Help - Former USAID contractor -- zero interviews in a year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband, like thousands of others in the area, has been out of work for over a year now. He has literally not gotten ONE interview from the hundreds of jobs he's applied for. I'm at my wits end. Will he ever work again? I think after 25 years in the same job, his network is all in his field. He's highly skilled, willing to go down in level, salary, all of it. But ... are there any jobs out there? Are there recruiters that would be good for someone with skills in program development management, grants, social impact? He has experience in South American, Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. He's managed portfolios of hundreds of millions of dollars. Do they care about people that have this amazing government experience doing the work internationally? How do you make it transferable?

We've done all that work to adapt the resume, put in the key words, etc. etc. I've networked as much as I can with my network. Does the rest of the country realize how bad it is for these people thanks to Elon Musk?

I'm ranting... thanks for letting me rant... Most days I keep my stress in check, but this year plus mark is really getting to me.

Any advice welcome... especially about local networking events even.

lowes is hiring.

really, his skills is managing the giving away of someone elses money ??

what skills are required for that?

based on the outcomes USAID should have been closed a long time ago. What would happen if India decided to help the poor people in Ashburn by donating money. It would all go to the politicians and their supporters, very minimal would go to poor people.

and clearly how the market has valued your DH is confirmation.

[Anonymous]

I didnt read all the pages but as a recruiter my advice is do not apply for the entry level jobs. Do not apply for jobs that are asking for 2 years of experience. When I see people with 10+ years of experience applying for those roles they are automatically rejected. We dont want an old guy with his own experience to take that role. And there are hundreds of young grads I do want. So just dont even bother its a waste of time. Focus on roles that are seeking your level of experience (of which I know there are fewer and its frustrating im sorry)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say this with respect because I know there’s a lot of affected people here (in addition to the OP), but could someone please explain how/why the people at this org were paid so much before when it seems like their actual skills just didn’t warrant that high level of pay? Is this typical in government orgs? I knew government positions paid a lot more than I originally expected, but I was told that they need to pay those salaries (in addition to the security that has historically also come with government positions) in order to staff the positions.

I worked for a USAID contractor. For sure the management skills are transferable, but the challenge is that what I did was super specialized and no longer exists. Do you need someone to design and implement a low-cost program to get women in Nigeria or Malawi to take their prenatal vitamins and give birth in a birth facility with a trained midwife? Or maybe you need to figure out how to reduce the biases among midwives that lead to infant and maternal mortality. I’m your woman. I’ve done it and have the studies to prove the programs reduced death.

But the jobs here in the US that reduce infant death are few and far between. Who funds them? Some counties and states, but they are not funded to the level we funded these sorts of programs abroad. Sad, isn’t it? And I would understand and even sort of approve if we pulled all that money from USAID and instead used it for health programming in the US. But we didn’t. And now we are losing not just the work, but the expertise. I was a known, respected expert in my field. I’m now doing something different, and can’t mentor the next generation should we decide maternal health is important again. Poof. A generation of knowledge is just gone.

I don’t want anyone’s pity - I’m doing fine. But I would like people to understand that the skills USAID people had were real and valuable and necessary for the work we did. We just don’t seem to find helping poor people a needed skill anymore.

We do, but those are volunteer positions, not high paid govt. full-time jobs. That is the difference. Private foundations may fund this work, but otherwise it's volunteer. I am sure there are poor right here at home who need help too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband, like thousands of others in the area, has been out of work for over a year now. He has literally not gotten ONE interview from the hundreds of jobs he's applied for. I'm at my wits end. Will he ever work again? I think after 25 years in the same job, his network is all in his field. He's highly skilled, willing to go down in level, salary, all of it. But ... are there any jobs out there? Are there recruiters that would be good for someone with skills in program development management, grants, social impact? He has experience in South American, Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. He's managed portfolios of hundreds of millions of dollars. Do they care about people that have this amazing government experience doing the work internationally? How do you make it transferable?

We've done all that work to adapt the resume, put in the key words, etc. etc. I've networked as much as I can with my network. Does the rest of the country realize how bad it is for these people thanks to Elon Musk?

I'm ranting... thanks for letting me rant... Most days I keep my stress in check, but this year plus mark is really getting to me.

Any advice welcome... especially about local networking events even.

lowes is hiring.

really, his skills is managing the giving away of someone elses money ??

what skills are required for that?

based on the outcomes USAID should have been closed a long time ago. What would happen if India decided to help the poor people in Ashburn by donating money. It would all go to the politicians and their supporters, very minimal would go to poor people.

and clearly how the market has valued your DH is confirmation.

