• Kunal Sonalker transitioned from a government data analyst role to the private sector for better opportunities and pay.
• He leveraged his government experience by showcasing measurable impacts and building a strong network.
• Sonalker highlights differences in work pace, upskilling needs, and experimentation between sectors.

When Kunal Sonalker graduated from the University of Florida in 2017 with a master's degree in computer science, his career aspiration was to be a data scientist at a Big Tech company. But he soon found out it wasn't going to be easy to reach his goal.

"Data science was a growing field then, and there weren't many entry-level roles for data scientists or machine learning engineers," Sonalker told Business Insider. "I almost got no interview callbacks from the bigger firms."

During a career fair, he met some recruiters from a state government agency focused on water resources, landed an interview, and was hired as an entry-level data analyst.

He felt constrained in his government job

While Sonalker found his government job "super interesting" and appreciated the chance to work with brilliant environmental scientists, he felt constrained by the scale of his work.

"I wanted to work on big data systems and large-scale projects, and I wasn't getting a chance to work on that," he said.

Sonalker also felt that despite his employer's desire to leverage technology, budget constraints often limited the government sector's ability to invest in new technologies and software. The compensation was also much lower than that of the private sector, which included company stocks and RSUs.

After just five months in his government role, at age 26, Sonalker decided to pivot to a private-sector job as a data science analyst at a retail healthcare company. His new role also came with a significant pay hike, and within one-and-a-half years, his salary was nearly 50% higher than that of his government job.

After about two-and-a-half years at the healthcare company, he landed a data analytics and machine learning role at a supermarket chain. Today, the 32-year-old is a data scientist at Nordstrom.

3 ways Sonalker marketed himself for the private sector with government sector experience

1. Showing measurable impact

Sonalker translated his government-sector accomplishments into measurable results that demonstrated his impact on efficiency, cost savings, and process improvements.

For example, he worked on several initiatives that improved workflow processes at his government agency, saving his team many manual hours.

"I quantified this project — how much manual effort did we reduce, what were the cost savings associated with this project, how did we use automation tools to improve the existing process — and showcased it in my résumé," he explained.

2. Connecting with people at his target companies to gain potential referrals

His strategy was to search "[company name] + role + LinkedIn" to find people who were working or who had worked in the companies and roles he was interested in.

After sending initial invites to these professionals, he set up a coffee chat and told them about his experiences and what exactly he was looking for in a new role.

"You can build a strong network just by doing this," Sonalker said.

3. Emphasizing his ability to navigate complex systems, adapt to new environments, and lead end-to-end projects

When working in the government agency, Sonalker developed a complete module to automate the agency's reporting system.

"When you highlight these large-scale projects, explaining how you navigated through them and what the tradeoffs and challenges were, it goes a long way with the hiring manager," he said. "These skills are highly valued in the private sector."

3 things he wishes he knew before making the transition

There were also some things Sonalker wished he had known before transitioning out of a government job.

1. The pace of work is significantly different

Sonalker didn't realize that private sector jobs move much faster than government jobs, with a greater emphasis on quick decision-making and rapid implementation of new technologies.

"On the government front, we used to experience this occasionally if there were floods or water issues in a county, but for the most part, it was smooth sailing," he said. "We used to have timelines for our deliverables, but nothing too crazy."

2. You may need to upskill or obtain new certifications to stay competitive

Sonalker quickly discovered that tech jobs require always remaining a student, constantly learning and upskilling yourself — something he personally enjoys and participates in.

"I've been constantly enrolling myself in new courses," Sonalker said, something his manager has been very supportive of.

For example, Sonalker learned Tableau and enrolled himself in certifications from Amazon Web Services, which taught him how to train and host AI models on their cloud platform. He's also recently taken courses on building generative AI applications, finetuning open-source AI models, and deploying these models into production environments.

3. There's significant room for experimentation

In the government sector, if Sonalker's team wanted to try out a new technology, they had to make a very detailed case about why they needed that investment. He found this not to be the case in his non-government jobs.

