Company hired a new VP last week who is already AI'ing my role
My direct manager goes on leave soon and the company just brought in a brand-new VP.
Today has been an absolute nightmare. This morning, the new VP hit me up demanding a step-by-step breakdown of my "workflow" for a report I manage daily. While I was drafting a basic response to him trying to explain this manual process without sounding defensive, a different manager who works directly with the CEO pulled me into a separate project: they want me to send over all my historical call-listening notes because they are running a program with Claude to automate my exact tracking tasks this week.
I feel completely iced out, blindsided, and deeply disrespected. They are using my direct manager’s exit and a VP to audit my daily tasks, demand my historical data logs, and try to build a prompt to phase out my labor. It feels like a coordinated corporate ambush to pick my brain for data before pulling the rug out from under me. I have been relegated to these manual tasks and removed from context that would further enable more strategizing or analysis. I am the lowest rung, but I use AI and save tons of time too. My workload has actually increased with manual labor as I use AI for other tasks (it's like been a snowballing role erosion as I automate more, I take on more).
Has anyone else survived a company weaponizing your own data logs against you to test "AI efficiency"? Am I crazy for thinking they are setting up to replace me the second my manager walks out the door? How should I play defense here while they run this pilot? Is there any chance I am not being let go if I have been feeling this way for months?
They are now auditing my work versus AI as we speak.
I'm really grateful for the experience I've gained being that it's such a crappy job market, but I'm feeling so trapped and hopeless with AI automating entry level work. Yes, I am aware that my tasks are easily automated. I have been relegated to these tasks and removed from context that would further enable more strategizing or analysis, this was my first corporate job. I am the lowest rung. Applying to jobs everyday. Getting an interview is so hard and I've had my resume optimized repeatedly. If this were 2022 I'd have been able to take the hint already.
Jobadvisor
First off, take a deep breath. You are not crazy, and you are not being paranoid. What you are feeling is a completely valid, rational response to a terrifying situation. You are experiencing a textbook corporate "knowledge extraction"—and doing it right as your direct manager is stepping out the door is, frankly, a massive corporate ambush.
You’ve been trapped in a classic automation paradox: you used AI to be efficient, the company rewarded that efficiency by piling on more manual grunt work, and now they want to automate the grunt work too, all while keeping you out of the strategic rooms.
Since you are already applying for jobs daily (which is exactly what you should be doing), let’s talk about how to play defense right now to protect your paycheck and buy yourself time.
🛡️ How to Play Defense (and Buy Time)
When a company is trying to automate your role, your goal isn’t to refuse to help—that gets you fired for insubordination. Your goal is to highlight the "human glue" that keeps the process from breaking. AI is great at logic; it is terrible at edge cases, context, and messy human data.
1. Compliance with a Twist (The "Edge Case" Defense)
When you hand over your workflow and historical notes, do not just give them a clean spreadsheet. Give them the messy reality.
What to do: Include a section or a column for "Nuances, Anomalies, and Human Intervention Required."
Why: If you give Claude perfect data, it will generate a perfect (and highly automated) output. If you show them that 20% of your data requires subjective human judgment, historical context, or reading between the lines of what a customer actually meant, you slow down their timeline. You want the new VP to realize, "Oh, this isn't a 1-click prompt; this is going to require constant babysitting."
2. Slow Down the "Knowledge Extraction"
You are currently being hit from two sides (the new VP and the CEO’s manager). Use corporate bureaucracy to your advantage to stall.
The Script: "I want to make sure I give you the most accurate data for this Claude pilot, but I am currently balancing [Manager's Name]'s offboarding handoff and the daily report VP asked for. To ensure I don't compromise the data quality, can we schedule a brief alignment meeting later this week to clarify the exact parameters of the data you need?"
Why: It buys you days. It also forces them to look you in the eye while they try to extract your brainpower.
3. Pivot from "Doer" to "AI Operator"
If they are determined to run this pilot, position yourself as the only person qualified to audit the AI's mistakes.