He probably has good writing skills, which is more than we can say for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband, like thousands of others in the area, has been out of work for over a year now. He has literally not gotten ONE interview from the hundreds of jobs he's applied for. I'm at my wits end. Will he ever work again? I think after 25 years in the same job, his network is all in his field. He's highly skilled, willing to go down in level, salary, all of it. But ... are there any jobs out there? Are there recruiters that would be good for someone with skills in program development management, grants, social impact? He has experience in South American, Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. He's managed portfolios of hundreds of millions of dollars. Do they care about people that have this amazing government experience doing the work internationally? How do you make it transferable?

We've done all that work to adapt the resume, put in the key words, etc. etc. I've networked as much as I can with my network. Does the rest of the country realize how bad it is for these people thanks to Elon Musk?

I'm ranting... thanks for letting me rant... Most days I keep my stress in check, but this year plus mark is really getting to me.

Any advice welcome... especially about local networking events even.

lowes is hiring.

really, his skills is managing the giving away of someone elses money ??

what skills are required for that?

based on the outcomes USAID should have been closed a long time ago. What would happen if India decided to help the poor people in Ashburn by donating money. It would all go to the politicians and their supporters, very minimal would go to poor people.

and clearly how the market has valued your DH is confirmation.

My DH may need a job, but he is smart, funny, talented and loved, whereas you need mental health help because you must get a thrill from being nasty on anonymous message boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didnt read all the pages but as a recruiter my advice is do not apply for the entry level jobs. Do not apply for jobs that are asking for 2 years of experience. When I see people with 10+ years of experience applying for those roles they are automatically rejected. We dont want an old guy with his own experience to take that role. And there are hundreds of young grads I do want. So just dont even bother its a waste of time. Focus on roles that are seeking your level of experience (of which I know there are fewer and its frustrating im sorry)

Said the quiet part out loud!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say this with respect because I know there’s a lot of affected people here (in addition to the OP), but could someone please explain how/why the people at this org were paid so much before when it seems like their actual skills just didn’t warrant that high level of pay? Is this typical in government orgs? I knew government positions paid a lot more than I originally expected, but I was told that they need to pay those salaries (in addition to the security that has historically also come with government positions) in order to staff the positions.

This is because the whole industry was dependent on federal funding, so the floor dropped out, and all experts were suddenly redundant. However I think it’s very questionable to have been using taxpayer dollars to essentially create an industry that has no transferable value. It is tough to set appropriate compensation in the non-profit world as there is no ‘buyer’ to set prices. Practically and ethically, billionaires, like the gates foundation or true missionaries should be footing that bill instead of taxpayers.

You could say the same thing about the defense industry. And that's much bigger and employs far more people.

Well nobody has been saying what these nebulous skills are. Is it just grant writing? Making policy? Writing white papers? Won't somebody please be brave and say what people did? I'm sure some of it is transferable.

As for the denfense industry, I have only a good sense for IT and the different systems and needs are vast. But perhaps contracts management and procurement would be a highlighted feature in this industry? It seems that nobody in government is very good at it. If they are then their hands are tied with ridiculous regulations on how to choose and oversee contractors since it seems that there's no spending limit and no rules these days.

Np here. Here is some of What We Did/Skills We Have:
-managing multimillion dollar global contracts, ensuring contract compliance and delivering technical results (in health, education, and more)
- managing large international teams, including across continents
- designing cutting edge programs
- managing grants and subcontractors
-diplomacy and managing counterpart relationships with foreign govs and global organizations
-public speaking and representing the USG
- extensive writing (reports, briefing materials, technical guidance etc etc)
- condicting projecr auditd and evaluations
- responding to requests from Congress, the GAO, the White House (whomever was in there)
- collaborating with USG colleagues at the Depts of State, Treasury, Commerce, Justice, and many more

This is just a taste. Lots of it is highly transferable.

Did he have any contracts with concrete deliverables? Metrics for health and education are extremely subjective. Does he have accounting or law degree or MBA?

So managing international teams, was he the direct supervisor of those international teams responsible for for hiring and firing?

Drop the cutting edge program, that is weasel word filler

I would drop grant work — giving away money without a contract in place doesn’t really match to corporate experience

Diplomacy? You should speak to the level he interacted with of acting on behalf of USG — negotiating with Ambassadors from Haiti and Senegal etc

Public speaking and extensive writing is default skill/table stakes for any corporate role; calling it out looks amateurish.

Conducting audits — CPA or accounting degree or certificates?

