservative in their approach, leading to a slow cooling of the hiring market, rather than a swift one.

Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, agreed. Most headcount reduction plans, she said, are still hypothetical, “more like disaster preparedness plans” or “emergency escape routes.”

It’s different for tech. While hiring in most industries is still chugging along “quite nicely,” Pollak noted that hiring in tech has “cooled a lot.” Keep reading here.—SV

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @SusannaVogel1 on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Susanna for her number on Signal.

Over the years, there have been a variety of campaigns promoting hiring military veterans. Organizations like Hire Heroes USA connect veterans with jobs, while efforts including the Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program have readied veterans to reenter the civilian workforce.

These initiatives seem to be working: The veteran unemployment rate was just 2.7% in October 2022, according to the Labor Department, below the national average of 3.6%. The employment situation for their spouses, however, is much different.

The situation. AT&T, USAA, and UnitedHealth Group are among the employers that have traditionally had strong veteran recruitment programs. AT&T has a veterans ERG, according to Military.com, and all three organizations have created veteran-specific job-search portals, making it easier for HR departments to consciously connect with this group of candidates.

“They have great transferable skills, plus they bring additional skills of leadership, flexibility, dedication, and all the other intangibles that veterans bring,” Patrick Krug, veterans community network lead at Bristol Myers Squibb, told the Military Times.

What about military spouses? Despite the low unemployment rate among veterans, around 22% of military spouses are unemployed, according to the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans & Military Families at Syracuse University.

The DOD’s Military Spouse Employment Partnership, which connects employers to military spouses, suggests that the rate at which military spouses relocate is often their biggest barrier to securing a career. Frequent relocation can result in additional barriers, including résumé gaps and loss of professional licenses (to practice in fields such as law and medicine). A lack of affordable childcare might also hinder their employment.

HR can help. Researchers from Syracuse University recommend that recruiters send a strong message to job-seekers about being “military-spouse friendly.” Keep reading here.—KP

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @Kris10Parisi on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Kristen for her number on Signal.

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Inflation rose 7.7% for the year ending in October, slower than economists expected and a sign the economy may be cooling. (CNN Business)

Quote: “It’s a good idea for anyone feeling uncertain about the future of the economy and job market to prepare for their next step.”—Blair Heitmann, LinkedIn career expert, on why employees should practice “career cushioning,” or lining up future employment opportunities, during times of economic uncertainty (WorkLife)

Read: Take a look inside the world of career influencers: those who advise younger workers on the ins and outs of professional advancement and success via social media. (BBC WorkLife)

(Fun)damental HR: Alex Lieberman, Morning Brew co-founder and executive chairman, sat down with HR pros from Change.org and DockATot to discuss the secret sauce to scaling, retention, and remote work from an HR perspective. Watch here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}