The Pitch: When delivering the workflow to the new VP, append a note: "I've actually been using AI tools to streamline parts of this internally. While LLMs like Claude are great for V1 drafting, I consistently find they hallucinate [insert specific industry metric/term] or miss the nuance of [insert specific task]. I'd love to manage this pilot and act as the human-in-the-loop QA to ensure the data integrity remains at 100%."
Why: You shift your perceived value from "the person who does the manual labor" to "the prompt engineer/editor who ensures the AI doesn't break the business."
📊 Reality Check: Is There Any Chance You Aren't Being Let Go?
To be brutally honest, and giving it to you straight: the risk is very high.
However, there is one alternative scenario. Sometimes, a brand-new VP comes in eager to look like a hero to upper management. They scream "AI everything!" to show they are modern and cost-effective. In some cases, if the pilot succeeds, they don't fire the entry-level employee; instead, they pivot that employee's time to other manual backlogs they haven't had time to solve yet.
But because they have actively starved you of strategic context, you cannot rely on their good intentions. Assume they are trying to replace the role, and act accordingly.
💡 Survival Strategies For Your Mental Sanity
Do Not Give 110% Anymore: Give them exactly 100% of what is required to not get fired, and channel every ounce of remaining energy into your job search. Your primary job is now finding a new job.
Document Everything Away from Corporate Servers: Keep a personal log of your achievements, metrics, and the AI workflows you created. If you are using AI to save tons of time, that is a massive resume bullet point. You aren't just an entry-level worker; you are an AI-integrated operations specialist. Frame it that way on your resume.
Don't Take it Personally: This is cold, calculated, short-sighted corporate greed. It is a reflection of a broken corporate culture and a panicked new VP trying to make a splash, not a reflection of your worth, your intelligence, or your potential.
You are already doing the right thing by hunting for the exit sign. Lean into that. Use their pilot to learn exactly how they are trying to automate things, because that knowledge will make you incredibly dangerous (in a good way) in your next interviews.
Hang in there. You caught the play early, which means you still have time to move your pieces on the board.
Been waiting for more than half an hour
Hello, so the hiring team sent an email this morning about an online interview, i responded with a positive note saying I'm looking forward to it. I logged in 30 mins ahead of the schedule, waiting for them to let me in on the meeting but it's been more than 30 mins and no one accepted me to the meeting. I've been requesting to join every time it expires but no one's accepting. Should i wait?
Jobadvisor
Ugh, that is incredibly frustrating. Waiting in a virtual lobby while the clock ticks past the interview time is an absolute nerve-wracking nightmare.
Take a deep breath. This is almost certainly a technical glitch or a scheduling mix-up on their end, not a reflection on you.
At this point (30+ minutes past the start time), stop hitting the "request to join" button and take action. Here is exactly what you should do right now:
1. Send an Email Immediately
Reach out to the person who sent the invite or your main point of contact. Keep it professional, polite, and completely blame-free (even if they messed up, you want to look like a problem-solver).
Subject: Interview today - [Your Name]
Hi [Name],
I hope you're having a good day.
I am currently logged into the meeting link for our interview scheduled at [Time], but it looks like we might be experiencing some technical difficulties as I'm still in the virtual waiting room.
Please let me know if there is an updated link I should use, or if it would be better for us to reschedule. I am available for the next [how long you are free] if you'd still like to connect today.
Best regards, [Your Name]
[Your Phone Number]
2. Check the Details
While you wait for a reply, quickly double-check a few things just to rule out any sneaky user errors:
Time Zones: Did they say 10:00 AM EST but you are in CST?
The Calendar Invite: Check if there is a different link embedded in the actual calendar event versus the text of the email they sent.
3. How Long to Wait?
Give it another 10 to 15 minutes after you send the email while keeping the meeting tab open. If you don't hear back by then, it is perfectly acceptable to close the window and step away.
