'Critical skills gap' | OPM launches 'Early Career Talent Network' to transform federal hiring

The US Office of Personnel Management, in partnership with the White House, has launched a new Early Career Talent Network designed to connect emerging professionals with full-time opportunities across the federal government.

It sits at the center of broader efforts to modernize federal hiring and build a stronger pipeline into so-called mission-critical roles, including finance, human resources, engineering, project management, and procurement.

It comes, however, only a year after the department fired nearly 400,000 workers. From January 2025 to January 2026, the federal workforce lost 386,826 workers, including approximately 17,000 from reductions in force. Thousands of those employees were probationary, meaning they had been in post for less than a year. The majority of individuals who left the federal workforce either resigned or retired.

About 122,000 employees also joined - a 55% decrease from 2024, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. As a result, the federal workforce has seen a net reduction of 264,000.