Laid off after 40: Sharing careers on social media

Flipping the script

Tang, who was a video editor and creative at a major entertainment streaming service, had been mulling over content creation before his layoff gave him the nudge he needed.

Friends told him that his lived experience – including being diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 32, falling into depression at 36, and being a caregiver to his parents since his late 30s – could help others.

The responses to his first video in May were “extraordinary” and he attracted 5,000 followers in less than a week.

“The comments were encouraging, grateful and personal. It created what I call a virtuous circle: me paying it forward and receiving validation at the same time during one of the most vulnerable periods of my life,” says Tang, who is now a full-time content creator with more than 18,600 followers.

That the bachelor made his age part of his account identity is deliberate. “Many people over 50 feel their age makes them invisible. I wanted to flip that. Make it the headline, not the footnote,” says Tang, who has a Master of Arts degree in digital management from Teesside University in England and over two decades of experience in video storytelling.

“I’m a late bloomer. I earned my degree at 44, started exercising at 45, and began this creator journey at 50. If I can do this, truly anyone can. It’s never too late to start.”

The message behind @edgarafter50 is to embrace change with abundance rather than fear, he adds.

Meanwhile, Kajeeporn Techataveekijkul, 42, a Thai national who has called Singapore home for a decade, had been posting about her dating life on several social media platforms using the handle @bowiehoneybaby.

Better known by her nickname Bow, she pivoted to work content on March 26, with an emotionally laden post that elicited 570 comments. It was the day after she had lost her job handling creator partnerships for a global technology company.

“The most heartfelt comments came from people who had been laid off years ago and still carried the shame of it,” says the Master of Arts graduate in international relations and affairs from Waseda University in Tokyo. She has managed creator partnerships, content strategy and community across the Asia-Pacific in various roles.

Over the months, her posts have evolved from expressing shock and processing the identity loss to offering practical insights on coping with a career change.

“There is still a lot of shame attached to being laid off, especially at a senior level. The implicit narrative is that if you were good enough, you would have been kept. That narrative is simply not true any more,” she says.

Is public sharing a work liability?

Kajeeporn’s employment pass was cancelled when she lost her job, and she now shuttles between Singapore and Bangkok while looking for another full-time role, either in Singapore or globally.

She says her work-related content has reaped some dividends. Generous strangers have reached out to refer her for jobs, and friends have reconnected and put her name forward in their workplaces.

“I think what happens is that when people follow your journey honestly, they feel invested in your outcome. They want to help. That is something I never anticipated when I started posting, that vulnerability would build trust, and trust would translate into people actively opening doors for me,” she reflects.

Not all the feedback has been positive, though. Some commenters felt she was damaging her reputation by oversharing.

Was she?

Angel Kilian, founder of career consultancy Career inFocus, says such posts get high engagement because many people can relate to the emotional process of getting laid off. It also provides a form of validation to others who have kept silent because of social norms.

But how might prospective hirers view such posts?

Kilian says content matters more than age when it comes to how employers might perceive such candidates.

“A post framed as ‘Here’s what I learnt, and here’s what I’m looking for next’ reads as someone sharing their journey, being clear on what they want next. On LinkedIn especially, depending on how it’s phrased, it can even function as a networking tool that boosts visibility,” she says.

“On the contrary, a post written from a place of grief or anger with no constructive motive is where one might experience backlash.”

Older workers are also held to a higher standard as to how they express their raw emotion, as there is an unconscious age-centric bias that someone at that career stage should have more composure and control, Kilian adds.

Hence, she advises workers to be mindful of the social media platforms they use. For instance, emoting on Instagram reels, which reach a broader, more casual audience, may be acceptable, but this carries a higher professional risk on LinkedIn, which is still seen as a more traditional, professional space for careerists.

“A useful gut check before posting, for someone who intends to get back into corporate, could be: Would I be comfortable with a future hiring manager watching this? That helps make sure the tone matches how you actually want to be perceived,” she advises.

“I’ve seen laid-off candidates land more senior and better roles elsewhere because of their content, and others who’ve struggled to move back into corporate roles for the same reason.”

Those who vent online may also risk breaching contractual obligations of confidentiality and duty of care they still owe to their former companies, says Shulin Lee, chief executive officer of Aslant Legal, a legal recruitment firm.

While they may not name the company, it is easy enough to find that out by searching on Google or LinkedIn. The firm may take legal action if what the former employee says is defamatory.

“Most companies have strict media policies. For people to be considered for senior positions and/or promotion opportunities, they need to be mindful that folks at the C-level are looking at them to see what signal their social media activity is sending,” says Lee, who herself posts regularly on LinkedIn and Instagram.

She adds: “My advice for anyone who’s been retrenched is to see a therapist, work with a qualified coach and/or get counselling. It’s a very traumatic event and sometimes, people end up making bad decisions and overshare on social media as an outlet. Don’t do anything that doesn’t serve your future self, your career and your family.”

But Kajeeporn says she will continue posting as she feels conversations around layoffs need to change and people value honesty online.

“Being let go is not a character flaw. It is an increasingly common feature of a volatile global economy. The more people speak openly about it, the faster we can dissolve the stigma and replace it with something more useful: community, practical support and honest conversation about what it actually takes to navigate a career in 2026.”