One year after DOGE cuts, former federal workers find new roles

Last spring, Chantel Williams’ position in the federal government was uncertain.

Williams, who once worked on the General Services Administration’s recruiting and hiring team, found himself in a state of confusion and anxiety. When Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency began aggressively reducing the size and scope of government agencies at the behest of President Donald Trump, the agency he works for was in a holding pattern.

The DOGE cuts, a mainstay of Trump’s second term, were swift and far-reaching across the federal workforce. Some of the hardest hit agencies included the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Education.

“As a federal employee, our oath is to the job and the mission, not to the administration,” Williams said. “It started out as a very surprising feeling that the transition did not go as smoothly as it had in previous years, because I had previously worked in a transition at GSA.”

Williams said this was the first time he felt real turmoil about working for the federal government.

“It was difficult to wake up every day wanting to continue to serve but feeling like your leadership had a different priority or that there was opposition to you continuing to move forward in that role,” Williams said.

In the end, he opted for a deferred resignation, receiving a salary to leave his position in the government. He joins thousands of others in the largest reduction in the federal workforce in history, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

OPM reported that by the end of 2025, approximately 352,000 employees had left their positions last year, and more than 123,000 had received deferred resignation offers. In a statement late last year, OPM said it was “in line with President Trump’s goal of a smaller, more efficient government.”

When mass layoffs and resignations hit federal employees like Williams, Caitlin Lewis stepped in to help.

His nonprofit organization, Work for America, was founded in November 2024 to help local governments hire talent to fill staffing shortages. Through its platform, Civic Match helps former federal employees find new roles at the state and local level. The Work for America team grew from two people to 15 people last year, with the majority coming from previous careers in state, local and federal government. Four employees came directly from federal government positions.

“We never imagined the volume of need that would arise,” Lewis said. “What’s so unique about this job-seeking population is how unexpected the layoffs were for many of them. The state has long been a place of creating stability and meaning, and so much of what we understand as state work was really turned upside down in that moment.”

The daughter of a wildland firefighter and a youth prison counselor who grew up in California, Lewis said she became involved in civic activities at a young age. That job took him to local government in New York City under Bill de Blasio, first to the mayoralty, then to housing and economic development. Work for America formed the basis of this experience.

“In a place like New York, it really showed me that when you have the right people in the right roles in government, the public sector can really move mountains, and when you don’t, the foundations start to collapse,” he said. “And unfortunately, we have seen this happen in communities across the country where the ability to find the right talent to move into critical roles is lacking.”

After his delayed resignation, Williams quickly took a job with Work for America. He is now a product and data manager at the nonprofit.

Last year, Work for America placed nearly 200 job seekers, 150 of whom were former federal workers, in roles across the country. More than 12,800 job seekers representing more than 30 federal agencies have signed up for Civic Match since Trump’s election.

“For many, this has been a year of chaos and confusion, but for our clients—cities and state governments across the country—we saw a real opportunity to capture the incredible talent coming out of Washington,” Lewis said.

Nate Haight turned to Civic Match after major cuts at USAID, where he spent a decade of his career. Haight started as an intern, later became a contractor, and last year was working as an education consultant and contract and grants specialist in the Latin American and Caribbean Bureau. Last February, he was told his employment was under review and he would likely be laid off.

“I especially loved my work in the education sector. It was really meaningful to get out and see the impact the programs were having around the world,” Haight said. “I dedicated myself to this work and saw the difference it made.”

He chose to accept the government’s offer of deferred resignation and found a new role through the Work for America platform; He knew competition would be very high locally, given that many other former federal workers were looking for work. Today, he lives in Indiana with his wife and four children, working as a grants manager for the city of Indianapolis and Marion County.

Haight said of his fellow former federal employees, “I think the satisfaction and fulfillment I was able to find working in local government, I want to encourage others to take that chance… and encourage everyone to stand tall and know that all the skills and experiences they gain can make a tremendous impact wherever they end up.”

In the coming months, Civic Match will roll out new features including AI-powered candidate match scores, improved location targeting for jobs, city-specific pages, and more.

Hope Rahill, a former political appointee in the Biden administration who left her position when the Trump administration stepped in, is currently Work for America’s director of people and culture. Although the group has been successful in placing candidates, many former workers are still looking for work and are facing a year of “unemployment or underemployment,” Rahill said.

“There are still so many people looking for work,” Rahill said.