Distance work. Competitive salaries. A streamlined recruitment process. They are all perks offered to future tech workers from an unlikely employer: the US government.
Rising salaries, perks and stocks in Silicon Valley have allowed Big Tech companies to lure the best workers in the industry for years while government jobs have been open. But with companies like Meta, Amazon, and Google cutting jobs or slowing hiring, the government, nonprofits, and smaller companies are now seizing the moment and trying to grab the attention of unemployed technologists. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking technicians to fill 1,000 positions. They will work to solve problems such as modernizing benefits software and revamping medical appointment scheduling. “Silicon Valley isn’t the only place for tech innovation,” the department’s information technology bureau tweeted last month.) Big Tech’s losses could be a boon to these employers.
“It’s a very interesting turn of events,” said Charles Worthington, the VA’s chief technology officer. “There is an increased interest in public service. There is clearly a new headwind in the tech industry that is driving more people into jobs. And then there are those great opportunities at the VA.”
Nearly 1,000 tech companies around the world have laid off more than 150,000 tech workers this year, according to Layoffs.fyi, a site that tracks publicly reported job losses in the industry. Meta cut 11,000 jobs in November and Amazon 10,000. Smaller cuts at companies like Lyft, Snap, and Stripe have shown that uncertainty is rife in the tech world.
But tech jobs make up only a small portion of the U.S. economy, and experts say recent layoffs are a high-profile outlier that ends a strong labor market still hungry for workers. So tech workers are turning for opportunities elsewhere, increasingly seeking jobs in nonprofits, smaller start-ups, and government. The jobs don’t all come with access to pools or stock option flushes, but these employers hope they can emulate the influx of talent now that there’s less competition in the private sector. And their stability could become a major selling point.
“People use this moment of uncertainty as a way to pause and reflect on what they’ve done and see if there’s an opportunity for them to work on something else,” said Jessica Watson, the chief experience officer at US Digital Response, a non-profit organization that helps governments with digital expertise. It has seen more applications for internal positions and more interest in government technical positions.
Some governments have long struggled to bring in top tech talent and younger workers. The dividing lines in the private and public sectors extend beyond the US. In the UK, public sector wages have fallen to their lowest point in 19 years, making competition with the private sector more difficult. But in China, some young workers are willing to leave an unstable tech industry for greater security. The Finnish government was so eager for tech workers to join the country’s industry that it gave foreigners a 90-day visa in 2021 to try life in Helsinki.
As uncertainty mounts amid falling tech stocks, more young people may also be considering the shift. US Digital Response hosted a job fair in December that was planned in response to the recent layoffs. Ten state and city governments from across the US came to make their case for the future workers. The state of California is seeking nearly 2,500 tech workers, according to Matthias Jaime, deputy secretary of technology and innovation for the state. San Francisco advertises government positions that require only one day a week in the office. But beyond convenience, regular hours and pensions, those recruiting for more government and nonprofit employees advertise a vague, warm feeling that comes from making a positive impact. “I think it’s a super compelling mission,” Kurt DelBene, chief information officer at the VA, says of his work in the department. “You are basically delivering to people who have made their commitment to all of us, the greatest commitment they can make, by being in the armed forces. And they deserve our support.”
