Wayan Vota knew one thing was flawed.
A 20-year veteran of the worldwide assist sector, Vota was lengthy accustomed to business modifications following the inauguration of a brand new president—there may be all the time a reset interval throughout which companies and contractors shift to align with the incoming administration’s priorities. However this time was totally different.
Newly-inaugurated President Trump signed an government order in mid January halting all international assist applications via the USA Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID). Vota anticipated a giant shakeup at his agency, Humentum, which was predominantly funded by federal grants, and estimated that it might result in layoffs for round 80% of the corporate. However Jan. 31 is when he came upon he would even be included in these cuts, dropping his job together with most of his colleagues.
“I cried in my daughter’s arms,” he tells Fortune. “All of my peers, everybody who I would think of talking to, were also unemployed.”
Vota is only one of 1000’s of federal staff and contractors who misplaced their jobs this yr because of the Trump administration’s funding freezes, unprecedented resignation affords, and outright layoffs. Roughly 75,000 staff accepted the administration’s deferred resignation supply, and lots of extra have been affected in different methods, with the promise of extra ache to come back. There isn’t any official rely for the whole variety of federal staff and contractors who’ve been laid off, however 62,530 authorities positions have been reduce thus far this yr, in accordance with international outplacement agency Challenger, Grey, & Christmas. Some areas have been extra affected than others, and worldwide assist has been notably onerous hit.
After spending 24 hours biking via varied levels of grief following his layoff, Vota determined to take motion. “I woke up and said: ‘Okay, I am not going to sit here and be a crying, blubbering mess. I’m going to get up and do something about it.’”
On Feb. 1, he began a Substack referred to as “Career Pivot,” with the goal of making a group for laid off assist staff and serving to them discover new roles outdoors of the sector. He now has greater than 9,000 subscribers, whose pursuits and specialities run the gamut from AI to well being care and information evaluation. Vota says that a big share are mid-to senior stage workers who’ve spent the vast majority of their skilled lives within the worldwide improvement sector.
“There are people that spent a decade or 20 years within USAID, or got a master’s degree in International Development, joined the Peace Corps, then joined USAID, and just never worked anywhere else,” he says.
‘Every single subscriber is somebody in pain’
Profession Pivot is a mixture of weblog posts, FAQs, success tales, job listings, psychological well being sources, dialogue boards, and networking occasions.
It supplies data and steerage to former federal workers and contractors trying to find work, with an emphasis on highlighting experience that may very well be precious in one other subject, changing into marketable within the personal sector, and sharing data with others. “A huge part of Career Pivot is helping people translate their skills into terms the private sector understands,” Vota says.
Articles on the location have headlines like “10 Ways to Rethink Your USAID Job Titles: How to translate your vast development experience into corporate-friendly terms,” “Resistance is NOT futile,” and “What are your health insurance options now?”
Alex Collins, a public well being social employee who makes a speciality of maternal and baby well being, labored with Vota a few years in the past at a nonprofit. When she misplaced her job final month, she signed up for Profession Pivot as quickly because it went stay. She says the location bolstered “how incredibly valuable not just our immediate networks of people are, but the networks that each of those people bring—a second tier of contacts.”
Whereas the web site was initially supposed for worldwide improvement staff, Vota says his subscriber base has grown to incorporate impacted staff at different companies, just like the Division of Veterans affairs, and the Division of Training.
Vota has a group of eight volunteers who help him with the location, and affords each free and paid subscriptions. The latter value $20 a month or $100 yearly, and embrace extra curated and customized content material, like “AMA” Zoom calls with recruiters the place individuals can ask particular questions associated to their job search. Vota says he’s utilizing the cash he makes to reinvest within the enterprise.
“My wife is very disappointed that at this point I’m a startup. All the money I’m making is going right back into services and processes and content for people,” he says.
Discovering group
Profession Pivot definitely affords sensible instruments for job seekers, however many staff say the most effective factor they get out of it’s a sense that they’re not alone.
Laura Wigglesworth labored as a world well being and improvement recruiter within the worldwide improvement sector for 25 years, and misplaced her job on account of the funding freeze. She was an early subscriber and has been taking part in Vota’s workshops, studying issues like the way to optimize her resume with AI. Due to her skilled expertise, she’s additionally serving to others navigate the job search course of.
“Job hunting is daunting and scary and lonely, and it can be very depressing,” she says. “Especially if you don’t have a support community of people going through what you’re going through.”
That feeling is echoed by Joel Levesque, who misplaced his job as a federal contractor earlier this yr when USAID funding dried up. He was working at authorities consulting agency Millennium Companions Consulting as an exercise supervisor, and had 4 years left on his contract when he was fired on Feb. 24. Levesque launched his personal Substack in February, the place he supplies individuals with steerage on the way to leverage AI within the job search course of. He now additionally works with Vota and Profession Pivot by way of visitor posts and AMAs. Whereas he appreciates the great data website supplies, he says it was not the primary purpose he subscribed.
“What I found was that it was a community,” he says. “This was really quite a traumatic thing that happened for people actually working in the sector. I don’t think anyone was expecting this. So to be able to engage in a community where people are like me, and going through the same thing, really made me feel like I wasn’t crazy.”
‘I can’t predict the future’
Whereas many laid off federal staff are simply starting their job search, Vota is beginning to see the outcomes of his work.
“I just had somebody email me today saying, ‘I’ve unsubscribed because I have a job.’ Oh, that was the most beautiful email ever! It made my entire day,” he says. His aim is for the typical Profession Pivot subscription to final three to 6 months, most. “I don’t want to have multi-year members. That would be a mark of failure, not a mark of success.”
Many former worldwide assist staff, together with Vota, nonetheless maintain out hope for the way forward for the sector, though they know it’s going to look totally different. “USAID, as the agency we knew on January 20, will not exist in the future. Foreign assistance, which is the larger concept of helping other countries, will continue,” he says.
How, precisely? He’s not fully certain. it may very well be years earlier than funding cuts are reversed. That will additionally rely upon the end result of the 2026 and 2028 elections. However Vota doesn’t have time to carry his breath.
“I can’t predict the future, but I have the strong feeling that the majority of us have to find a new career just to stay alive.”
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
