A 50-year-old techie laid off by Microsoft last December is at risk of losing his house amid his nine-month-long job hunt. Mody Khan, a Pakistani-origin immigrant, opened up about his savings running low and being on the verge of losing everything after being fired from his "six-figure salary" job.
"I had savings, and I've depleted almost all of it," Khan told Business Insider, adding, "I'm in a very tight spot." He currently lives in Texas.
Khan told the outlet that despite having years of experience in the tech industry, including his five-year stint at Microsoft, he has been unable to land a job.
"It feels like recruiters are looking for Superman," he said. "I've been constantly applying, and I've had interviews, but I've been turned down everywhere."
Khan revealed that he had managed to land a few interviews in the past few months, which went well but never translated into job offers. "I've had so many good interviews where I'm ready for them to say, 'Mody, let's rock 'n' roll' -- and then they don't move forward."
He added that what is particularly frustrating about his situation is that recruiters never give him a clear reason for rejection, leaving him to wonder about his job prospects. Talking about it, the former Microsoft employee said "Recruiters contact me, take my résumé, and they ghost me."
Khan believes his age plays a crucial role in his job search, as many recruiters assume he is not well-versed in the latest technologies. He thinks that his lack of a startup background has a role to play in his job search experience.
While talking about his ethnicity, he said he believes that being a Pakistani may play into the biases of some Indian recruiters or interviewers. "It's a very, very dangerous situation." He relocated from Pakistan to the US in 2007 and joined Microsoft in 2019.
Khan told the outlet that he had only $10,000 in savings, which would last him and his wife about two months. After which, he says he would have to spend his remaining investments or 401(k). He had sold his Microsoft stock holdings earlier after losing his job.
He is also at risk of losing his house, as he has fallen behind on the mortgage payment. If he is unable to start paying after the end of the forbearance plan, he could face foreclosure.
Khan was laid off from his position as a cloud solution architect at Microsoft nine months ago. He is among the thousands of employees the tech company has laid off over the past year.