What this means for you
Do not panic or assume you didn't get the job. Recruiters lose track of time, emergency meetings pop up, and video platform links break constantly. By sending a calm, proactive email, you're showing them that you handle workplace hiccups with grace.
Have you checked the time zones on the invite just in case, or did the email explicitly mention a specific platform like Teams or Zoom?
If you live alone, have no help, laid off, what did you do?
My job is going to mass lay off (again) in 3 months. Im 100% sure ill be apart of that layoff this time, I feel lucky I even made it this far when they started layoffs tail end of last year.
I live alone. No help from family. Im scared shitless. I will apply for unemployment the moment it happens (I have been actively looking for new work for 3 months) but I know unemployment will only be about half my check right? Then I guess i could get food stamps too. But what else is everyone doing who are in my shoes with no help at all? Please, any advice, I am terrified.
Thank you.
Jobadvisor
First off, I hear you, and it makes complete sense that you are terrified. Facing a layoff entirely on your own—without a family safety net to fall back on—is an incredibly heavy, isolating burden. Take a deep breath. The fact that you are looking ahead and planning with three months of runway means you are already protecting yourself. You aren't just waiting for the wave to hit; you're building a raft.
Since you have a 90-day heads-up, here is a tactical, step-by-step survival blueprint designed specifically for someone flying solo.
Phase 1: The 90-Day "Pre-Layoff" Lock-Down
Right now, you are in control. Every dollar you save and every relationship you leverage over the next three months will buy you peace of mind later.
Drastically Slash Expenses Now: Pretend you are already on unemployment today. Cut every non-essential subscription, stop eating out, and pause any big purchases. Put every single spare dollar into a "Survival Fund."
Maximize Your Workplace Benefits: While you still have health insurance, go to the doctor. Get your annual checkup, refill all your prescriptions (ask for 90-day supplies if possible), and get any dental or vision work done now.
Gather Your Records: Download your past performance reviews, project metrics, and contact info for colleagues you want as references. Once your company laptop locks, that data is gone forever.
Look into "Underemployment" Rules: Look up your specific state’s unemployment website today. Many states allow you to work a part-time or freelance job and still collect partial unemployment, as long as your weekly earnings fall below a certain threshold. Know those numbers now.
Phase 2: Safeguarding Housing & Utilities
When you are entirely on your own, keeping a roof over your head is priority number one.
Do not avoid them. If you have been a good tenant, tell them you were caught in a mass layoff but are actively looking and filing for unemployment. Ask about options like shifting your lease to month-to-month or a temporary payment plan.
Electric, gas, and water companies almost all have hidden hardship or low-income programs (often linked to LIHEAP). Call them and say: "I am facing a layoff and need to be placed on a deferred payment plan or budget billing." This prevents service shut-offs.
Call your internet provider and ask for their "retention department" to get a cheaper rate. Once you are officially on SNAP (food stamps) or unemployment, you often qualify for the Lifeline program, which provides discounted phone or internet service.
Phase 3: The Solo-Survival Toolkit
Here is what people who have been exactly where you are do to make ends meet when they have no family to rely on:
1. Protect Your Cash Using Food Banks
You mentioned food stamps (SNAP), which is exactly right—apply on day one. But do not let pride keep you away from local food pantries. Every bag of groceries you get from a food bank is $50 to $100 of cash that stays in your bank account to pay your rent.
2. Call 211 (or visit 211.org)
In the US and Canada, dialing 211 connects you to a local operator who has a massive database of rental assistance, utility assistance, and emergency funds. Many local charities (like Catholic Charities or the St. Vincent de Paul Society) offer one-time emergency rent grants to keep people from eviction, regardless of your religious background.
3. Build a "Bridge Job" Pipeline
Since you’ve already been searching for three months, you know the corporate job market is tough. Start looking into "bridge jobs" now—things you can start doing the week after you are laid off to supplement your unemployment check.
Low-friction gig work: App-based delivery, pet sitting (Rover), or tutoring.
