Ex-Meta employee now scoops ice cream to stay afloat. How side gigs are saving professionals frozen out of job market

In her 20s, Kaila Curry’s vocation was connected an upward spiral. From moving astatine ByteDance’s now-defunct TopBuzz to landing a relation astatine Meta, it seemed similar agleam days — and a bigger paycheck – were inevitable.

But past came 2025’s wide layoffs. Curry mislaid her presumption astatine Meta, putting her vocation prospects connected pause.

Although Curry recovered part-time enactment penning for Yahoo, she decided to instrumentality connected a broadside gig to gain other income portion continuing her occupation search. During the lukewarm season, Brooklyn residents tin find Curry scooping crystal pick astatine Lady Moo Moo.

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Given the quality of this seasonal enactment and the $16.50 per hr pay, Curry said she “expected to beryllium moving alongside teenagers” erstwhile she took connected this role. To her surprise, galore of the radical moving for the Bed-Stuy vicinity parlor were highly accomplished professionals conscionable similar herself, trying to past successful today’s unpredictable occupation market.

In a portion for CNBC Make It (1), Curry wrote that her coworkers were “artists, teachers, nonprofit workers, tech employees, depository curators and neighbors doing their champion to marque beingness enactment successful a hard economy.”

Although Curry says she’d emotion to instrumentality to a full-time vocation successful journalism oregon contented management, she’s recovered “steadiness successful a assemblage that held maine up” by serving frozen treats to bare customers.

Stories similar Curry’s item however shaky the labour marketplace was successful 2025, peculiarly successful sectors similar tech that person a dense vulnerability to artificial technology.

In November of past year, wide unemployment deed 4.6%, a level it hasn’t been astatine since September 2021 (2).

Researchers astatine outplacement steadfast Challenger, Gray & Christmas besides recovered that wide occupation cuts successful 2025 surpassed 1.2 million. In the backstage sector, exertion posted the highest fig of layoffs successful 2025, with 154,445 occupation cuts (3).

Unsurprisingly, these numbers person led to little fluidity successful the labour marketplace arsenic radical opt to support their jobs alternatively than question caller opportunities (aka “job hugging”). According to information from Monster.com, 75% of Americans program to enactment successful their existent relation astatine slightest until 2027, and 48% accidental they’re doing truthful lone for a consciousness of comfort, information oregon stableness alternatively than occupation restitution (4).