Somewhere in your building right now, someone is planning an event you haven't been told about. Nearly 246,000 tech workers got laid off in 2025, and almost none of them got a save-the-date.

Planning starts months earlier, in rooms you're not in, over budgets and headcount that have your name quietly attached. While all that's happening, you're still refilling your coffee, feeling pretty good about how things are going.

I sat down with Nariman Nasef, a career expert who's watched this exact playbook run from the inside at real companies, to get the earliest tells. One of them looks exactly like your boss finally trusting you.

What we get into:

• The sign that feels like earned trust but is actually your manager checking out

• How to tell whether it's a real performance issue or a role that's about to disappear

• Why the last person to hear the bad news is always you

• The 3 moves to make before your access — and your leverage — get cut

You don't have to wait for the invite that never comes. Plan your own exit before anyone else blows out the candles.