Well, when a company starts considering who to lay off, they're not gonna start with people who they think are rockstars. At worst those folks would get reassigned.
Only the first time and even then not really true. Reassignment assumes that reqs haven't previously been canceled as part of belt tightening in those other groups.
Also, by layoff N, you're cutting meat unless you are a massively bloated company, which is somewhat rare this time around (unlike HP, Cisco, Sun, etc. in 2001).
I work at a series B startup, and even we are bloated. It would be next to impossible not to be given the prevailing funding environment of the last 10 years.
Well considering that a large chunk of the layoffs were in recruiting and that you basically have a hiring freeze I am sure plenty of rockstar recruiters were nonetheless laid off.
Also, by layoff N, you're cutting meat unless you are a massively bloated company, which is somewhat rare this time around (unlike HP, Cisco, Sun, etc. in 2001).