Memorandum
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- Connor Quincy via Fast Company
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Civic Match Opens Government Job Platform to All Americans
ReCivic Match Opens Government Job Platform to All Americans
Work for America is expanding its Civic Match platform beyond displaced federal workers to help any American find state and local government jobs, as public sector demand remains high and AI-related layoffs mount.
Work for America, a nonprofit founded in 2024 to help state and local governments recruit talent, is opening its Civic Match job platform to all Americans, not just former federal workers. The expansion aims to connect job seekers—including new graduates, tech workers, and people priced out of their hometowns—with the more than 440 city, county, and state employers that hire through the platform.
The move comes after a turbulent period for the federal workforce. On February 14, 2025, thousands of federal employees were laid off by the Department of Government Efficiency, an event that became known as the «Valentine’s Day Massacre.» Among them was Joya Patel, who had recently been promoted to director of communications at the Department of Health and Human Services. «I never had a plan in life,» Patel said, «but after working at HHS for the amount of time that I did I finally did have a plan. And it was just ripped away from me.» Patel described receiving a termination email on a Saturday evening, an experience she initially thought was a joke. «My initial feeling was anger, because I had no say,» she said. «The letter said something about performance, but that couldn’t be true. I had recently been promoted, my performance evaluations were great, and I had won several awards.»
In the months that followed, Patel attended networking events in Washington, D.C., including one hosted by Work for America. She created a profile on Civic Match and was soon contacted by a staffer who encouraged her to apply for a strategic director of communications role with the city of San Diego. «They speak directly with the hiring manager and flag [you] as a Civic Match candidate so that you stand out in the candidate pool,» Patel said. She landed the job in April. «It is a wonderful opportunity, and I’m very happy that it came my way.»
In its first two years, Work for America provided career resources to more than 13,000 displaced federal workers and helped 500 of them find new opportunities. Caitlin Lewis, the organization’s founder and executive director, said the platform has now built permanent infrastructure that governments keep returning to. «While there was a unique moment of opportunity to capture talent exiting D.C., we’ve now built pretty permanent infrastructure that governments keep coming back to, and keep posting hundreds and hundreds of jobs on each month,» Lewis said. «In the midst of so much economic uncertainty in the job market fueled by layoffs and AI fears, public service can and should be emerging as a source of optimism for job seekers.»
The expansion is designed to serve a broader range of Americans. «We are excited to be expanding that platform to folks who are looking for their first job and are scared about layoffs and the implications of AI; to those who have been in the tech sector for a decade and want to do something more directly connected to their community; to those who are priced out of the city they’ve lived in and want to move back home,» Lewis said.
Public sector jobs often offer lower salaries but more generous benefits, particularly pensions. According to a recent survey by MissionSquare, a public sector financial management provider, 64% of public sector workers say their wages are competitive, while 92% say the same about their benefits. Career stability is also becoming a priority. Research by Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows that AI has been cited in 24% of layoff announcements this year. Yet a MissionSquare survey of state and local government employers found that just 3% say they are leaving positions vacant due to AI. «When you think about the roles in the public sector, they are predominantly things like teachers, police, firefighters, street maintenance,» said Shari Hensrud, MissionSquare’s chief investment officer. «A lot of those roles can’t be replaced with AI—unless we get to a world of RoboCop.»
Despite sluggish private sector employment, public sector demand remains high. The MissionSquare study found that 31% of state and local employers had to reopen recruitment very or somewhat frequently this year to fill open positions. However, hiring speed remains a challenge. According to a 2026 study by the Society for Human Resource Management, the average employer takes 39 days to fill a nonexecutive position, but local governments average 130 days, according to Work for America. Part of the problem, Lewis said, is that the country’s 90,000 state and local entities each have their own hiring practices and use different job boards, making it difficult for job seekers to find suitable roles.