"The private sector is liberal, and you'll have room to try out new methods — fail faster and succeed sooner," he said.

The private and public sectors both have their pros and cons

Sonalker said he no longer struggles with the problems that government jobs often come with, like limited compensation and salary growth, slow decision-making processes, and inertia to change.

However, he also acknowledged drawbacks of the private sector, such as shaky job security due to ongoing Big Tech layoffs and potentially longer working hours with stricter timelines, whereas government jobs traditionally have offered better work-life balance and a sense of public service.

Sonalker's aspirations to become a data scientist at a Big Tech company have evolved over time, thanks to his work with AI and machine learning methods at Nordstrom. "I feel retail — especially e-commerce — has a ton of applications to leverage some of the recent developments happening in AI," Sonalker said. "Rather than focusing on where I work, I plan to prioritize the kind of work I'm doing."

Sonalker plans to remain in the private sector for the foreseeable future, but he doesn't view this as a permanent departure from public service. "AI can be a game-changer for government efficiency and service delivery," he said, pointing to uses such as optimizing resource allocation and improving citizen engagement.

"Its successful implementation often requires the expertise and resources of the private sector," he said, adding that it's a public-private collaboration he'd be interested in helping facilitate.

Do you have a story to share about transitioning from a government job to the private sector, or vice versa? Contact this editor, Jane Zhang, at [email protected].

• With a deadline looming to accept a buyout, federal workers might look to the corporate sector.
• Career coaches have been hearing from federal workers who wanted to beef up their résumés.
• They advised networking and making résumé adjustments for transitioning to private-sector roles.

Laura Labovich, who runs an outplacement firm in the Washington, DC, area, has been hearing from government workers like never before.

With a deadline looming for federal employees to accept a buyout offer, she has nearly two dozen consultations with such workers scheduled in the coming weeks.

Ordinarily, Labovich might only have a handful a year.

She said that, unlike in the past, some employees weren't saying they were frustrated by difficulties in getting a promotion or pay.

"They just say, 'I want to leave,'" Labovich told Business Insider.

The Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory group run by Elon Musk, has been looking for ways to slash federal spending. Federal workers are likely facing a February deadline to offer their resignations and continue to be paid through September.

For government workers trying to dodge the DOGE — or who may just have philosophical differences with the new administration — landing a job in the private sector might require a different tack than getting ahead in government, career experts told BI.

The 'hidden job market'

To get started, Labovich said, workers should try to talk to people who are employed where they may want to work; they should focus on finding people and companies instead of open jobs.

So, for someone who wants to work in a marketing department, making contact through LinkedIn or being introduced by professional contacts with people who work in that unit may help someone stand out. Job seekers could ask to set up a brief call to learn more about the department, she said.

Labovich said that's important because of what's referred to as the "hidden job market." Unlike in government, where the race for a job often starts once a role is posted, it's better to be on a hiring manager's radar before a posting goes up in the private sector, she said.

Beyond going big on networking, Labovich said, one of the biggest changes in looking for a private-sector job will be the length of your résumé. She said that, unlike federal CVs that might run four to six pages, someone looking for a private-sector job should typically keep the document to two pages unless it's for a C-suite position.

Ayanna Jackson, who founded and runs AEJ Consulting, an executive coaching and career-development firm in metro Washington, DC, offered similar advice about what corporate recruiters want: "They're going to give you six to nine seconds, tops, to scroll two pages max," she said.

Don't just rely on AI

Jackson advised against solely relying on artificial-intelligence tools to compress a résumé that was a half-dozen pages into two. AI, she said, could introduce errors and leave a résumé bloated with empty phrases and inaccurate metrics.

"You've got to articulate your specific results," Jackson said.

For those remaking résumés for work outside the government, Jackson said it's important to avoid relying on acronyms or namechecking obscure agencies that hiring managers and recruiters might not know.