The last two bullets sound kind of silly, so you responded to your orgs leadership and coordinated with other departments? That is standard corporate expectations, I would be concrete if you spoke to Congress or wrote MOU between Commerce and USAID etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say this with respect because I know there’s a lot of affected people here (in addition to the OP), but could someone please explain how/why the people at this org were paid so much before when it seems like their actual skills just didn’t warrant that high level of pay? Is this typical in government orgs? I knew government positions paid a lot more than I originally expected, but I was told that they need to pay those salaries (in addition to the security that has historically also come with government positions) in order to staff the positions.

I worked for a USAID contractor. For sure the management skills are transferable, but the challenge is that what I did was super specialized and no longer exists. Do you need someone to design and implement a low-cost program to get women in Nigeria or Malawi to take their prenatal vitamins and give birth in a birth facility with a trained midwife? Or maybe you need to figure out how to reduce the biases among midwives that lead to infant and maternal mortality. I’m your woman. I’ve done it and have the studies to prove the programs reduced death.

But the jobs here in the US that reduce infant death are few and far between. Who funds them? Some counties and states, but they are not funded to the level we funded these sorts of programs abroad. Sad, isn’t it? And I would understand and even sort of approve if we pulled all that money from USAID and instead used it for health programming in the US. But we didn’t. And now we are losing not just the work, but the expertise. I was a known, respected expert in my field. I’m now doing something different, and can’t mentor the next generation should we decide maternal health is important again. Poof. A generation of knowledge is just gone.

I don’t want anyone’s pity - I’m doing fine. But I would like people to understand that the skills USAID people had were real and valuable and necessary for the work we did. We just don’t seem to find helping poor people a needed skill anymore.

We do, but those are volunteer positions, not high paid govt. full-time jobs. That is the difference. Private foundations may fund this work, but otherwise it's volunteer. I am sure there are poor right here at home who need help too.

Yeah, no. The kind of work USAID contractors did is not volunteer type work. People don’t volunteer to conduct long term scientific research on infectious diseases, or to provide a community’s primary care. And there absolutely are metrics for success - number of people served, lives saved, prevalence of disease. The tracking was meticulous and the reporting heavy.

And someone below mentioned giving away money without contracts - USAID money was never given away, and it was only spent with the most mind-numbingly nit picky contracts you can imagine. Huge, government mandated procurement processes, annual audits, etc.

You can argue that USAID deserved to die because it created dependency and we should spend that money here at home. Those are valid arguments! But dismissing the work itself as fluff is ignorant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he’s not getting interviews, it’s the resume and cover letter. Without seeing them I suspect the skills and positioning aren’t transferring well to the kind of position he’s looking for, or they are written in governmentese. Or he’s looking at the wrong kinds of jobs that aren’t realistic for his background. People who have been in one industry / org for 25 years often don’t understand how insular and irrelevant they sound to the outside world.

It’s a tough market but he should be getting interviews even if he doesn’t land the jobs.

I have to disagree with you here. I know excellent candidates who have worked with career coaches, adapted resume to non- USAID language, etc., applied to literally 500 jobs and nada. It’s brutal

+1 a lot of "career coaches" now are fellow unemployed travelers. It's the blind leading the blind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say this with respect because I know there’s a lot of affected people here (in addition to the OP), but could someone please explain how/why the people at this org were paid so much before when it seems like their actual skills just didn’t warrant that high level of pay? Is this typical in government orgs? I knew government positions paid a lot more than I originally expected, but I was told that they need to pay those salaries (in addition to the security that has historically also come with government positions) in order to staff the positions.

This is because the whole industry was dependent on federal funding, so the floor dropped out, and all experts were suddenly redundant. However I think it’s very questionable to have been using taxpayer dollars to essentially create an industry that has no transferable value. It is tough to set appropriate compensation in the non-profit world as there is no ‘buyer’ to set prices. Practically and ethically, billionaires, like the gates foundation or true missionaries should be footing that bill instead of taxpayers.

You could say the same thing about the defense industry. And that's much bigger and employs far more people.

Well nobody has been saying what these nebulous skills are. Is it just grant writing? Making policy? Writing white papers? Won't somebody please be brave and say what people did? I'm sure some of it is transferable.

As for the denfense industry, I have only a good sense for IT and the different systems and needs are vast. But perhaps contracts management and procurement would be a highlighted feature in this industry? It seems that nobody in government is very good at it. If they are then their hands are tied with ridiculous regulations on how to choose and oversee contractors since it seems that there's no spending limit and no rules these days.

