New ‘LinkedIn for government’ helps Americans get into public service

After bouncing around employers for much of her career, Joya Patel says she finally felt settled when she joined the Department of Health and Human Services in 2023. That was especially true after being promoted to its director of communications the following year. “I never had a plan in life,” she says, “but after working at HHS for the amount of time that I did I finally did have a plan. And it was just ripped away from me.” On February 14, 2025, Patel became one of thousands of federal workers laid off by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, in what has since been called the “Valentine’s Day Massacre.” “Initially, I was like, ‘Okay, this must be a joke,’ because you can’t email people on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. telling them they’re let go from the government and not to report back,” she says. “My initial feeling was anger, because I had no say. And the letter said something about performance, but that couldn’t be true. I had recently been promoted, my performance evaluations were great, and I had won several awards.” In the months that followed, Patel found herself attending networking events and happy hours around Washington with others grappling with the same fate.…