As the federal government continues whittling down its workforce, California has launched a new effort to recruit state workers from those purged by President Donald Trump.
Since Trump took office just over two months ago, department leaders have fired tens of thousands of federal workers as part of an effort to reduce the size of the government’s workforce.
In light of the employment uncertainty at the federal level, Gov. Gavin Newsom directed the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) to prioritize the hiring of federal workers who were in the process of losing their jobs. In the same executive order directing state workers to return to offices he issued early last month, Newsom argued that federal employees have expertise that will help “fill unmet needs in the State workforce.”
“California values the skill set and experience federal workers bring to public service — and we want them to know that there is a place for them here in the Golden State,” Newsom said in a statement.
CalHR said it was looking for applicants with specific skills in “firefighting, weather forecasting and modeling, natural resource management, medical and mental health, and the sciences.”
CalHR Director Eraina Ortega said in a statement that the department is expanding on a previously successful recruitment campaign, and this effort aims to attract federal workers whose knowledge will benefit the state.
“Our workforce is strongest when we open doors of opportunities to everyone, including recently displaced federal workers,” the new secretary of California Government Operations, Nick Maduros, said in a statement. “We all benefit if California can harness their valuable skills to help serve Californians.”
It’s not clear how many federal employees the Trump administration has successfully let go.
While thousands have been laid off, lawsuits from labor groups, states attorneys general and private individuals have led to courts blocking the termination of some federal workers.
A federal district judge recently directed the Trump administration to rehire probationary employees. Some new hires have reported that they have yet to be reinstated despite the court order.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
CalHR’s latest effort is an extension of the state’s recruitment campaign, known as Work4CA. As part of the initiative, CalHR launched a “one-stop website” that provides guidance for current and former federal employees on the application process and a list of open state positions that federal workers might be well suited for.
A CalHR spokesperson said the state currently has 3,239 active job openings on CalCareers. The state hopes to attract highly skilled federal workers who have lost their jobs since Trump took office to those positions, the department spokesperson said.
Applications to state jobs in the first quarter of 2025 are down compared to the same period last year, according to data from CalHR. Last year, 478,986 applications were submitted for work at the state from January to March, while CalHR received 433,385 applications for the first three months of this year.
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