She recommended that those looking for work focus on soft skills that many employers say they want. This includes the ability to influence, communicate ideas, and solve problems.

Jackson also said getting coaching before an interview is a good idea, especially for candidates who haven't gone through the interview process in a long time. She said workers must be ready to tell their stories without rambling and able to demonstrate how they achieved goals and overcame obstacles.

Both Jackson and Labovich recommended that job seekers use the STAR method for answering questions. This involves describing the situation or task the worker faced, the action they took, and the results.

Consider other factors

Richard Poulson, a partner at the law firm Willig, Williams & Davidson in Philadelphia, told BI there could be unique factors that government workers might have to consider.

Poulson, who specializes in issues involving public-safety workers, said that when public-sector workers move to the private sector — in effect from being a regulator to the one being regulated — it might not be possible to work in the same field, with the same client, or on the same projects for some time.

"There may be restrictions in effect there," he said. "People need to make sure that they've got their eyes wide open before they make those decisions."

Stepped-up job growth in the private sector could worsen problems that some government agencies have had in attracting people, Poulson said.

He said he'd advise public-sector workers with a choice to consider how careers in government often span many power shifts in politics. Poulson also suggested that government workers focus on the importance of what they do.

"That tends to weigh more than the changes in administration that happen every few years," he said.

Are you a government worker, or do you have something to share about what you're seeing in the workplace? Business Insider would like to hear from you. Email our workplace team from a nonwork device at [email protected] with your story, or ask for one of our reporter's Signal numbers.

An earlier version of this story appeared on November 19, 2024.

• Trump's administration is warning government workers about a "fork in the road" in a memo offering buyouts.
• It's the same subject line Musk used in an email telling Twitter staff they had to be "extremely hardcore" or quit.
• But can Musk's playbook for Twitter, now X, work for the US government?

This is all feeling a lot like Twitter circa 2022.

President Donald Trump's administration has launched a sweeping overhaul of the federal workforce, starting with a blunt offer this week: Take a buyout and leave, or commit to a new era of in-office mandates and performance that "exceeds expectations."

The move, detailed in an email to federal workers, follows a return-to-office order issued during Trump's first week in office — a directive requiring most federal employees report to physical offices five days a week.

The parallels to Elon Musk's tumultuous takeover of Twitter, now X, are impossible to ignore. In 2022, the tech billionaire sent a similar email to Twitter employees asking them to commit to an "extremely hardcore" schedule or leave. The subject line was "A fork in the road" — the same metaphor referenced by the Trump administration on Tuesday.

These are bets that aggressive workforce cuts, relentless productivity demands, and a culture of loyalty and long hours can reshape institutions. The question is whether Musk's playbook, which left Twitter financially shaky and culturally fractured, can work for the US government.

The White House didn't respond to a request for comment on Tuesday evening. 

Similar blueprints

The US Office of Personnel Management, which is sending out the email to federal workers, vowed to reward top performers and swiftly address underperformers. That mirrors Musk's midnight missive to Twitter staff, which demanded "exceptional performance" as the "only passing grade" and presaged job cuts that eliminated about 80% of the company's workforce.  

OPM also promised a leaner workforce, saying that while defense and security agencies might grow, most federal departments would face downsizing through layoffs, furloughs, and reclassifying roles as "at-will" employment, eroding civil-service protections that have shielded workers for decades. Federal employees must also meet heightened standards of reliability, loyalty, and trustworthiness, the OPM said.

The blueprint echoes Musk's rapid-fire restructuring of Twitter. Soon after acquiring the platform, Musk told employees they had 40 hours to commit to an "extremely hardcore" work environment or accept severance. More than 6,000 Twitter staff eventually left or were laid off, including engineers and content moderators. Musk also issued RTO mandates.

Risks and rising debt

The risks of Musk's approach are well documented. Twitter's user growth stalled post-takeover, and its brand reputation tanked as advertisers fled after controversial policy shifts.

