From New York to New Mexico, state officials, eager to snap up laid-off federal workers, are posting splashy recruiting ads offering fast-track promotions, advanced skills training and other benefits.

Castoff cybersecurity workers are an especially prized catch, public-sector technology chiefs say.

New York state is recruiting where the talent is, placing an electronic billboard in Washington, D.C.’s Union Station to entice cyber workers laid off by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. Photo: ANGUS LOTEN

“It’s a full-court press,” said Colin Ahern, New York state’s chief cyber officer. Ahern said the sudden wave of cyber job seekers spilling out of federal agencies has states competing with each other, and higher-paying private-sector employers, for a rare chance to fill staffing gaps in a tight market.

Among other initiatives, New York’s efforts include a dedicated website and a social-media campaign. “It came together very quickly,” Ahern said.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro this month issued an executive order making job applicants’ years in the federal civil service equivalent to work experience at the state level, a move aimed at fast-tracking the recruiting process. Pennsylvania also launched a website for former federal workers, providing an overview of the state’s hiring process and details about job benefits. It lists cybersecurity among roughly a dozen “high-priority” job vacancies.

Likewise, New Mexico created a hotline for laid-off federal employees looking for new jobs, including key positions in the state’s cybersecurity office. Hawaii’s new “Operation Hire Hawaii” casts a wide net, offering spots for “individuals impacted by layoffs, resignations, loss of federal funding and other job seekers.”

Demand for cybersecurity workers outstrips supply, as more state and local agencies build up in-house teams, rather than overrely on services from CrowdStrike, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks and others. At the same time, the spread of artificial intelligence is creating cyber threats, driving heated competition for cyber talent.

In just a few weeks, a recruiting post on social media targeting laid-off federal workers has been seen by more than 60,000 people and shared more than 300 times, said Katie Savage, Maryland’s secretary of information technology. Photo: MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Over the past three months, state and municipal governments across the country posted roughly 1,700 cybersecurity positions, or other roles requiring cyber skills, according to trade group CompTIA.

The Trump administration last month fired more than 130 workers at the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Cyber and information technology roles, among other positions, have been cut at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Science and Technology Directorate.

Under the new administration, the decade-old U.S. Digital Service, which had worked with federal agencies to develop software tools, has been rebranded as the U.S. DOGE Service, prompting many tech workers to leave. The White House also shuttered 18F, a digital technology service within the General Services Administration, putting dozens of software developers and other technologists out of work.

Along with retirements and resignations—including the January departure of CISA Director Jen Easterly—total federal job cuts through March are expected to reach into the hundreds of thousands.

Meanwhile, thousands of federal workers have returned to their jobs after two judges last week blocked the administration’s firing of probationary employees at several agencies.

Beyond technical chops, federal cybersecurity workers have experience with a wide range of public-sector data and systems, regulatory requirements and other issues that factor into cybersecurity planning, said Tim Herbert, chief researcher at CompTIA. He said many states and municipalities align with the U.S. government’s NICE Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity, a federal workforce development initiative that sets out definitions for cyber tasks, knowledge and skills.

For state recruiters, that may provide “a good fit with former federal cybersecurity workers in sharing a common cyber lexicon,” Herbert said.

Gary Barlet, chief technology officer at cybersecurity firm Illumio who served as a cyberspace operations officer with the U.S. Air Force, said many federal cyber workers are drawn to public service, regardless of wages, by a sense of mission. That may give states an edge over private-sector recruiters, he said.

There are early signs that states’ efforts are paying off. In February, as the total number of jobs across the federal government fell by roughly 10,000, jobs at state governments rose by 1,000, the Labor Department reported March 7.

Colin Ahern, right, chief cyber officer for the State of New York at the WSJ Tech Live: Cybersecurity event in New York in June. Photo: Aria Isadora for The Wall Street Journal

Since early March, more than one hundred former federal workers have signed up for information sessions on New York state jobs, including cybersecurity roles, state officials said. “We’ve seen a huge response,” Ahern said.

Katie Savage, Maryland’s secretary of information technology, said in just a few weeks a recruiting post on social media targeting laid-off federal workers has been seen by more than 60,000 people and shared more than 300 times. She said a single software engineering job, posted after the layoffs began, has drawn dozens of applications from former federal workers.

“We’re going to do everything we can to re-employ these people,” Savage said. “I do plan to take advantage of this,” she said.

Over the past two years, Savage said, she has sought to expand the state’s cybersecurity workforce. That has involved lobbying for a bigger budget, while launching enticing digital projects, such as a bug bounty program—dubbed “Hack the State”—that invited participants to identify vulnerabilities in the state’s websites and public-facing web applications.

Like other states, she said, ongoing federal layoffs may help Maryland build its own team of cybersecurity professionals. Two years ago when she took on the state’s top tech job, Savage said, “cybersecurity used to be three full-time people and a lot of CrowdStrike.”