A surprising story recently went viral on Reddit, where a man shared how pretending to have a job after being laid off actually helped him get a better one — with a higher salary, a better job title, and remote work benefits.
It all began in August when the man was suddenly laid off from his job without any warning or severance pay. “I panicked,” he wrote in his Reddit post. But instead of telling his friends or former coworkers about the layoff, he decided to pretend that he was still working.
He kept following a daily routine like he used to when employed. “Every day I would ‘log in’, meaning I just opened my laptop and acted like I was working. I told people I had meetings, walked around with AirPods in as if I was on calls,” he shared.
To keep up the act, he even posted updates on LinkedIn about “exciting projects at work” to make it seem like he was still active in his job. This went on for several weeks while he quietly applied for new jobs in the background.
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Then one day, a recruiter saw one of his LinkedIn posts and contacted him to ask if he was open to new job opportunities. He said yes. During the interview, he continued pretending to still be employed. He impressed the interviewers and ended up getting a new job — one that offered more money, a better title, and the freedom to work from home.
His story quickly became viral and received over 24,000 reactions online. Many social media users were amazed and had mixed reactions. One person commented, “Once you know how the game works, you can win it.” Another asked, “Didn’t they check his background?” Someone else added, “This is a true example of ‘fake it till you make it.’”
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Whether you agree with his approach or not, his story has surely sparked a lot of discussion about job hunting and the pressure to stay employed.