For Trump, the gamble is potentially riskier. Twitter had about 7,800 employees pre-Musk; the federal government employs roughly 2.3 million. Mass layoffs or attrition could destabilize everything from Social Security processing to disaster response.

Yet the administration is charging ahead, framing the overhaul as an effort to reign in government spending and control the national debt.

When Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, he said he'd overpaid after being forced to close the $44 billion transaction by a judge. It was a highly leveraged deal that left the company with a lot of debt and large interest payments. That partly drove Musk's drastic job cuts as he rushed to save money and prevent Twitter from defaulting.

By 2023, he'd cut more than 6,000 employees. He described the layoffs as "painful" and "one of the hardest things" he'd had to do as Twitter's boss.

The US government has also taken on a lot of debt in recent years. While no one expects a US default anytime soon, the national debt soared from about $3.4 trillion in 1980 to more than $35 trillion last year. Roughly $10 trillion in debt piled up from 2017 to 2024, according to Treasury Department data.

Rising rates have increased the cost of paying interest on this massive debt load. In 2023, these annual payments topped $1 trillion, stoking concern among some economists about government spending.

This is partly what's driving the Trump administration to try to make the US government more efficient. Trump has also pledged to pursue tax cuts, putting even more pressure on his administration to find other ways of controlling the ballooning national debt.

Trump's efficiency drive has already caused turmoil. Some government workers said his federal grant freeze had thrown agencies into disarray, creating confusion.

When Musk eliminated thousands of Twitter jobs, some employees at the company were concerned that the social-media platform might stop working because the cuts were so deep and fast. There were some outages, but the company's technical underpinnings have been running relatively smoothly over the past year or so.

• For federal employees preparing to return to the office full time, dressing right may be hard.
• BI spoke to stylists and federal workers, one of whom described the vibe as "funeral director chic."
• The stylists suggested a few simple suits, understated accessories, and ditching the stilettos.

Faced with President Trump's recent return-to-office mandate, many government employees across the country once again need to figure out how to dress for five days a week at their desks.

The RTO mandates come among a surge of other private and public organizations ordering people back to the workplace, but federal fashion has been known for being more conservative than typical workwear.

Business Insider spoke with three personal stylists who said that government workers have limited office options compared to other employees across corporate America. Here are their tips for looking the part.

Federal workwear can resemble 'funeral director chic'

"There is almost zero latitude for personal style in federal government jobs. I think this is where sort of DC gets its reputation for being really boring sartorially," Kate Breen, a DC-based personal stylist who founded GetDressedGo and has worked with federal employees, told BI.

A civil servant at a foreign affairs agency, who did not want to be named because she isn't granted permission to speak by her agency, described the style as "funeral director chic." She has worked largely remotely since the pandemic and BI has verified her identity.

This era of remote work has transformed the way many employees approach dressing for their jobs. Reginald Ferguson, a stylist and the founder of New York Fashion Geek, said hoodies have become just as acceptable as blouses and collared shirts.

However, Ferguson said, "You're not going to see jeans and hoodies" at a government office.

"It's certainly not about originality," he told BI.

Breen said she sometimes sees entire crosswalks full of identically dressed people in DC, especially men.

An August report from the Office of Management and Budget said that 54% of the nation's 2.28 million civil servants worked fully in person, and only 10% were remote as of May.

Even for those accustomed to going into the office, Trump's recent mandates pertaining to the federal workforce, along with his cost-cutting plans as part of the new Department of Government Efficiency, have caused anxiety for workers. One said it's showing up in how people dress.

A federal contractor for a Washington, DC, agency told BI, "People are dressed up. They had nice clothes on. I said, 'Wow!' Because people are worried." One of her colleagues used to wear "a Mr. Rogers sweater" but has started wearing a tie, she said. She didn't want to be named as she's not authorized to speak openly about her role at a government agency; BI has verified her identity.

