Former Meta employee says she was paid $190k ‘to do nothing’

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Social media influencers first to go in massive tech layoffs

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A former Meta recruiter claimed the massive tech company was "hoarding talent" in order to starve out their competition.

As a wave of layoffs gut the tech industry, career strategist Madelyn Machado posted a video responding to claims that Google and Meta had over-hired thousands of employees to do "fake work."

Machado suggested she had been hired by Meta in the Fall of 2021, which she "hated" before eventually getting fired. 

"Getting paid $190k to do nothing at Meta" she said in a TikTok video. She added that new recruiters would be explicitly told that they would not hire any new employees within their first 6 months or to a year. She said what they actually did was mostly onboarding, training, and team meetings.

In a more recent TikTok, she said while she loved the money at Meta, she hated her job because of how closely her social media was scrutinized. 

"When I got written up at Meta for the third time for my social media, I had to sit through 20 of my TikToks and go through each one and answer the question, ‘Do you think this is appropriate? Do you believe this is a conflict of interest?’" 

She claimed that one example of her rhetoric deemed controversial was merely suggesting websites to find salary information, so people can better negotiate their salaries at other jobs.

MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 02: A security guard stands next to a sign at Meta headquarters on February 02, 2023 in Menlo Park, California. ((Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images))

LAYOFFS 2023: TECH COMPANIES LEAD JOB CUTS AMID ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY

She guessed as to why Meta had hired so many tech workers without expecting them to do their main jobs.

"Every recruiter I knew had been reached out to by Meta, and they had been interviewed by Meta. I got my offer so quickly I thought it was a scam," she said. "They had the most recruiters out of everybody, and they were doing that, so they could hire all the talent, and if no other companies had great recruiters because they were all doing nothing, getting paid 200-400-500-thousand dollars at Meta to do nothing, they’re not going to your company. That’s true, it worked, it was a great strategy."

Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram icons displayed on a phone screen are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on April 6, 2022.  ((Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images))

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Machado repeated her claim, "They wanted a recruiting army so they could get all the talent and hoard all the talent so one else can hire an engineer. If you have no recruiters, how are you going to hire engineers? And they were offering these engineers so much money. Anyways so yeah, they had a bunch of fake jobs, so they could hoard talent and no one else could get ahead. 

She added that this, "was a great strategy until people pulled the rug," appearing to refer to the recent layoffs throughout the tech industry. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Meta for comment but have yet to receive a response.