Students interested in working for the federal government are scrambling to reevaluate their job prospects after President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day hiring freeze last week across all executive branch agencies, except those related to “immigration enforcement, national security or public safety.” Given the broad nature of the executive order, students and staff from Career Exploration and Development (CXD) are still deciphering exactly which jobs and departments are on pause and what long-term implications the executive order may have.

Owen Gramley ’25, who planned to work for the federal government before attending law school, had been looking at jobs at the Department of Justice when the hiring freeze began. He said the freeze has further complicated an already daunting application process.

“[Job listings] say they’re open, but there’s the hiring freeze. I’m sure that [federal hirers] don’t really look at [applications] or it’s not their priority,” Gramley said. “I think there still is a lot of confusion around what’s going on.”

To address student concerns about the freeze, CXD sent an email on Saturday to students on the Government, Law and Policy mailing list. The message outlined how the order might impact federal job seekers and directed students with further questions to meet with a CXD adviser. Executive Director Kristin Brennan said CXD will continue to send email updates to students on the evolution of the federal career landscape as more information becomes available.

For Gramley, the hiring freeze has forced him to consider more jobs in the private sector, which he noted wasn’t his first choice.

“It’s pushing a lot of people to really consider other jobs, and they’re starting to reach outside of government,” Gramley said.

Others are turning to opportunities at the state and local level. Chris Van Houten ’26 was considering internships at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York but is now unsure whether that opportunity will still be available as the hiring freeze is sorted out.

Van Houten thinks he will likely return to the state judge’s office he worked at last summer. Though he was excited to explore roles at the federal level, he emphasized his great experience with the state judge and expressed that there is still plenty to learn.

“If you’re unhappy with the state of the federal government, now more than ever is a good time to shift towards more local and state institutions…. It’s a good moment to do just that and learn how to get more involved in local policy,” Van Houten said.

Positions in the federal government, however, are not limited to the commonly represented fields of law and policy. Benny Adler ’25, an Earth and Oceanographic Science major, had been strongly considering research positions at federal agencies such as the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the United States Geological Survey.

“I personally feel very demoralized about post-grad, and I think part of that is because, in the context of the classroom, professors,… if they’re alluding to post-grad, it’s only ever in [their] experience working as a professor doing research or working in the government doing research,” Adler said.

Adler worked at NOAA last summer and noted that colleagues who had spent years there were optimistic about the fate of the organization. But Adler said Trump’s executive order from Monday, which enacted a federal grant and loan freeze, represents an attack on scientific research organizations like NOAA that rely on federal funding. The Trump administration rescinded the order on Wednesday.

“[NOAA employees] didn’t know what to expect, but they seemed to have some faith that a lot of bureaucracy is built to withstand administration changes,” Adler said. “But when I read the news, and it’s [the administration] trying to freeze off federal funding, I’m certain that this current administration is mounting the strongest attack of any president on these institutions.”

Brennan shared that CXD has advised students during volatile moments in the job market before, noting that the federal hiring freeze shares many elements with hiring freezes at the beginning of the pandemic.

“That gave us really good experience grappling with uncertainty and helping students interpret uncertainty and also figuring out how to help students get inventive and look for different options,” Brennan said. “Even though they’re very different, two things are present: the suddenness and the having to interpret new information coming very quickly.”

Brennan noted that while CXD doesn’t have all the answers to the hiring freeze, the office is working swiftly to help students pivot to find jobs they’re excited about.

Students also expressed concerns about the timeline to regroup their job search and meet the CXD Funded Internship Program application deadline on March 28, which requires a confirmed offer from a supervisor as part of the application. However, Brennan noted that the application doesn’t open until Monday and most applications for the grant are not received until spring break, leaving a month and a half for the job market to adjust.

Though the federal hiring landscape has significantly changed over the past week, students are trying to remain optimistic that they will have a chance to work on the federal level soon.

“I feel like every opportunity which you need is being pulled out from under [us], so I’m really hoping this gets sorted out,” Gramley said.