Late last year, Eric Hamm was feeling uneasy about his job security. He was working as a maintenance mechanic at Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas and aware of President Donald Trump’s plans to make big federal budget cuts. So, he applied to an opening for a city forester in Cortez, Colorado. In January, he was offered the job. 

“I actually turned it down,” Hamm said. “Saying we want to stick around [in Big Bend], we want to help the park, and we want to get the benefits that come with being part of the federal system.” 

About a month later, Hamm’s wife Kelon Crawford’s job was one of thousands cut in the first wave of downsizing under the Department of Government Efficiency. She also worked in the park as a physical science technician and was five months pregnant. Hamm said it felt like a betrayal. 

“It was kind of a no-brainer for me. I don’t want to work for an organization that’s going to do that to people,” Hamm said. 

So, he called the city of Cortez back. “I felt like I was coming back to them kind of with my tail between my legs,” he said. 

But the position was still open and the city was happy to extend Hamm another offer. Now, Hamm, Crawford and their two dogs are packing their things, selling their house in Texas, and prepping for a move to Colorado. In other words, the federal government’s downsizing is the city of Cortez’s gain. 

Other states and localities have the same idea. Officials in Maryland, New York, New Mexico and Kansas City are among those launching recruitment campaigns targeting federal workers and adjusting hiring procedures to scoop up some badly needed talent. 

“We feel like tapping into this applicant pool that we, up until now, have had limited success in recruiting from is a real opportunity,” said Brenna Hashimoto, director of the state of Hawaii’s Department of Human Resources Development.

Hashimoto’s department is enthusiastically recruiting workers affected by federal layoffs and budget cuts and fast-tracking their hiring. She said it’s seen a “tremendous response” so far, with more than 1,600 new applications for around 60 high-priority, hard-to-fill positions like research statisticians and IT specialists. 

But Liz Farmer, a researcher with The Pew Charitable Trusts, said matching those workers’ federal salaries and competing with private sector offers will be tough. 

“I would expect that to be a concern, and something that states and localities don’t necessarily have an advantage of,” Farmer said. “However, one of the things that government has always had going for it is this idea of a job with purpose.”

That’s true for one federal worker we’re calling Ann — her middle name since she fears retaliation at work. 

“I’ve spent my entire career either in the military or in federal service,” Ann said. “It’s an important part of who I am, the ability to serve and to give back.” 

But federal budget and staffing cuts have Ann looking for an exit strategy. 

“Every day or every couple of days, something happens. We lose contractors that do critical work. We find out we lost funding for X, Y or Z,” she said. “It’s mentally and emotionally really taking a toll on everyone.” 

Ann has an interview lined up for a state government job in Pennsylvania, where she lives. The work is comparable. The base salary? Not even close. 

“I’d be looking at a $60,000 pay cut. So that’s really ouch,” she said. 

Pennsylvania’s governor has ordered state agencies to weigh federal work the same as state experience in hiring as part of its push to scoop up federal workers. If Ann gets the job, she’s counting on that to help narrow the salary gap so she can afford to keep working for the public. 

Eric Hamm, the former National Park Service worker, says he’s not taking a pay cut at his new municipal job in Colorado. 

“But it’s hard to beat federal benefits,” he said. 

With their baby due in three months, Hamm and his wife won’t get the paid parental leave they were counting on; their health insurance won’t be as good; Hamm’s military service won’t count for retirement purposes the way it would if he stayed with the federal government. On top of that, his family is struggling to find housing in their new and much more expensive city. 

“So in a lot of ways, we’re hurting,” Hamm said. 

He’s grateful he gets to keep working outdoors and serving a community, but the move from federal to local government work comes with big sacrifices for Hamm’s family.