Wayan Vota knew something was wrong.
A 20-year veteran of the international aid sector, Vota was long accustomed to industry changes following the inauguration of a new president—there is always a reset period during which agencies and contractors shift to align with the incoming administration’s priorities. But this time was different.
Newly-inaugurated President Trump signed an executive order in mid January halting all foreign aid programs through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Vota anticipated a big shakeup at his firm, Humentum, which was predominantly funded by federal grants, and estimated that it would lead to layoffs for around 80% of the company. But Jan. 31 is when he found out he would also be included in those cuts, losing his job along 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 just one of thousands of federal workers and contractors who lost their jobs this year due to the Trump administration’s funding freezes, unprecedented resignation offers, and outright layoffs. Approximately 75,000 workers accepted the administration’s deferred resignation offer, and many more have been affected in other ways, with the promise of more pain to come. There is no official count for the total number of federal workers and contractors who have been laid off, but 62,530 government positions have been cut so far this year, according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray, & Christmas. Some areas have been more affected than others, and international aid has been particularly hard hit.
After spending 24 hours cycling through various stages of grief following his layoff, Vota decided to take action. “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 started a Substack called “Career Pivot,” with the aim of creating a community for laid off aid workers and helping them find new roles outside of the sector. He now has more than 9,000 subscribers, whose interests and specialities run the gamut from AI to health care and data analysis. Vota says that a large percentage are mid-to senior level staff who have spent the majority of their professional lives in the international development 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’
Career Pivot is a combination of blog posts, FAQs, success stories, job listings, mental health resources, discussion boards, and networking events.
It provides information and guidance to former federal employees and contractors searching for work, with an emphasis on highlighting expertise that could be valuable in another field, becoming marketable in the private sector, and sharing knowledge 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 site 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 health social worker who specializes in maternal and child health, worked with Vota many years ago at a nonprofit. When she lost her job last month, she signed up for Career Pivot as soon as it went live. She says the site reinforced “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.”
While the website was initially intended for international development workers, Vota says his subscriber base has grown to include impacted workers at other agencies, like the Department of Veterans affairs, and the Department of Education.
Vota has a team of eight volunteers who assist him with the site, and offers both free and paid subscriptions. The latter cost $20 a month or $100 annually, and include more curated and personalized content, like “AMA” Zoom calls with recruiters where people can ask specific questions related to their job search. Vota says he’s using the money he makes to reinvest in the business.
“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.
Finding community
Career Pivot certainly offers practical tools for job seekers, but many workers say the best thing they get out of it is a sense that they’re not alone.
Laura Wigglesworth worked as a global health and development recruiter in the international development sector for 25 years, and lost her job as a result of the funding freeze. She was an early subscriber and has been participating in Vota’s workshops, learning things like how to optimize her resume with AI. Because of her professional experience, she’s also helping others navigate the job search process.
“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 lost his job as a federal contractor earlier this year when USAID funding dried up. He was working at government consulting firm Millennium Partners Consulting as an activity manager, and had four years left on his contract when he was fired on Feb. 24. Levesque launched his own Substack in February, where he provides people with guidance on how to leverage AI in the job search process. He now also works with Vota and Career Pivot via guest posts and AMAs. While he appreciates the comprehensive information site provides, he says it was not the main reason 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’
While many laid off federal workers are just beginning their job search, Vota is starting to see the results 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 goal is for the average Career Pivot subscription to last three to six months, maximum. “I don’t want to have multi-year members. That would be a mark of failure, not a mark of success.”
Many former international aid workers, including Vota, still hold out hope for the future of the sector, although they know it will look 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, exactly? He’s not entirely sure. it could be years before funding cuts are reversed. That may also depend on the outcome of the 2026 and 2028 elections. But Vota doesn’t have time to hold 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 originally featured on Fortune.com