Np here. Here is some of What We Did/Skills We Have:
-managing multimillion dollar global contracts, ensuring contract compliance and delivering technical results (in health, education, and more)
- managing large international teams, including across continents
- designing cutting edge programs
- managing grants and subcontractors
-diplomacy and managing counterpart relationships with foreign govs and global organizations
-public speaking and representing the USG
- extensive writing (reports, briefing materials, technical guidance etc etc)
- condicting projecr auditd and evaluations
- responding to requests from Congress, the GAO, the White House (whomever was in there)
- collaborating with USG colleagues at the Depts of State, Treasury, Commerce, Justice, and many more

This is just a taste. Lots of it is highly transferable.

Did he have any contracts with concrete deliverables? Metrics for health and education are extremely subjective. Does he have accounting or law degree or MBA?

So managing international teams, was he the direct supervisor of those international teams responsible for for hiring and firing?

Drop the cutting edge program, that is weasel word filler

I would drop grant work — giving away money without a contract in place doesn’t really match to corporate experience

Diplomacy? You should speak to the level he interacted with of acting on behalf of USG — negotiating with Ambassadors from Haiti and Senegal etc

Public speaking and extensive writing is default skill/table stakes for any corporate role; calling it out looks amateurish.

Conducting audits — CPA or accounting degree or certificates?

The last two bullets sound kind of silly, so you responded to your orgs leadership and coordinated with other departments? That is standard corporate expectations, I would be concrete if you spoke to Congress or wrote MOU between Commerce and USAID etc.

+1. You need an outsider / recruiter to translate his experience to regular human speak. I don’t work in this field and many of your examples don’t resonate with me. I don’t understand what those duties entailed and how that would translate to our work environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP and that is not at all what I said. Upsides don't always mean stock options. I believe I said that my job could likely evolve into one with benefits. And, like I said, I am also applying for jobs. But while I have a good one, looking for advice for my husband, who does not. So.. Thank you to all the people who wrote supportive comments. It sucks. and even more so when people start attacking you.

NP—This is a strong argument for staying. Don’t let the aPlLy to cOsTcO posters get to you.

+100
Hugs to you, OP, and best wishes to your husband. My DS is in the job market right now and trying everything, so I get it. No other advice than wishing you well as you both keep trying. The job market is not behaving logically and hasn't for some time, especially in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the PPs saying relocate. It's not at all that simple. Companies outside of the DMV 1) want to pay him way less. Like less than 50% of his previous salary and 2) want him in town to start today. So to do that idea he'd need to relocate ahead of you to interview.

Hard agree. And don't forget the cost of moving (movers, truck, first month's rent/security deposit, supplies, furniture, etc). Lots of stories of people moving cross-country only to lose their jobs within days-months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has your husband asked any of his peers to review his resume and cover letter and provide candid feedback? When one of my former colleagues was struggling to land interviews, I asked if I could help by reviewing their resume. Long story short: I edited it (dramatically) and they quickly landed a few interviews. Start there.

Is your husband doing anything to bring in cash? Door Dash/Instacart/Uber? Any cash is better than nothing.

I heard Gov. Moore say MD started a fast-track teacher certification program for former feds, etc. Good benefits, steady paycheck, plus the flexibility for a side hustle (tutoring, college application support, etc.).

If he managed grants and can handle budgets and basic accounting, perhaps lean into that?

Is he handy? Could you invest in real estate, flip a house, or become landlords?

This is terrible advice. Teaching is not nearly as flexible as DCUM thinks and it's really hard work. There's not much time or energy for a side hustle, especially for a career changer in the first few years.

OMG +1million. I was shocked that so many people pivoted to substitute teaching to get quick cash; managing 30+ kids is not easy nor is it for everyone. High rates of burnout and you have to actually like kids, which is a bar many won't clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the PPs saying relocate. It's not at all that simple. Companies outside of the DMV 1) want to pay him way less. Like less than 50% of his previous salary and 2) want him in town to start today. So to do that idea he'd need to relocate ahead of you to interview.

Hard agree. And don't forget the cost of moving (movers, truck, first month's rent/security deposit, supplies, furniture, etc). Lots of stories of people moving cross-country only to lose their jobs within days-months.

He has been unemployed for a year! He can move by himself to get started, settle into job, and just rent a room somewhere. It's also much easier to get a job when you have a job, so he can immediately start looking to move back and applying to jobs in the DMV once he is gainfully employed.

Many families have bi-coastal arrangement, and his kids are older so much less of an issue (and his wife seems to have gig work she does remotely so can visit easily as well)