For government employees that aren't based in the capital, the dress code is business casual but still more conservative than corporate jobs, Jorian Palos, a California-based Department of Public Social Services worker, said. The 24-year-old said that her older coworkers tend to dress more formally, but she sticks to a more relaxed style for her in-person workweek.

Whether they're going back to the office for the first time in years or adjusting to new vibes, it's time for federal employees to beef up their closets with more business-casual options.

Workers should take stock of their existing closet

"Anyone returning back to the office should review their wardrobe and remember that they are no longer dressing for a Zoom," Ferguson said.

Breen suggested that government employees try on all of their clothing and get rid of anything that's in poor condition or doesn't fit, physically or emotionally. She and Ting Lin, another DC-area stylist, advise employees to invest in one or two well-tailored, dark-colored suits.

"The great thing about suits is that they're not remarkable, so wearing the same or alternating them every other day — people don't really notice," Breen told BI.

Lin and Breen said that understated accessories and jewelry can bring personality to an otherwise simple outfit. For younger employees, in particular, Breen said that good-quality shoes and bags can help them stand out and signal professionalism.

The DC-area stylists told BI that comfortable shoes are key. Lin said she doesn't see as many federal employees wearing stilettos to the office anymore, opting instead for a chunky heel or loafer.

"My tolerance for high heels is out the window," the employee at the foreign affairs agency told BI. "In terms of heels — low heels, I'm probably only wearing those to specific events or meetings."

Michelle Obama nailed the look

When asked if anyone exemplified ideal federal workwear, Lin and Breen had the same answer: Michelle Obama. The former first lady, they said, mastered mixing conservative clothing with identifiable personal style. Breen said Obama dressed in a way both "appealing and accessible" and recalled when she paired J.Crew gloves with a designer gown at an inauguration parade.

"A lot of my clients reference her regardless of their political affiliation because she did such a great job not completely capitulating to the DC über-conservative expectations and showing her real personality," she told BI.

Tim Paradis contributed to the reporting of this story.

• Donald Trump's new DOGE commission, tasked with cutting spending, has floated laying off federal workers.
• Government employees said they were preparing by networking and freshening their résumés.
• Amid the concerns with DOGE, some employees said there could be benefits to its aims.

Federal employees are reporting mixed feelings about President-elect Donald Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency and its ideas to cut costs by laying off workers and enforcing return-to-office mandates.

Some are worried, some are optimistic, and most are considering their other career options, 10 people who spoke with Business Insider said. Most asked for anonymity for fear of professional repercussions.

"We're just workers. We work in a nonpartisan way," one Department of Health and Human Services employee said, adding that they were nervous, especially because they recently bought a home. "It kind of feels like we're being villainized."

On the other hand, Jesus Soriano, who's been a program director at the National Science Foundation for 13 years and is president of the agency's American Federation of Government Employees union, said that while employees were scared, there were "reasons for optimism with DOGE."

Trump said his picks to lead the unofficial commission, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, "are technologists."

"They have — both of them in their own fields — translated science into products that have tremendous impact on the public and that contribute to America being a preeminent powerhouse," he said.

Musk is the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and other various companies, and Ramaswamy started a tech-focused pharmaceutical company called Roivant Sciences.

In the wake of the DOGE Commission, many government workers said they were updating their résumés, networking more, or assessing new career options — regardless of their political beliefs.

"Everyone is putting their ducks in a row," a Department of Housing and Urban Development administrative worker of 10 years who worked under Trump's first term told BI. "You can't be lackadaisical, regardless that the government may take forever to do something. You better be one step ahead at all times."

While it's still unclear how exactly DOGE would cut government spending, Musk and Ramaswamy have pledged to eliminate some government agencies, which could mean laying off thousands of federal workers, and compel others who have been working from home to return to the office.

The federal government is the largest employer in the US, paying more than 2 million civilian workers. The Departments of Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and Defense are among the top employers, with workers earning average salaries near $100,000. Just under half of all workers across 24 agencies were telework-eligible as of May 2024, according to an Office of Management and Budget report.

"Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don't want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn't pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home," Musk and Ramaswamy wrote about their cost-cutting plans in a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.

Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance transition spokesperson, told BI the administration "will have a place for people serving in government who are committed to defending the rights of the American people, putting America first, and ensuring the best use of working men and women's tax dollars." He didn't offer any details on cuts.

Soriano, the National Science Foundation program director, said government workers were "still scared." He said five colleagues he'd talked to were actively seeking new jobs or opting to retire.

Increased efficiency is a welcomed idea. In-office mandates, not so much.

Trimming government spending and improving efficiency is an idea often discussed on both sides of the political spectrum.

President Ronald Reagan pursued a similar goal with the Grace Commission, a team of 160 private-sector executives who proposed more than 2,000 cost-cutting measures. President Bill Clinton also attempted to reduce federal spending and improve government efficiency with the National Performance Review, led by federal employees.

The efforts had mixed results. Many proposals from the Grace Commission that relied on congressional acts didn't end up happening, while executive orders were successful in reducing the head count of federal workers. Clinton's panel similarly succeeded in cutting 300,000 federal workers but managed to get only a quarter of proposals that required legislative action through Congress.

An operations manager at the US Postal Service who has worked in the department for 27 years told BI every company had inefficiencies, and "that's what we all strive to decrease."

He has concerns, however, about people stepping in to make suggestions for the Postal Service without having "tribal knowledge" of the department.

"If you're just going to be appointed to this type of commission or committee with no knowledge of what exactly the Postal Service does, then that could potentially be a problem," he said.

DOGE's intent to eliminate remote work is also a concern for some workers. The HUD employee, who'd been working remotely, said return-to-office enforcement would "absolutely" be enough to cause them to resign. They're preparing for layoffs under DOGE by looking at other employment opportunities, and they said their colleagues at HUD were taking similar steps.

Joyce Howell, an attorney at the Environmental Protection Agency — who's been at the agency for more than 31 years and serves as executive vice president of its AFGE union — said the incoming administration had stoked concern about layoffs at the EPA and fears that its mission could be compromised.

"We have town halls once a month, and we've actually broken our Zoom account in terms of the number of people attending," she said of union meetings.

Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in the Journal op-ed that the commission would target more than $500 billion in what they called unauthorized government spending. They said federal employees who were laid off would be offered early retirement. At a town hall in October, Musk said he would consider giving laid-off workers up to two years' severance.

An employee at the Food and Drug Administration said it wasn't that easy: "We're here to support a mission. We have families to feed, and it's not as easy as just quitting our jobs," the FDA employee said.

"We're just normal, everyday people — we're being portrayed as inefficient, lazy people," they added. "It feels like they're coming for us just for their own agenda, not realizing that we're the backbone of the federal government."

Another federal-government lifer said many workers like them — people who'd been there for years — were nervous they might be the first to go. The career tenure of a median federal government worker was 6.5 years in 2024, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, well above the median 3.5 years private workers have spent in their roles.

One senior official at the Commerce Department said they anticipated a civil-servant brain drain. "The scientists are the most concerned," the official said, with those in climate, meteorology, and environmental science particularly worried.

The Department of Education has meanwhile been singled out as an entire agency that could be on the chopping block.

Sheria Smith, the president of the AFGE union at the Department of Education and a civil rights attorney at the agency, said department elimination was "on the lower end of concerns" because it would take time and need to go through Congress.

Rather, being turned into a "Schedule F" workforce, which allows government agencies to reclassify workers and remove certain protections that make them easier to fire, could mean employees who aren't "aligned with the executive wholly" could be laid off based on performance.

And given the widespread denigration of the Education Department and return-to-office threats, people are most likely looking for other work. "I'd be surprised if they weren't," Smith said.

Are you a federal worker willing to share your story? Contact these reporters at [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].