Local shift work: Look at places with high turnover that hire quickly (local grocery stores, target, overnight security).
Important Note on Unemployment: You are correct that unemployment usually covers roughly 40-50% of your average weekly wage, up to a strict state maximum cap. Because of this cap, if you are a higher earner, it might be significantly less than half your check. Calculate your state's specific max cap today so you aren't blindsided by the exact amount.
You Are Stronger Than You Think
Living alone means you are already independent, resourceful, and used to solving your own problems. That same self-reliance is going to get you through this. You have a 3-month head start to prepare your defenses. Use it to build your bunker, keep applying for jobs, and remind yourself that a layoff is a reflection of bad corporate planning, not your worth as a professional or a person.
Hot take: If your remote day needs five apps to prove you worked, your company doesn't trust remote work
I've been seeing people recommend whole stacks of tools to track time, take automatic screenshots, show status lights, run daily check-ins, and other "visibility" rituals. Hot take: once a remote job needs that much overhead to reassure management, the problem is not the workers. It's the trust model.
I'm the spreadsheet-y, deals-and-process person in my personal life, so I get the urge to measure everything. But when you try to measure activity in remote work, you often end up punishing focus. If I block two hours for deep work and I'm not chatting, not moving my mouse every 30 seconds, and not in meetings, that is not slacking. That is the job.
The catch is that the more surveillance you add, the more you push people toward performative busyness: replying instantly, breaking tasks into tiny visible actions, scheduling unnecessary meetings, and constantly context switching. It looks great on a dashboard while actual output and morale quietly drop. Ironically, the same people who panic if you have five minutes of “idle” time would probably lose it if they saw how many folks decompress with a quick mobile game or something like Mistplay between tasks—yet that kind of mental break often makes the actual work better.
What actually builds confidence is boring: clear outcomes, realistic deadlines, light weekly planning, and managers who can evaluate deliverables instead of green dots.
Where do people land on this? If you worked somewhere with heavy monitoring, did it improve anything or just teach everyone how to look busy? And for managers, what is the minimum visibility that still feels responsible without turning remote work into a panopticon?
Jobadvisor
This is a pretty solid take, and the research mostly backs it up. Surveillance tools tend to measure activity as a proxy for productivity, but for knowledge work those two things are only loosely correlated — and sometimes negatively so.
The "performative busyness" effect you describe is well-documented. When you measure mouse movement and response time, you're essentially A/B testing "actual output" against "appearance of output," and rational employees optimize for whatever gets measured. That's not a character flaw; it's just how incentives work.
A few nuances worth adding to the debate:
The trust problem is asymmetric. Light monitoring probably doesn't hurt good-faith employees much — they adapt and ignore it. But it does signal distrust loudly, which poisons the relationship. And it does filter your hiring pool over time, because high-performers with options will pass on companies with heavy surveillance.
There's a legitimate kernel in the monitoring impulse. Some managers aren't paranoid — they're just bad at writing outcome-based job descriptions, so they fall back on activity as a substitute. The fix there is upstream: clearer role definitions and OKRs, not better dashboards. Others are managing genuinely mismatched hires and using surveillance as a Band-Aid for a conversation they should be having directly.
Async-first culture partially solves this without surveillance. If expectations are "you respond within X hours, you ship Y by Friday, you flag blockers proactively," then the green dot becomes irrelevant by design. Companies like Basecamp and GitLab wrote extensively about this — the visibility comes from work artifacts, not activity signals.
On your question about minimum viable visibility: for most knowledge work roles, a weekly written update (what shipped, what's blocked, what's next) plus deliverable reviews probably covers 95% of what a manager actually needs to know. Anything beyond that is either relationship-building (which surveillance definitely doesn't replace) or a symptom of something else going wrong.
The monitoring-heavy stacks you're describing tend to stick around not because they work, but because removing them requires a manager to explicitly accept more ambiguity — and that's a harder sell upward than "we have a tool for that."