Laid-off federal workers are a hot commodity for some businesses

• Federal job cuts are creating an opportunity for companies in need of skilled workers.
• While private-sector hiring for desk workers is sluggish, it could offer a narrow lifeline to some.
• The CEO of Range said the startup hopes to accelerate hiring because so many workers are available.

Fahad Hassan has seen the impact of federal job cuts through some of the people he's met.

Not long after the Department of Government Efficiency began orchestrating sweeping cuts to the federal workforce, Hassan's friends introduced him to several government workers who were seeking safer waters.

He sensed an opportunity.

Hassan, who is cofounder and CEO of Range, a digital wealth-management startup outside Washington, DC, saw the exodus of federal employees as a chance to scoop up workers with the expertise he needed.

"We're getting lucky and potentially being able to hire a bunch of folks ahead of schedule," he told Business Insider.

Some of the places where people with extensive public sector experience have traditionally landed, such as universities or nonprofits, face their own funding challenges under the DOGE doctrine.

Yet companies like Range that haven't slowed hiring amid concerns about a possible economic gut punch from a trade war could offer an important, if narrow, lifeline for current and former government workers seeking jobs.

Finding a home in the private sector won't necessarily be easy. The job market for desk workers is broadly sluggish — something some laid-off government workers are already experiencing even as some state governments try to pick up the slack.

Cuts outlined by DOGE, the advisory body led by Elon Musk, translated to more than 280,000 planned layoffs of federal workers and contractors in the past two months, according to a new tally by the staffing firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

More government layoffs followed this week, for example, at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Federal knowhow

A recent analysis by Indeed found that workers at government agencies in DOGE's crosshairs are searching for and applying for jobs at "well above" the usual level.

Ben Walker, CEO of Ditto Transcripts, sees a potential benefit from the government's retrenchment. He often seeks to hire people with federal certification to work with the criminal justice information that his company handles.

Many of Ditto's clients are law enforcement and other government agencies that work with sensitive records pertaining to everything from healthcare to criminal activity and wiretaps.

Because more people with government experience — and familiarity with the federal guidelines his company needs to adhere to — are or soon could be out of work, Walker expects it will be easier than in the past to find workers.

Walker said he's hoping to hire as many as 10 transcriptionists in the next two to three months for various contracts that he expects will come through. The company is based in Denver, but most of its 50-some employees work remotely throughout the US.

Walker said he might also use the market's surplus of qualified workers to cut a handful of low-performers.

"Why wouldn't we replace them with three or four outstanding people?" he said.

'A ton of opportunity'

Hassan said Range is looking to hire 100 people, including staffers in operations, marketing, and product management and more than 30 engineers.

Range is largely hiring at its McLean, Virginia, headquarters, though also in the New York and Seattle areas.

"We have a ton of opportunity," Hassan said. Many would-be employees exiting the government he's met are available, excited, and interested, he said.

Those with federal experience on their résumé often use that as an in with businesses that contract with the government.

Yet it's not clear how much of that work will persist, said Patrice Williams-Lindo, CEO of Career Nomads, which helps professionals navigate career changes.

She told BI that government contractors could see their workloads decrease as spending cuts in Washington, DC, ripple through the economy. That could occur if the government dumps contracts or if it says no to some of the related add-ons that tend to extend workloads — and the need for employees.

"The pie is smaller," Williams-Lindo said.

Nevertheless, she said, even a job that doesn't last as long as government jobs historically have would likely be a godsend for someone needing work.

A possible payoff

For federal workers who manage to snag a role in the private sector, the rewards could be substantial.

Hassan, who runs Range, said government workers with the necessary skills and expertise can often expect a jump in pay. He said an engineer with seven years of experience earning about $145,000 at the Department of Energy could pull in closer to $250,000 a year at Range.

Hassan said he doesn't want to take advantage of workers accustomed to government salaries by lowballing them.

"I'm going to pay them what they're worth," he said.

Hassan doesn't worry that those who have spent "their whole lives" in government aren't suited for life inside a startup. He said the right people are those who can be trained and who can pivot, including federal workers.

"They've got amazing skills and superpowers in one or two areas," Hassan said of the government workers he's spoken with. "If we need to adjust them to be in a more Google-like environment, we can do that."

Ultimately, he said, there are phenomenal people everywhere.

"A lot of them are in government," Hassan said.

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