Fired or frustrated federal workers may have eager employers waiting for them in Minnesota

For federal workers, the past few months have been filled with uncertainty as the Trump administration pushes ahead with efforts to reduce the size of government agencies.

Thousands of workers have been fired, as the White House says it’s aiming to make the federal government more focused and efficient. Other federal workers may be looking to leave, amid the confusion and rhetoric.

But whether they are forced or choose to leave their federal jobs — those workers, especially ones with specific skill sets, may find employers eager to hire them.

“We’re pushing up our [job] posting schedule to take advantage of this opportunity,” Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha said. “I hear that from my friends in state government, my friends in county, city, other local government areas, because we’re all struggling to fill vacancies right now.”

One disillusioned federal worker in the suburban Twin Cities, who’s still employed but looking to make a career change, recently spoke with MPR News.

He’s not supposed to talk with reporters, and didn’t want his name used for fear of retribution. But he said he’s fed up with the way the Trump administration, and others, are vilifying people like him.

“They want to put the blame on us for everything when it’s not about lazy workers,” the 10-year Department of Veterans Affairs employee explained.

“This administration — they’re putting the cart before the horse. This administration doesn’t give a s--- about constitutional laws. It just wants to do what it wants to do with no questions asked,” the frustrated worker told MPR News, sitting at his kitchen table.

So, he’s looking for a way out — maybe a job with state government. He’s filling out applications and sitting for interviews right now, because he wants to get a jump on what he expects will be many more people like him looking for work outside the federal government.

“Nobody’s safe,” the worker concluded. “They’ve proven time and time again that you have no protections.”

For federal workers who’ve been fired, or who want to leave their government job — as one door closes, they may find others opening. Blaha said local, regional and state governments should be aggressively recruiting unemployed and unhappy federal workers.

She said people with strong finance backgrounds are particularly hard to find, to fill vacant positions.

“As I watch these layoffs, I’m definitely listening for the word ‘accountant’ or ‘investigator’ or ‘analyst,’” Blaha said. “I’m shocked that they are being so cavalier with such a precious workforce.”

In the gymnasium of a St. Paul community center recently, several employers hovered around display tables, trying to convince job fair visitors to work for them.

Carol Foley with Ramsey County Workforce Solutions was at the job fair. She said she highly recommends former federal employees for local and state jobs.

“Absolutely — they’re already familiar with a lot of the governmental agency ... protocols, yes — and their expertise that they bring, it would be an asset,” Foley said.

But Foley and others who work with people looking for jobs worry that there may soon be too many jobseekers and not enough employers hiring, if there’s an economic downturn on top of the federal job cuts.

“We’re swamped,” Foley said. “The services may not be available that used to be available, in the coming year or two, based on changes.”

Karyn Berg is also with Ramsey County Workforce Solutions. She said she’s had some trouble recruiting employers to job fairs.

“I anticipate we’re going to see more of that in our upcoming job fairs,” Berg said. “Less engagement from employers as they’re trying to figure out what the current landscape is for them — but I do anticipate we’ll see more job-seekers coming out, so competition is going to get, you know, at a higher level.”

Job-seeker Kevin Albertson said one reason he attended the job fair in St. Paul is that he’s trying to get ahead of what he expects will be a flood of unemployed federal workers.

“People are going to start looking for positions around the same time that I would be looking,” Albertson said.

One former federal worker in Minnesota who won’t be competing with Albertson, for now, is John Helcl. MPR News first spoke with Helcl in late February, after his job at the Department of Veterans Affairs was cut. He’s now making plans to go back to school to study law.

He lost his position after just a month with the VA — and said he has no interest in going back.

“Boy, that is shifting sand and unfamiliar ground right now and so — I couldn’t say right now that I’m wishing to go back, because of some of the larger factors at play,” Helcl said.

Helcl said for him, those factors include uncertainty within — and hostility toward — the federal workforce.

He and others told MPR News they saw their roles as helping the country and serving the public. But they said recent rhetoric characterizing government workers as lazy, or a waste of taxpayer dollars, could forever change the dynamics of the federal workforce.

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