How Long Will The Hiring Freeze Last & Implications For Federal Employees?
How long will the hiring freeze last, and what are the implications for federal employees, those with job offers, and college graduates and students?
One day after President Trump was sworn into office, Steve Koehler (a Utah man) received an email telling him that his job offer to become a federal employee at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was being rescinded. The hiring freeze, instituted by executive order, is directly impacting Mr. Koehler and many other job candidates and federal employees in a negative way. This is how long it will last.
How Long will the Hiring Freeze Last?
After taking the oath of office for a second term, President Trump signed several executive orders, one of which placed an immediate hiring freeze on the federal government. This presidential action effectively shut down the authority of any agency or department within the executive branch to hire new federal employees.
This hiring freeze is to last 90 days (until late April) while the directors of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the new advisory office known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) collaborate, prepare and submit a plan to efficiently reduce the size of the federal workforce.
For 90 days—or until the federal employee workforce reduction plan is submitted and approved—the hiring freeze order stipulates that, “no Federal civilian position that is vacant at noon on January 20, 2025, may be filled, and no new position may be created except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or other applicable law. Except as provided below, this freeze applies to all executive departments and agencies regardless of their sources of operational and programmatic funding.”
Unlike most agencies and departments which will be under the hiring freeze directive until OMB, OPM and DOGE submit the collaborative workforce reduction plan, the IRS is different. The hiring freeze for the IRS will expire when the Secretary of the Treasury (after consulting with others) determines that it’s in the best interest of the country for the IRS hiring freeze to be lifted.
The Federal Employees Exempt from the Hiring Freeze
While the hiring freeze is broad in scope, it does provide some key exceptions. The following category or federal employees have been exempted and may continue as though the hiring freeze were not in effect.
- Armed forces military personnel
- Immigration enforcement federal employees
- National security and public safety federal employees
The executive order also makes provisions for the administration of Social Security and veterans and Medicare benefits, and it sets out that these programs shall not be adversely impacted. Finally, the OPM director may authorize hiring-freeze exemptions (that aren’t already included in this list) as deemed necessary.
Which Federal Employees are Exempt from the Hiring Freeze?
Hiring Freeze Implications on Federal Employees and Managers
The implications on current federal employees and those having already received job offers are vast. There are many national reports and social media posts that reflect the frustrations, uncertainty and turmoil the hiring freeze is causing. Federal employees currently working within the executive branch now face workforce staffing shortages that will stretch and challenge their ability to deliver timely and quality outcomes and services for Americans.
The management teams within these organizations need to creatively adjust and define strategic priorities in such a way that federal employees can operate effectively and efficiently regardless of the hiring freeze. While they won’t likely achieve the same results with lower staffing levels, these managers can determine how to do things differently as opposed to simply doing more things. Doing more with less is a losing proposition, but doing different with less can be a winning proposition.
The hiring freeze executive order, “does not prohibit making reallocations to meet the highest priority needs, maintain essential services, and protect national security, homeland security, and public safety.”
Hiring Freeze Implications on Federal Employee Candidates with Job Offers
As I informed earlier, Steve Koehler from Utah isn’t the only job candidate experiencing the negative implications of the hiring freeze. Many others have had job offers rescinded this week. These are individuals who were excited and preparing to become federal employees after successfully competing job interviews and making their way through extensive evaluative processes.
The reporting is such that job offers are being rescinded all across the federal government. Some examples are that
- The National Park Service has rescinded job offers
- Department of Justice has pulled job offers for new attorneys
- The IRS can’t follow through with planned new-agent hires in time for tax season
- College graduates are receiving notices that their job offers for federal employment have been rescinded.
William & Mary Law School Dean Advocates for Graduates and Students after Hiring Freeze
Here’s how one college in the United States is responding to the fallout for its college graduates and students who had received job offers and were expecting to sign on as new federal employees or interns before the hiring freeze took effect.
William & Mary Law School Dean, A. Benjamin Spencer, has been advocating on behalf of William & Mary’s students and graduates and posted this message on LinkedIn. “As a result of the federal hiring freeze that went into effect on Monday, one of our 2024 graduates of William & Mary Law School has had her job offer rescinded. That is a difficult and not entirely fair position for her to be put in, given she had relied on this offer of employment in forsaking other opportunities that it is now too late for her to pursue.
I am not criticizing the hiring freeze, I am just sharing the information as a data point for decision makers to have full visibility on the impact of their decisions, and for observers to factor into the formation of their views of the freeze. I would advise decision makers to consider honoring outstanding offers of federal employment and to limit the hiring freeze to the extension of new offers from the date of the executive order.”
In his post, Dean Spencer goes on to list updates for several graduates and students who have informed the law school that their job offers for federal employment have been rescinded. In an effort to mitigate the loss and harm, this particular dean asks that the government honor outstanding offers and limit the hiring freeze to new offers made after the signing of the executive order.
Dean Spencer likely represents the experience and thinking of many college administrators as the ripple effect of President Trump’s hiring freeze is felt and accounted for across the nation.
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